Sir Adetokunbo Ademola

Sir Adetokunbo Adegboyega Ademola was born on February 1, 1906, in Abeokuta, the son of the paramount ruler Alake of Egbaland, Sir Ladapo Ademola II. Educated at King's College, Lagos, and Selwyn College, Cambridge, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1934.

In 1949, Ademola was appointed the third indigenous judge in colonial Nigeria. In 1955, he became the first Chief Justice of Western Nigeria, and in 1958 was appointed the first indigenous Chief Justice of the Federation of Nigeria, presiding over the Supreme Court for fourteen years. He established the Nigerian Law School in 1962, institutionalized an independent judiciary, and was knighted (KBE and GCON) for his peerless judicial rectitude.