Rosaline Omotosho
Died1 July 1999
NationalityNigerian
Alma materCMS Girls School Lagos
OccupationJudge

Roseline or Rosaline Ajoke Omotosho, née Sonola-Soyinka (died 1999) was a Nigerian judge. From 12 April 1995 to 27 February 1996 she was Chief Judge of Lagos State.[1] She was the first female Chief Judge in Nigeria, and indeed in West Africa.[2]

Life

Rosaline Omotosho's maiden name was Sonola-Soyinka.[3] She attended CMS Girls School Lagos, which later relocated to Ibadan and merged with Kudeti Girls School to be renamed St Anne's School Ibadan. She worked as a clerk in the Health Department, Lagos between 1949 and 1953.[4] She studied for the Bar at Gray's Inn from 1957 to 1959. She was called to the English Bar on 7 February 1961 and enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria on 15 June 1961.[5]

Omotosho worked for a few months at Burke and Impey before starting in September 1961 as a Pupil Crown Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice. She became State Counsel in June 1963, Senior legal Assistant in May 1965, and State Counsel Grade 1 in September 1966. In July 1968 she was appointed acting Deputy Administrator-General, and in October 1968 was appointed acting Registrar of commercial Legislation. She was appointed Director of Commercial Law on 1 April 1976.[4]

She joined the High Court of Lagos State on 6 March 1978.[5] She succeeded Justice Ayorinde as Chief Judge of Lagos State, taking office on 12 April 1995. On 27 February 1997 she stepped down, and was succeeded by Justice Olusola Thomas.[2]

She died on 1 July 1999.[5] At a service held in her honor, Justice Christopher Olatunde Segun appealed for divine intervention to stop the rate of deaths affecting the state judiciary.[6] In 2015 she was memorialized by a new courthouse in Ikeja named after her.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Siyan Oyeweso, Breaking the Yoke of Patriarchy: Nigerian Women in the various Professions, Politics and Governance, 1914-2014, 2014, p.10
  2. 1 2 The Lagos State Judiciary
  3. ↑ Gbade Aladeojebi (2016). "St. Anne's School, Ibadan". History of Yoruba Land. Partridge Publishing Africa. pp. 140–1. ISBN 978-1-4828-6248-5.
  4. 1 2 3 Adebisi Onanuga, Lagos immortalises first woman CJ, The Nation, 10 March 2015. Accessed 12 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Peters Ifeoma, Women who blazed the Legal Trail in Nigeria, DNL Legal and Style, 8 March 2017. Accessed 12 March 2020.
  6. ↑ Adewale Busari, Nigeria: Deaths In Lagos Judiciary CJ Seeks Divine Intervention, P. M. News, 16 July 1999. Accessed 12 March 2020.
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