For Hauwa Abubakar, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Borno State, the path to one of the most powerful legal offices in the North-East began with a dream that never came true. She wanted to become a doctor, but a missed admission into medical school forced her to rethink her future, and while waiting to reapply, she enrolled in a diploma programme in law almost by default.

What started as a stopgap turned into a calling, and Abubakar found herself drawn into a profession she had never originally set her sights on, eventually building a career that would place her among the few women to hold the position of Attorney General anywhere in Nigeria.

Born in 1977 in Bazamri village in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, Abubakar went on to earn her law degree from the University of Maiduguri in 2004 before being called to the Nigerian Bar the following year.

She later added a postgraduate diploma in industrial and labour relations from the same university and, in 2015, a Master of Laws from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, where she also worked briefly as a legal assistant. Her early career took her through roles including a stint at the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria, before she was appointed Special Adviser on Legal Matters to Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum in 2020. That role became the springboard for her elevation to Acting Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in 2022, a position she has held with growing authority since.

In her years in office, Abubakar has pushed a reform agenda centred on modernising the state’s justice system, including the launch of an e-Justice platform in partnership with LawPavilion that introduced digital case management and mail-tracking systems for the ministry. She has also taken up the fight against gender-based violence as a personal cause, establishing dedicated units to support survivors and push for the prosecution of offenders, while chairing the state’s Anti-Social Vices Committee. Reflecting on her unconventional journey in a recent interview, she credited her early setback with shaping the resilience and adaptability that later defined her rise, describing her career as proof that redirection is not always the same as failure.

Beyond the courtroom and government house, Abubakar is described by colleagues as a trailblazer for women in Nigeria’s legal profession, a field long dominated by men, especially in the North. She is married to businessman and engineer Abubakar Isa, and the couple have four children.

Photo Credit: Vanguard Newspaper