By Olumuyiwa Mayowa
Second Republic Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide has died at the age of 88.
The legal luminary, who propounded the 12.2/3 legal theory that tilted victory towards the candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari at the presidential election tribunal in 1983 against Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) died on Monday.
Akinjide who was also a former Minister of Education practiced law for over 60 years and stated severally that there is no retirement in legal profession.
Born in 1930 in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, Akinjide 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,an became the Legal Adviser for the party before he was later appointed the Minister for Justice.
May he rest in peace. Our condolences to his family.