Richard Akinjide
Chief Osuolale Abimbola Richard Akinjide, SAN is a Yoruba Nigerian lawyer and politician.[1]
Biography
Born in the city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in the southwest of the country in the early 1930s to an influential family of warriors, Richard Akinjide attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6).
Richard Akinjide 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.
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.
Richard Akinjide is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
He also serves as a chieftain in the Olubadan of Ibadan's court of clan nobles.
Attorney General
- 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.
References
- ↑ Femi Ajayi (May 1, 2009). The Effect of Religion on the Political Process: The Case of the Federal Sharia Court of Appeal (1975-1990). iuniverse. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-5954-78-28-6. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- "Retrial for robbers condemned to Death", BBC
- SUSAN LINNEE, Nigeria, Associated Press, February 2, 1983, Wednesday, International News