Richard Akinjide

Osuolale Abimbola Richard Akinjide is a Nigerian lawyer, politician and tribal nobleman. Born in the ancient city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in the southwest of the country in the early 1930s to an influential family of warriors, he exhibited extraordinary brilliance while in school and attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6). He travelled to the UK in 1951 for his higher education and was called to the English Bar in 1955 and later in Nigeria. He established his practice of Akinjide & Co soon after. The Firm remains one of the best in the country till date. He was a former minister of education in the government of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa during the second republic and the minister for Justice in the administration of President Shehu Shagari. He was a member of the judicial systems sub-committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975-1977 and later joined the National Party of Nigeria in 1978. He became the legal adviser for the party and was later appointed the Minister for Justice.

Attorney general

Prominent Matters

• It was under his watch that Nigeria temporarily reversed executions of armed robbers.
• The Abolition of a decree barring exiles from returning to the country.
• He was lead prosecutor in the treason trial of Bukar Zanna Mandara.
• The eviction of many illegal foreign nationals from Nigeria which contributed to mild violence against some foreigners in the country. The event also exposed some weaknesses within the West African economic community.

Otun Olubadan of Ibadan

As the civilian vizier of the traditional king of the Ibadan clan, Akinjide serves as one of the Yoruba people's most prominent aristocrats. In addition to his relevance in the day to day administration of the city of his birth, he also serves as one of the two principal heirs in the line of succession to the kingship itself in his capacity as the Otun Olubadan, the other being the military vizier, the Balogun of Ibadan.

External links

• Akinjide & Co Barristers and Solicitors

References

• "Retrial for robbers condemned to Death", BBC
• SUSAN LINNEE, Nigeria, Associated Press, February 2, 1983, Wednesday, International News