The Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) has appointed Justice Tunde Ademola Bakre to serve as a High Court Judge in Antigua and Barbuda from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2025.

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By Zya Williams

The Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) has appointed Justice Tunde Ademola Bakre to serve as a High Court Judge in Antigua and Barbuda from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2025.

Justice Bakre is an experienced legal practitioner who was called to the bar in 1993.

He began his career as a judge in 2013 at the Ogun State High Court before receiving a secondment in 2018 by the National Judicial Council of Nigeria to provide technical assistance to the Judiciary of the Gambia.

He will replace Justice Colin Williams, who has been reassigned to a significant role in the Commonwealth of Dominica after serving as a High Court Judge in Antigua and Barbuda for over two years.

Justice Bakre will lead the country’s criminal division in his new capacity.

The reassignment of Justice Williams was due to a pressing need for a Criminal Judge in Dominica, as the nation had been without one since Justice Richard Floyd retired in April 2023 due to health-related reasons.

Justice Williams’ appointment as a High Court Judge in Antigua and Barbuda was announced by the JLSC on March 1, 2021.

However, his transition to the role of a Criminal Judge in Dominica became effective on September 1, 2023, following directives issued by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Chief Justice, Her Ladyship the Hon Dame Janice Pereira, on July 21, 2023.

Since then, Antigua and Barbuda’s High Court has been operating with only one criminal judge.