Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

Arthur Edward Prest (10 February 1906 – 26 September 1976) was an

Itsekiri The Itsekiri (also called the Isekiri, ''iJekri'', ''Itsekri'', ''Ishekiri'', or Itsekhiri) are an ethnic group who mainly inhabit Nigeria's Niger Delta area. They speak a Yoruboid languages, Yoruboid language and can be found in Ondo State, Ondo ...

politician of

biracial The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

heritage from the

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri, Udu, Okpe and Uvwie are the commercial ...

division of southern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Life

Prest was born in February 1906 to a white

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

father from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

who was a ship's captain and a merchant trader, and an

royal

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

mother, Princess Mami Ogbe, who was the daughter of the Olu of Warri. In 1946, Prest was given the chieftaincy title of the Olorogun of Warri by the

Olu of Warri The Kingdom of Warri, Warri Kingdom or Iwere Kingdom, (Itsekiri language, Itsekiri: ''Oye Iwere'') was established in 1480, was part of the Nigerian traditional states its ancestral capital is based in Ode-Itsekiri, Warri South, Warri South LGA, ...

. Prest was an officer in the Nigerian

police force The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

and the first Nigerian commissioned police officer. He studied law in England, and registered at the

Supreme Court of Nigeria The Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN) is the highest court in Nigeria, and is located in the Central District, Abuja, in what is known as the Three Arms Zone, so called due to the proximity of the offices of the Presidential Complex, the National Ass ...

in 1947, prior to his nomination as a representative of the Warri district in the Western Regional House of Assembly. He later became a High Court Judge in the then Mid-Western Region. In 1950 Prest and

Anthony Enahoro Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro (22 July 1923 – 15 December 2010) was one of Nigeria's foremost anti-colonial and pro-democracy activists. He was born the eldest of ten children in Uromi, present-day Edo State of Nigeria. His Esan parents ...

founded the Mid-West Party. Enahoro had already started the Mid-West Press and published the ''

'' newspaper from 1950 to 1953. In 1951, the Mid-West Party became part of the Action Group. Prest was later made regional minister at

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

and deputy leader to

Obafemi Awolowo Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Nigerian politician who served as the first Premier of the Western region of Nigeria. He was known as one of the key figure towards Nigeria's independence movement from 1957 ...

. Further, he was appointed federal minister for communications in 1952. Prest, Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Anthony Enahoro and others fought for Nigeria's independence and attended the

Lancaster House talks The Lancaster House Agreement is an agreement signed on 21 December 1979 in Lancaster House, following the conclusion of a constitutional conference where different parties discussed the future of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, formerly known as Rhodesia ...

that negotiated Nigeria's independence. He left the Action Group in 1957. Following this, Prest was High Commissioner for the

Federation of Nigeria The Federation of Nigeria was a predecessor to modern-day Nigeria from 1954 to 1963. It was a British protectorate until its independence on 1 October 1960. British rule of Colonial Nigeria ended in 1960, when the ''Nigeria Independence Act 196 ...

to the UK. In 1971, Prest was involved in a prominent

court case Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law. Although the term may be defined more broadly or more narrowly as circumstances require, it has been noted that " e term ''legal proceedings'' ...

. He challenged the

Communal Lands Trust which wanted to use the purported overlord rights of the Olu of Warri over lands in Warri. The overlord rights would have given the trust indirect ownership of all lands, including overriding the rights of ownership of landlords. However, the communal lands trust lost the case. Arthur Prest with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

Arthur Prest with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

Prest had a rich and full family life. He had several children, the most prominent being his first son Chief Michael Godwin Prest, who became a successful lawyer, politician and Chief of Staff to Nigerian President

Shehu Shagari Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (; 25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018) was a Nigerian politician who was the first democratically elected president of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by Military Head of State of Nigeria, military head of sta ...

in 1979. Chief Michael Prest had 4 children. His eldest child and granddaughter to Arthur Prest is

Helen Prest-Ajayi Helen Prest-Ajayi, formerly Prest-Davies, (née Prest, born 17 September 1959) is a Nigerian lawyer, writer and beauty pageant titleholder. Helen was raised in England. She attended the International School Ibadan for her advanced levels and Oba ...

, a former

Miss Nigeria Miss Nigeria is an annual pageant showcasing positive attributes of Nigerian women, and awarding university scholarships. The winner is expected to portray exemplary qualities whilst serving as a role model to young women in the country. The p ...

in 1979, lawyer, author and literacy advocate. His son and grandson of Arthur Prest, Michael J. Prest is a trained barrister, Nigeria's first oil trader, oil and gas mogul and philanthropist. He was the architect of the

company law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corp ...

case of

Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd is a leading UK company law decision of the UK Supreme Court concerning the nature of the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil, resulting trusts and equitable proprietary remedies in the context of English family law. Facts Ms Yasmin Pres ...

that has been taught in law schools and defined the direction of company law. Chief Arthur Prest died in 1976.

References

Further information

* KWJ Post, ''The Nigerian Federal Election of 1959: Politics & Administration in a Developing Political System''. Oxford, 1963 * Richard L Sklar, ''Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation'', Princeton, NJ, 1963 * Michael Vickers, ''Ethnicity & Sub-Nationalism in Nigeria: Movement for a Mid-West State'', Oxford, 2000 * Michael Vickers, ''A Nation Betrayed: Nigeria & the Minorities Commission of 1957'', Trenton, NJ, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Prest, Arthur Edward 1906 births 1976 deaths People from Warri Itsekiri people Action Group (Nigeria) politicians Federal ministers of Nigeria 20th-century Nigerian lawyers 20th-century Nigerian politicians Nigerian police officers Nigerian people of British descent People from colonial Nigeria