Former Minister of Justice in the second Republic, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), has been reported dead, after a brief illness at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State.
Akinjide, who is also the oldest lawyer in Nigeria today, was also a former Minister of Education in the Government of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.
The late legal luminary practiced law for over 60 years and stating that there is no retirement in legal profession.
Akinjide 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).
He, however travelled to the United Kingdom in 1951 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.
The deceased was also a contributor to the West African Pilot and Daily Times Newspapers, as a love for journalism.
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.
Reports also had it that, it was under Akinjide’s watch that Nigeria temporarily reversed executions of armed robbers and the Abolition of a decree.
The late legal luminary died at the age of 90 years old.
