The remains of Justice Dulcie Ethel Adunola Oguntoye, who until her death was the oldest living female judge in Nigeria will be committed to mother earth on February 2, 2019 in Imesi-Ile, Osun State.
She will be laid to rest beside her husband, the late Chief David Ojo Abiodun Oguntoye, the man she loved, married, and followed to Nigeria during the second World War.
Justice Oguntoye died, Monday, November 12, 2018. She was 95 years old.
In a burial invitation from her son, Aderemi Oguntoye, her rites of passage will begin on January 29, 2019 with a valedictory session by the Lagos State Judiciary. It will be followed by another valedictory session by Oyo State Judiciary at Ibadan High Court.
On January 31, there will be tributes and official reception in her honour at Havana Royal Hall, besides University of Ibadan.
On February 1, her remains will be moved to Imesi-Ile, Osun State where she held the traditional title of Iyalode for a service of songs. The following day, burial service will take place at Otapete Methodist Church before her remains will be buried.
A British citizen, the late Justice Oguntoye was the first woman to be appointed a judge in Lagos State in 1976, a year after Justice Modupe Omo-Eboh was appointed as the first female judge in the Mid-Western State in 1975. While Justice Omo-Eboh later transferred her service to Lagos State, Justice Oguntoye transferred her own service to Western State under the Gen David Jemibewon administration.
She was born on May 29, 1923 at Gravesend, Kent, England, of English parents and she served in the Royal Air force with her late husband, Chief David Ojo Abiodun Oguntoye during World War II.
Shortly after the war, she enrolled for law at the Middle Temple Inns of Court. She started law practice in Nigeria after establishing the law firm of Oguntoye & Oguntoye with her late husband. After over a decade of active practice, she joined the Western Region Magistracy in the late 1950s. Justice Oguntoye later moved to Lagos in 1967 as Chief Magistrate. She was appointed a Judge of the Lagos State High Court in February 1976.
In 1978, she sought transfer to the newly created ‘old’ Oyo state and finally retired from the bench in 1988. It is instructive to note that in the 1950s when there was no dual citizenship, Justice Oguntoye sacrificed her British Passport and adopted her husband country as her own.
