Darnley Alexander

Sir Darnley Alexander, QC, SAN, GCFR (28 January 1920 – 10 February 1989[1]) was a Nigerian Jurist and former Chief Justice of Nigeria.[2][3]

Alexander was born in Castries, St Lucia on 28 January 1920. He attended University of London and obtained a Bachelor of Law degree in 1942. He served as a crown counsel and legal draftsman in Jamaica and as a magistrate in Turks and Caicos Islands. He came to Nigeria in 1957 on the invitation of the premier of the Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo who had appealed to the Colonial Office in London to help source a legal draftsman;[4] Alexander then served the region in various capacities. He was Legal Draftsman, Western Region, Nigeria from 1957-1969 and was acting Director of Public Prosecutions in 1958. In 1960, he was appointed the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary of the regional Ministry of Justice and in 1963, he was made Queen's Counsel. In 1964, he was appointed a judge in the Lagos High Court and later in 1969, he was appointed Chief Justice of the South Eastern State now Cross River and Akwa Ibom states. He was appointed Chief Justice in 1975 over senior members of the Court. As a judge, he was appointed by Dennis Osadebay to serve as the commissioner of enquiry into the Owegbe secret cult, he was also chairman of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Examination Leakages.[5]

After his retirement, he became the chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission.