[1][2] Wali was born on October 29, 1958, at Obio-Akpor local government area in the metropolis of Port Harcourt, a southern part of Nigeria.
[3] He attended the Port Harcourt Township School for his primary education but completed it at St. Paul’s Primary School in Diobu, Port Harcourt.
[4] He later attended Baptist High School, Port Harcourt, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1973 and proceeded to the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, where he received a Bachelor of Law degree in 1983.
[7] After few years of working experience, he was appointed as secretary of Port Harcourt branch of the NBA in 1992.
[8] He later served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Rivers State before he was elected as the 26th president of the Nigerian Bar Association,[9] having polled 688 votes to defeat Emeka Ngige (SAN), who had 449 votes.