Rosaline Omotosho

Roseline or Rosaline Ajoke Omotosho (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]

Rosaline Omotosho
Died1 July 1999
NationalityNigerian
OccupationJudge

Life

Rosaline Omotosho worked as a clerk in the Health Department, Lagos between 1949 and 1953.[3] 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.[4]

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.[3]

She joined the High Court of Lagos State on 6 March 1978.[4] 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.[4] 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.[5] In 2015 she was memorialized by a new courthouse in Ikeja named after her.[3]

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References
  1. Siyan Oyeweso, Breaking the Yoke of Patriarchy: Nigerian Women in the various Professions, Politics and Governance, 1914-2014, 2014, p.10
  2. The Lagos State Judiciary
  3. Adebisi Onanuga, Lagos immortalises first woman CJ, The Nation, 10 March 2015. Accessed 12 March 2020.
  4. Peters Ifeoma, Women who blazed the Legal Trail in Nigeria, DNL Legal and Style, 8 March 2017. Accessed 12 March 2020.
  5. 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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