The first five female Judges in Nigeria; this photo was taken in Lagos at a Judges Conference in 1980.
Left-to-Right: Dulcie Ethel Adunola Oguntoye, Roseline Omotosho, Modupe Omo-Eboh, Atinuke Ige and Aloma Maryam Mukhtar!
Hon. Justice Modupe Omo-Eboh (nee Akingbein) was first female High Court Judge in Nigeria. Justice Oguntoye was the second, Aloma Mukhtar third, Atinuke Ige fourth and Omotosho fifth.
The late Hon. Justice Modupe Omo-Eboh was called to Bar on March 14th, 1953. She became the first female High Court Judge in Nigeria on November 10th, 1969.
Modupe Omo-Eboh was the first female judge appointed to the High Courts of Nigeria. Born Modupe Akingbehin, 1922 in Lagos, she is the great-granddaughter of Bishop Ajayi Crowther. She attended Queens College before studying Law in London. Her Lordship occupied various legal positions as a lawyer, Magistrate, Chief Magistrate, Administrator-General and Public Trustee, Director of Public Prosecutions and Acting Solicitor-General before 2002 when she died. There is a Justice Modupe Omo-Eboh Street in Lagos named after her.
Hon. Justice Dulcie Ethel Adunola Oguntoye was Nigeria’s second female Judge.
Dulcie Ethel Kin was born 29 May 1923 and died 12 November 2018. The English-born Nigerian jurist served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during World War II and then enrolled to study law at the Middle Temple Inns of Court.
She married Chief David Ojo Abiodun Oguntoye, the first Ijesha lawyer, whom she had met during the War while he was also serving in the Royal Air Force, on 16 November 1946, and they moved to Ibadan. He gave her the name “Adunola”. He married another five wives after her. They established a law firm, Oguntoye & Oguntoye in 1949. Her husband died in June 1997.
Hon. Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, Nigeria’s third female judge rose to become the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria.
A woman of many firsts, she is the first female lawyer from Northern Nigeria, first female Chief Registrar, Kano State Judiciary, first female judge in Northern Nigeria, first female Judge of the High Court of Kano State, first female Justice of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal and the first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria!
Hon. Justice Atinuke Omobonike Amoke Ige, Nigeria’s fourth female judge was born on April 4, 1932. She was first admitted for Bachelor’s degree in Arts at the University College Ibadan and thereafter proceeded to commence legal studies at Lincoln’s Inn London. At the same time she enrolled at Kennington College of Commerce and Law Studies. Ige was called to the English Bar on April 28, 1959 and enrolled at the Nigerian Bar on May 18th 1959.
In her early practice days, she was the only female lawyer in Ibadan. In October 1963, Justice Ige was appointed Magistrate in the Western region of Nigeria.
In 1977, she was appointed a High Court Judge in Oyo State. On September 6th 1993, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal and retired in 2002.
Her husband Chief Bola Ige, SAN, felled by assassins in December 2001 was Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.
Hon. Justice Roseline Omotosho was the country’s fifth female judge.
Additional source: Wikipedia
Photo source: Oguntoye Family/Bimbola Babarinde/NNP
