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 boa ...

George Baptist Ayodola Coker (27 January 1917 – 7 February 1991) was a Judge of the

Nigerian Supreme Court 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 Asse ...

, serving from 1964 until 1975. He was an author of two books: ''Family Property among the Yorubas'', and a lecture series, ''Freedom and Justice''. He was the Olori Eyo of the Adimu Eyo cultural masquerade in the

Nigerian chieftaincy system The Nigerian Chieftaincy is the chieftaincy system that is native to Nigeria. Consisting of everything from the country's monarchs to its titled family elders, the chieftaincy as a whole is one of the oldest continuously existing institutions i ...

Life

A Saro, Coker was born in Lagos as the son of George Baptist Coker. He was educated at Olowogbowo Wesleyan Primary School, Lagos from 1924 to 1928 and he then attended

Methodist Boys High School Methodist Boys High School, Lagos (MBHS Lagos) is a secondary school for boys located in Victoria Island, Lagos. Nigeria. Founded in 1878, it was the second secondary school established in Nigeria. History The leaders of the Methodist community, ...

, Lagos from 1929 to 1931, he finished his secondary education as one of the foundational students of

Igbobi College Igbobi College is a college established by the Methodist and Anglican Churches in 1932, in the Yaba suburb of Lagos, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria. It is still on its original site and most of the original buildings are intact. It is one ...

. Thereafter, he worked briefly as a civil servant and later as a teacher. He later proceeded to London to earn a law degree and was called to the bar in 1947. He obtained a Ph.D. in law in 1955. Coker had a lucrative law practice in Lagos before he was appointed to the bench of High Court of Lagos in 1958. In 1962, during a political crisis in the Western region of Nigeria, Coker was appointed by

Moses Majekodunmi Chief Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi C.F.R, C.M.G. ( yo, Adékóyèjọ Májẹ̀kódùnmí; 17 August 1916 – 11 April 2012) was a Nigerian gynaecologist and obstetrician. He was also Minister of Health in the Nigerian First Republic. As an ...

, the sole administrator of the region to chair a commission of enquiry into the affairs of some statutory corporations. The commission was viewed by some as an instrument to discredit the Awolowo faction of the Action Group. However, in the final report of the enquiry, it found

Awolowo Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe O ...

culpable in the diversion of regional funds to finance the Action Group but exonerated Akintola, which made it easier for the latter to be reinstated as Premier of the region. He became a justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court in 1964. At the apex court, Coker was notable for his judgements in stay of execution pending judgement cases. Two notable cases of the nature were Vaswani v Savalakh and Utilgas Nigerian And Overseas Gas Co. Ltd.v. Pan African Bank Ltd.Ogundere, J. D. (1994). The Nigerian judge and his court. Ibadan, University Press. P. 93 Coker was a member of the Methodist Church in Tinubu, Lagos.

References

Supreme Court of Nigeria justices 20th-century Nigerian lawyers Lawyers from Lagos Methodist Boys' High School alumni Igbobi College alumni 1917 births 1991 deaths {{Nigeria-bio-stub