Eyes of a Lagos Boy – Photo of the Week
Some buildings don’t just survive history—they preserve it. St. Anne’s Court on Broad Street is one of those rare places where nearly every generation has left its mark.
The first St. Anne’s (Santa Anna) Magistrates’ Court opened at Tinubu Square in 1869 to serve the young Colony of Lagos. Seven years later, the Supreme Court Ordinance of 1876 established a Supreme Court for the colony, further entrenching the English judicial system in colonial Lagos.
The present building at the corner of Broad Street and Haffner Street was completed in 1925, replacing the earlier courthouse that occupied the site. A century later, it remains one of the enduring landmarks of Lagos Island.
This historic corner of Lagos has changed over the decades. Time has transformed the streets around it, but the courthouse continues to anchor one of Lagos Island’s most historic corners.
It was the earlier courthouse on this site that witnessed one of colonial Lagos’ most shocking tragedies. In December 1923, just three months and fifteen days after his wedding, young lawyer Moronfolu Abayomi was shot outside the court by Duro Delphonso, a plaintiff who had just lost a case. Delphonso then turned the revolver on himself and died a few days later. The incident stunned colonial Lagos and remains one of the city’s most remarkable courtroom-related stories.
One question that lingers for me: What became of the Delphonso family? Did they remain in Lagos, change their name, or quietly disappear from public memory? History remembers the crime, but says almost nothing about those left to live with its aftermath.
Lagos is home to Nigeria’s oldest magistracy, dating back to 1862. For decades, it remained the country’s only established magistracy until the Cameron Judicial Reforms of the early 1930s introduced magistrates more widely across Northern and Southern Nigeria.
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