DENOUNCED HER BRITISH CITIZENSHIP BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN ON THE LAGOS STATE BENCH AND THE SECOND FEMALE JUDGE IN NIGERIA, DULCIE (KING) OGUNTOYE.
As a Nigerian, in most occasion the believe attached to success is sometimes synonymous to seeking "greener pasture" elsewhere around Europe, America and so on; in what has been termed "Jakpa Syndrome". But in this sensational story we are about see how a British lady believed in a black skin man from Nigeria and how she later went on to become a great name in the Nigeria societal history. Here is the story of Dulcie Ethel Adunola a white English-Nigerian Woman.
When
World War II broke out David Oguntoye hid in a ship and traveled to Britain to
volunteer for the Royal Air Force.
He
arrived in Britain in June 1942, and was selected to train as a navigator in
Canada for four years. Unfortunately the time he was returning to Britain in
1946, the war had already ended, which meant couldn't be deployed on the
battlefield.
Instead
he was posted to Bicester Oxford as a welfare officer for the Caribbean airmen
stationed there. In June of the same year a young beautiful white lady called
Dulcie King, also serving in the Royal Air Force, was posted to the same
station to serve as an education instructor.
The
two fell in love and began courting something that shocked the military.
Interracial marriages were really resented in Britain, and to make it worse
this was happening in the military. Her commanding officer summoned her and
warned her about going out with a Black person.
Most
of the officers disliked the fact that Dulcie had chosen a black boyfriend.
Furthermore, it was Ministry of Defence's policy that interracial relationships
should not be allowed to thrive in the military. They even transferred her to
another station in an attempt to break the relationship, but the love was too
strong.
On
one occasion a group of airmen tried to attack David, but Dulcie intervened to
protect him. The couple who were now both holding the rank of Flight Sergeant,
continued to be seen together, and in October 1946 they attended a dance at
Royal Air Force Bicester.
To
rub salt in the wound, for the first time they decided to hold each other in
public as other airmen watched. “He sat on the arm of my chair with his arm
ostentatiously around me. This, of course, was something we never normally did
in public, but we intended to demonstrate unmistakably our relationship,”
Dulcie recalled.
One
month later the two decided to leave the Royal Air Force and got married
immediately on 16 November 1946 despite the opposition from her parents. They
both trained as lawyers in London before leaving for Nigeria in 1954 where they
settled permanently. Because he was considered a chief by his tribe Flight
Sergeant David went on to marry five other wives , however, this did not in any
way affect their relationship. She was contented with being the first wife.
They
went on to start a law firm together and in 1960, she denounced her British
citizenship. In 1964, David Oguntoye was selected as a Court President while
Dulcie Oguntoye became first a Magistrate and, in 1976, a High Court Judge. She
was the first woman on the Lagos State bench and the second female judge in Nigeria
after Modupe Omo-Eboh.
When
David died in June 1997, she took charge as a ‘benevolent matriarch’ to her
late husband’s family until her death in 2018.
Real love is never determined by skin colour or complexion, or neither does it look at fault, it comes natural.
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