Society Gists

The Former Minister of Justice in the second Republic, Chief  Richard Akinjide,(SAN), who is the oldest lawyer in Nigeria today has been reported dead, the cause of death still remain sketchy as at the time of filing this reports.

Akinjide who was also a former Minister of Education in the Government of Prime Minister Tafawa  practiced law for over 60 years and has stated severally that there is no retirement in legal profession.

The late legal luminary was born in 1930 in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, attended St. Peter’s Primary School, Aremo in Ibadan, before proceeding to  Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6).

In 1951 Akinjide travelled to the United Kingdom  for his higher education, where he  studied for his LLB degree in Law at the University of London and also obtained a certificate in Journalism,and called to the English Bar in 1955.

The deceased was subsequently called to the Nigerian and the Gambian Bar. and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1978,while on return to Nigeria, he practiced briefly under S.L Durosaro before setting up his practice of Akinjide & Co.

Akinjide was a contributor to West African Pilot and Daily Times, as a result of his love for journalism, and he also taught International Commercial Arbitration at post-graduate level at the University of Ibadan.

The late Akinjide 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 (NPN) in 1978, and became the Legal Adviser for the party before he was later appointed the Minister for Justice.