Former Nigeria’s Attorney-General, Richard Akinjide dies at 88
Former Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Abimbola Osuolale Richard
Akinjide, has died.
The 88-year-old
legal icon died in his Ibadan home today April 21, at about 1am after a long
battle with an undisclosed ailment.
Born in Ibadan, the
Oyo State capital in the early 1930s to an influential family of warriors, the
late foremost lawyer and Ibadan high chief attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife
from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6).
He travelled to the
United Kingdom in 1951 for his higher education and was called to the English
Bar in 1955 and later to the Nigerian Bar. He established his law firm,
Akinjide & Co soon after.
The frontline Yoruba
leader was a Minister of Education in the first republic, during the government
of Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Minister for Justice in the second
republic, during 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.
May his soul rest in
peace, Amen.
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