ON Tuesday, April 21, 2020, Chief Richard Osuolale Abimbola Akinjide, a legal giant who played prominent roles in Nigeria’s chequered history, passed on. The late elder statesman was a nationalist, administrator, politician, teacher and journalist whose impact on our legal and political firmaments dates back to the First Republic.
For instance, he served as a Minister of Education in the First Republic government of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and in the Second Republic was appointed Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the administration of President Shehu Shagari.
Until his death, he was reputed as the highest-ranked Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. He attained the highly coveted title of SAN in 1978, at the same time with 12 other well-accomplished lawyers and indeed distinguished personalities, including the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, Chief Bankole Oki, Chief Kehinde Sofola, Dr. Augustine Nnamani and Professor Ben Nwabueze.
He was a member of the Judicial Systems Sub-Committee of the Constitution Drafting Committee, CDC, of 1975-1977. After he joined the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, in 1978, he became the party’s Legal Adviser and was later appointed the Minister for Justice.
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His watch as Attorney-General was noted for the good and bad. Nigeria temporarily halted the execution of armed robbers, just as it abolished a decree barring exiles from returning to the country, which enabled exiled former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and former secessionist leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to return.
Notably also is the fact that many illegal foreign nationals were evicted from Nigeria. He was also the lead prosecutor in the treason trial of Alhaji Bukar Zanna Mandara.
But for all he achieved as a lawyer and politician, Chief Akinjide would probably be better remembered by Nigerians for his role in the Twelve Two-Thirds Supreme Court judgement that hallmarked the 1979 presidential election. Nigerians will also not forget that he was one of the lawyers who defended Nigeria at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, in the battle for Bakassi Peninsula with the Republic of Cameroun, which Nigeria lost.
Akinjide who died at 88, was born on November 30, 1930 in Ibadan, Oyo State. He attended the Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife. He later left for the UK in 1951 for his higher education. He was called to the English Bar in 1955. After returning to Nigeria, Chief Akinjide practised briefly under S.L Durosaro before setting up his firm, Akinjide & Co.
Apart from law and politics, he also wrote for the defunct West African Pilot and the Daily Times and taught International Commercial Arbitration at the post-graduate level at the University of Ibadan.
We fondly remember and appreciate his worthy contributions to Nigeria’s development. May his soul rest in peace.
The post Richard Akinjide: Legal luminary, elder statesman appeared first on Vanguard News.
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