Former minister of justice and Attorney-General of the federation, Chief Osuolale Richard Akinjide is dead.
The 88-year-old legal icon died in his Ibadan, Oyo State, home.
Born in Ibadan, 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).
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.
The late Akinjide also serves as a chieftain in the Olubadan of Ibadan’s court of clan nobles. As 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 the 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.
He was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic (PDP).
