Politics
The Ikeja Branch of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) have described the passing of Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) as a great loss to the legal profession.
Akinjide, a Minister of Education in the First Republic and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the Second Republic, died at the age of 89 in the early hours of Tuesday in Ibadan.
Reacting to the news of the passage of the legal icon on Tuesday in Lagos, Mr Dele Oloke, the Chairman of NBA Ikeja, described the late SAN as “one of the greatest lawyers Nigeria ever produced”.
Oloke said that Akinjide had a brilliant mind and was an quintessential education minister and Attorney-General of the Federation.
“He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on the same day with Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief G.O.K Ajayi (SAN). He was also one of the founding fathers of the Yoruba nation.
“The NBA Ikeja branch regrets the death of Chief Richard Akinjide, Nigeria will miss him, the entire legal community will miss him , Yoruba land and Ibadan land in particular will miss him,” the NBA Ikeja branch chairman said.
Mr Malachy Ugwummadu, a human rights lawyer and the National President of the CDHR, said that the late Akinjide was a renowned and accomplished lawyer in Nigeria.
“He was greatly appreciated as one of the best legal brains in the country. He was not wanting among his contemporaries and there were quite a handful of them, his own generation of lawyers were mainly London trained.
“He brought that to bare not only in his communication skills, but in his advocacy and the level of integrity he put in his legal practice,” the CDHR president said.
Recalling an encounter with the late Akinjide, Ugwummadu said they met in 2004 when they had represented opposing parties in a case and that the late SAN displayed a lot of knowledge and humility in his conduct.
“He reached out to me and said young man there is a need to know you more and handed to me his complimentary card and assured me of the best alternative to resolving the dispute.
“For me, that was the trait of a gentleman who understood the ethics of the profession and was willing to expand the coast of his professional relationships regardless of your age,” he said. (NAN)
– Apr. 21, 2020 @ 15:15 GMT |
Tags: a huge loss to Nigeria legal profession – NBA Ikeja Akinjide’s death CDHR
