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Ayo Gabriel Irikefe, (3 March 1922 – 1 August 1996) was a Nigerian

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

and

chief justice of Nigeria The chief justice of Nigeria or CJN is the head of the judicial arm of the government of Nigeria, and presides over the country's Supreme Court and the National Judicial Council. The current chief justice is Kudirat Kekere-Ekun who was appoi ...

from 1985 to 1987.

Early life

Irikefe was born in March 1922 to the family of Aduwa and Theresa Irikefe. He was born at

Ikorodu Ikorodu is a city in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located to the north-east of Lagos, along the Lagos Lagoon and shares boundary with Ogun State. With a population of over 1 million inhabitants, Ikorodu is currently the 12th largest city in Nig ...

, a local government area of

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

in southwestern

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, ...

. He started his education at a

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school in

Okitipupa Okitipupa is in Nigeria and part of the Yoruba tribe, Ikale-speaking nation in Ondo State. Okitipupa Government headquarter is located in Okitipupa Major town with a university, Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Olusegun Agag ...

, then went to St John's School Okitpupa, St Mathews Catholic School, Ode-Ondo and St. Gregory's College, Obalende, Lagos where he obtained the West Africa School Certificate. He initially studied at the College of Marine Engineering and Communications, Manchester between 1945 and 1946 before deciding to study law in 1949.

Law career

He was called to the

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on 1 July 1952, the same year he established his own law firm. He was in legal practice in

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 ...

from 1952 until 1955. In 1955, he rose to the position of a

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Adv ...

to the Western Region of Nigeria where he served 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 later transferred to Benin city. He was a leading counsel to the committee that probed the activities of the Owegbe cult and was later appointed a judge in the High Court of Mid-Western Nigeria. In 1966, he became the Attorney General of the Mid-Western State, a position he held until he was appointed to the bench of 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 ...

as Justice. In 1985 he became a member of the

Nigerian Body of Benchers The Nigerian Body of Benchers is a professional body concerned with the admission of successful candidates into the Legal Profession at the Nigerian Law School Bar Final Examination. Members of the body are called '' Benchers''. The body also re ...

, the same year he was appointed as the

Chief Justice of Nigeria The chief justice of Nigeria or CJN is the head of the judicial arm of the government of Nigeria, and presides over the country's Supreme Court and the National Judicial Council. The current chief justice is Kudirat Kekere-Ekun who was appoi ...

to succeed George Sodeinde Sowemimo. Irikefe retired in 1985 having attained the statutory retirement age of 65. In 1975, he was made chairman of the panel on the creation of states and in 1980, Irikefe was appointed chairman of the Crude Oil Sales Tribunal to look into allegations of missing funds within the Nigerian petroleum corporation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irikefe, Ayo Gabriel 1922 births 1996 deaths People from Lagos State St Gregory's College, Lagos alumni Nigerian jurists Chief justices of Nigeria