HON. KADI AHMED BABA BALA
Hon. Kadi Ahmed Baba Bala was born at Pindiga in Akko Local Government of Gombe on the 4th of August, 1964 into the large and extended family of Late Liman Umaru Kufah, a great Islamic Scholar and Cleric who spent the better part of more than nine decades of his life teaching the Holy Qur’an and Islamic Theology. Baba Liman as the old sage was fondly called wielded great authority in his days and was a contemporary close associate of notable personalities like the Late Malam Jauro, the erstwhile Dan Lawal Gombe (may their gentle souls rest in perfect peace, amen). Justice Bala started his early Islamic Education before his father the Late Sarkin Makaman Pindiga while also attending Primary School simultaneously. After Primary Education he went to the then Arabic Teaching College (now Government Arabic College) Gombe where he graduated in 1981 with a Praise worthy Grade II certificate. He then taught for a while at Primary School level before proceeding to the then College of Legal and Islamic Studies (now El-Rufa’i College of Legal and Islamic Studies) Misau where he obtained a Diploma Certificate in Sharia and Civil Law (combined) in 1986. He then joined the Bauchi State Judiciary as a Court Clerk and later appointed as Area Court Judge in January, 1991 and served as the Area Court Bench for eight years before obtaining leave to proceed on in service training in early 1999. He then went to the University of Maiduguri where he obtained his LL.B Hons. (Sharia and Civil Law combined) in 2003 and thereafter proceeded to the Nigerian Law School Abuja Campus in October, 2004 for his B.L which he successfully obtained in 2005, and was called to the Nigerian Bar on 8th November, 2005. He was then still an Area Court Judge.
In 2011, Hon. Kadi Ahmed Baba Bala was promoted to the rank of Upper Area Court Judge and in May, 2017 he was appointed as the Director Area Court Gombe State, the position he held until his elevation to the Higher Bench as a Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal Gombe on the 3rd of October, 2021, and was sworn in on the 11th of October, 2021.
During his tenure as a Judge of the Lower Court and as Director of Area Court, the Judicial officer attended several workshops and seminars organized mostly by the National Judicial Institute, Abuja in Asaba, Jos and Abuja wherein he acquired extensive knowledge in the practice and administration of Justice in the Court and the Nigerian Legal System as a whole.
Justice A. B. Bala is married with children. His hobbies include creative writing, reading and recreational activities.