Oke, born on June 10, 1954, was appointed as the 16th chief judge of Lagos State by former Governor  Akinwunmi Ambode in September, 2017.

Oke, is an alumnus of the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Osun State, now Obafemi Awolowo University, where she read Law from 1973 to 1978.

She enrolled at the Nigerian Law School from 1978 to 1979 and the Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. from 1980-1982 for a Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice.

She began her professional career as a counsel at the law firm of Otesanya & Otesanya in 1979 before she joined the Lagos State Judiciary as a senior magistrate.

Oke rose through the ranks to become chief magistrate grade one from 1986 to 1996 and a deputy chief registrar between 1993 to 1994.

She was appointed Judge of High Court of Lagos State on July 19, 1996.

As the Chief Judge of Lagos, she took notably steps to curb touting in the court premises and corruption at the registry/cash office of the high court.

On February 1, 2018, she inaugurated two new divisions of the Ikeja High Court, which are the Special Offences Court (three courtrooms) and the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court (two courtrooms).

Oke also introduced a number of reforms, including the Backlog Elimination Programme, the Small Claims Court and Restorative Justice System.

In a bid to improve justice delivery, the retired chief judge introduced the Sentencing Guidelines for Judges and Magistrates, the Civil Procedure Rules and Practice Direction and a Handbook for Court Registrars.

Justice Kazeem Alogba, the most senior judge in the Lagos State Judiciary is set to become Oke’s successor.

Source:  NAN

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The assurance was given on Tuesday by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Opeyemi Oke.

She gave the assurance during the presentation of the ACJL Practice Direction and Restorative Justice Practice Direction.

She said the situation whereby those who commit minor offences are locked up in prison for the least reason would be reversed.

According to her, that would also help reduce the population of inmates in the prisons.

Her words:  “Today in Nigeria we have seen countless cases where defendants are arrested for minor offences such as burglary and wandering; they are locked up in our prisons for the flimsiest reasons to join the teeming population awaiting trial inmates.

“In fact, the awaiting trial inmates account for more than 75 per cent of the inmates in our prisons today.

“They are in our prisons with hardened criminals and by the time they come out they have been initiated into a life of crime and are ready to spread terror, death, and destruction in their post-prison escapades.”

She stated further:  “Lagos State has been at the vanguard in terms of criminal justice reform when it passed the ACJL in 2007, amended it in 2011. Other states followed suit, adopted and improved upon it.

“Now, Lagos State is going further with these new practice directions to realise the goal of expedited trials, improvement in the case disposal rates and hopefully, this will culminate in the decongestion of our prisons.”

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