Omoba Sir Adetokunbo Adegboyega Ademola GCON KBE PC SAN (1 February 1906 – 29 January 1993) was a Nigerian jurist who was the Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1958 to 1972.
After returning to Nigeria and at the insistence of his father,[1] he joined the Civil Service and from 1934–35, he worked as crown counsel in the Office of the Attorney-General.
He then joined the unified Nigerian administrative service and for a year, he was posted to Enugu as assistant secretary at the southern secretariat, Eastern Nigeria.
As a magistrate, he was posted to various Nigerian towns; Ademola worked in Warri from 1939-1946, and then returned to Lagos in 1946 to preside at St Anna Court.
In 1964, after the stalemate of national elections, Nnamdi Azikiwe, the president, refused to call any party to form a government until the intervention of Sir Louis Mbanefo, the Chief Justice of the Eastern region and Ademola.
[7] As Chief Justice, Ademola was involved in some notable judgements during his tenure, in both Regina vs Ilorin Native Authority[8] and Ayinke vs Ibidunni, he delved into the issue of customary law.
Sir Adetokunbo, along with Dr. Teslim Olawale Elias (who succeeded him as Chief Justice of Nigeria), was instrumental in the establishment of the Nigerian Law School.
[11] After his retirement from the judiciary, Ademola was appointed chairman of the newly created Nigerian Census Board, a predecessor to the current National Population Commission.
The figure was rejected by most Southern states who were not happy that the proportion of people resident in the North had a much higher increase from the previous census that those living in the south.