Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-general of Nigeria, Chief Abimbola Osuolale Richard Akinjide is dead. The 88-year-old legal luminary, who has been ailing for some years, died in his Ibadan, Oyo State, home.
Akinjide was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in London in 1956. He served as an elected member of parliament, Ibadan, South-East constituency and as a Minister of Education in the Tafawa Balewa Administration from 1959-1966.
He was later appointed the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation by Alhaji Shehu Shagari. He served in that capacity from 1979-1983 when the civilian administration was toppled by a coup.
He was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Akinjide got the nickname “the mathematician” for his role in bringing Alhaji Shehu Shagari to power in 1979.
Born in Ibadan on 4 November 1931, the capital of Oyo State to an influential family of warriors, Akinjide attended St. Peter’s Primary School, Aremo in Ibadan, a school regarded as one of the best schools in Yoruba land at the time. He then proceeded to Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6).
His daughter, Olajumoke was a former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
