Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, QC, SAN (16 December 1920 – 26 March 2005) was a prominent Nigerian lawyer who was the first Nigerian to become a

Senior Advocate of Nigeria Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is a title that may be conferred on legal practitioners in Nigeria of not less than ten years' standing and who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession. It is the equivalent of the rank of Queen's Coun ...

. In the 1950s, he was a member of the Action Group and subsequently became the minister for local government and justice. He was the president of the

Nigerian Bar Association The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is a non-profit, umbrella professional association of all lawyers admitted to the bar in Nigeria. It is engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Nigeria. T ...

in 1959, the association is the leading body for lawyers in the country. He left politics in the 1960s, as a result of the political crisis in the Western Region of Nigeria. Throughout his career, he was involved in some memorable and important court cases, such as Lakanmi vs the Western Government of Nigeria, which set the precedent that a military government could not use its power to make laws that will appropriate an individuals property. The

Oloye Oba means ″ruler″ in the Yoruba and Bini languages of West Africa. Kings in Yorubaland, a region which is in the modern republics of Benin, Nigeria and Togo, make use of it as a pre-nominal honorific. Examples of Yoruba bearers include Oba ...

Williams, himself a

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...

, was also among a group of lawyers that represented the

Oba of Lagos The Oba of Lagos, also known as the Eleko of Eko, is the traditional ruler ( Oba) of Lagos. The Oba is a ceremonial Yoruba sovereign with no political power, but is sought as a counsel or sponsor by politicians who seek support from the resident ...

, Adeniji Adele, against challenges by the

Nigerian National Democratic Party The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was Nigeria's first political party. Formed in 1923 by Herbert Macaulay to take advantage of the new Clifford Constitution, which succeeded the 1914 Nigerian Council. The NNDP successfully organized ...

. The latter had previously gained solidarity and foundation from the ruling House of Docemo in Lagos.

Early life

Rotimi Williams was born on 16 December 1920 in Lagos. His older brother was

Akintola Williams Chief Akintola Williams (born 9 August 1919) is a Nigerian accountant. He was the first Nigerian to qualify as a chartered accountant. He began his education at Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, Lag ...

, born a year earlier, who became a distinguished Chartered Accountant. His father and uncle were both lawyers, and were called to the bar in 1927 and 1892 respectively. He entered

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

in the 1930s, at the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Ologbowo School, then went to C.M.S Grammar School, Lagos for

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

. Despite being given a full

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

to study

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

Yaba Higher College Yaba Higher College was founded in 1932 in Yaba, now a suburb of Lagos in Nigeria to provide tertiary education to Africans, mostly in vocational subjects and teaching. The college staff were transferred to start the University of Ibadan in 1948 ...

, he chose to become a lawyer. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1942 and was called to the bar at the Gray's Inn, London in 1943. He set up the first indigenous Nigerian law firm in 1948 with Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode and Chief

Bode Thomas Chief Bode Thomas (October 1919 – 23 November 1953) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician, statesman and traditional aristocrat. Thomas served as both a colonial minister of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria and a nobleman and privy counse ...

. The law firm was called "Thomas, Williams and Kayode".

Early political career

In 1943, he became the first Nigerian solicitor to 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 ...

and soon thereafter entered the political arena as a member of the

Nigerian Youth Movement The Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) was Nigeria's first genuine nationalist organization, founded in Lagos at Stanley Orogun, with Professor Eyo Ita as the founding father and many others, including Samuel Akisanya. Ernest Ikoli, the first editor of ...

. He rose to become the movement's general secretary. However, the movement was soon embroiled in a crisis which dented its political support among the Nigerian masses. When the movement began to fade politically, he was one of the educated members of the Nigerian political class who joined the Action Group. He was the group's legal adviser in the early 1950s. He had previously entered the Western region's House of Chiefs by virtue of his holding of the chieftaincy title of the Apesin of Itoko in

Egbaland The Egba people are a subgroup of the Yoruba people, an ethnic group of western Nigeria, a majority of whom are from the central part of Ogun State that is Ogun Central Senatorial District. Ogun Central Senatorial District comprises six local ...

. He later also served as a member of that region's privy council. He was elected into the Lagos Town Council in 1953 and was subsequently made chairman of the council. In 1957, he became the Western Region's Attorney General, the first Nigerian to be an attorney general. He was made

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1958, another first for him, as he was one of the first two Nigerians to be made one.

Constitutional conference

On 18 October 1975, Rotimi Williams became the chairman of the Constitutional Drafting Committee. The body was formed to present a draft constitution to be approved by the military administration of

Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pres ...

. He led the convention to present an agenda for broad coalition building across ethnic and regional lines. The body pushed for presidential winners to have at least 25% of the total votes cast in two thirds of the nineteen states in Nigeria and that each of the 19 states of the federation should have a minister representing them. The political parties should also have support in at least two thirds of the states.David B. Ottaway. "Nigeria Moves Toward U.S.-Style Democracy in Africa", ''The Washington Post'', 25 April 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Frederick Rotimi 1920 births 2005 deaths Yoruba legal professionals Senior Advocates of Nigeria 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel Politicians from Lagos CMS Grammar School, Lagos alumni 20th-century Nigerian politicians Yoruba politicians 20th-century Nigerian lawyers