Eugene Keazor

Eugene Akosa Keazor (7 July 1907 - 1975) was a Nigerian police officer. From 1959 until Nigeria's independence the next year he held the most senior police rank ever held by an African in the British colony, retiring in 1964. It is also reputed that at many stages in his career, he was one of the most senior Indigenous Police Officers in the British Colonies.

Early life

Keazor was born in in Obosi, Eastern Nigeria (in what is now Anambra State) on 7 July 1907, to Justus Ikeazor Oboli I, a local chief and early convert to Christianity in Obosi.

The young Keazor gained admission into the newly founded Obosi Community School and then Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha in 1920 at the age of 13. He was an active member of the Boy Scouts of Nigeria and was selected for the Inaugural World Scout Jamboree in Olympia, London in 1920.

Career

Keazor joined the West African Constabulary Force around 1927 and was selected for Officer Training in London around 1947, assuming the rank of Assistant Superintendent. Upon his return to Nigeria he was assigned Command of the Panti Street Police Command in Central Lagos, as Divisional Police Officer.

Keazor attained the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police in 1959, the most senior position ever held by an African in what was to become the Nigerian Police Force while it was still under the Command of the British Government. He distinguished himself in service as part of the police contingent of United Nations Peace-Keeping Force drafted to Congo-Kinshasa during the crisis of 1960.

He retired in 1964 to the United Kingdom, where he lived with his wife Anne Abiola Keazor (née Solanke). He died in 1975, survived by his 7 sons, notably Kenneth Keazor, a former Attorney-General and Judge of the Nigerian High Court, Timothy Ikeazor, founder of the Nigerian Legal Aid scheme, Henry Keazor, an anaesthetist, and George Keazor, a former British Army Paratrooper and Civil Servant.

Awards

He is on record, as having been awarded the prestigious Colonial Police Medal, the same of which was cited in the London Gazette on 1st June 1953. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Colonial Empire (for Meritorious Service) |url= |work=Supplement to the London Gazette |publisher=United Kingdom government |date=1953-06-03 |accessdate=2008-01-14 |quote=Eugene Kenneth KEAZOR, Assistant Super-intendent, Nigeria Police Force.]

References