AKANDE: EXIT OF A LEGAL AMAZON

The news of the death of Professor Jadesola Akande on Tuesday, 29 April, came as a shock to many Nigerians. Professor Akande had no history of any sickness, as she was still very active a few hours before her death.  The legal and academic icon died a few days after the exit of Pa Abraham Adesanya, leader of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group. Both of them were prominent lawyers and in the forefront of social and political activism in Nigeria. Also, with the unending rumour about Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s ill health, it will not be incorrect to conclude that the past few weeks have been a trying one for the civil society organisations and human rights community.

Professor Akande’s last public engagement was at the 70th birthday of Chief Fawehinmi, where she reportedly supervised the cutting of the cake, a ceremony which the celebrant could not attend owing to his illness. Though only 68, an unripe age for such a remarkable and highly resourceful individual to have bidden the world bye, Akande lived a very rich and fulfilling life. She spent the better part of her adult life promoting the advancement of societal good. She left solid footprints through the tremendous contributions she made to the nation’s education, administration, justice, democracy, the rule of law, due process, social and political activism, constitutionalism and good governance.  

OLAYINKA Akande, a distinguished lawyer and professor of constitutional law, was born on November 15, 1940. She received her elementary education at People’s Girls School , Ibadan, between 1945 and 1952. She also attended the famous St Anne’s School, Ibadan, 1953-57 and Barnstaple Girls Grammar School, 1958-60 for her secondary and higher school certificate education.  From 1960-63 to 1969-71, the academic and legal Amazon was at the University of London, where she started and completed her degree and higher degree programmes in law. She was called to the English Bar in 1964 and the Nigerian Bar in 1965, having attended the Nigerian Law School after her return from the United Kingdom in 1964.

BETWEEN 1964 and 1965, the legal luminary was appointed a state counsel in the defunct Western Region of Nigeria. She joined the University of Lagos in 1965 as a lecturer in law. She was a very brilliant academic who reached the apogee of her career as a professor despite the challenges of running the home as a caring wife and responsible mother. She was appointed Research Professor of Law, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos. She was, also, appointed a Professor of Law and Dean School of Law, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, and became the acting Vice Chancellor of the university in 1988. Her appointment as a full-fledged vice chancellor was confirmed in 1990. Professor Akande was a consummate academic and university administrator under whose leadership LASU recorded remarkable progress in academics and sports.

AKANDE, who was conferred with the traditional title of Yeyemeko of Ilobu, was a member of the Constitutional Review Committee, 1987-88 and a member of Constituent Assembly, 1988-1989. She was also a member of the following professional and social organisations: International Federation of Women Lawyers; International Law Society; member and president of the Zonta Club, Lagos.   A prominent member of the pro-democracy movement, PRONACO, Professor Akande was instrumental in the drafting of the organisation’s constitution, a document that is considered to be more encompassing as Nigeria’s constitution than the one in use, which has been criticised for its many shortcomings by not addressing the nation’s critical problems and for allegedly being a “military” constitution.

AS a foremost lawyer, Akande had been described as a philosopher-jurist, who saw the role of law as being that of social engineering. She was more concerned about the justice in a case than the argument that culminated in the judgment obtained in the particular case, thus ranking her among great personalities like Lord Denning, Justices Kayode Eso and Chukwudifu Oputa.

THE late Jadesola and her husband, Chief Debo Akande (SAN), who died a few years ago, were progressive lawyers who deployed their legal knowledge in the promotion of social and political order. Jadesola was, indeed,  a perfect example of the very few selfless individuals that can be found in the country. As one of the heroines of democratic struggle in Nigeria, her exit has created a gap that may be difficult to fill. But Nigerians, no doubt, will take solace in the legacy of courage, resourcefulness, patriotism and selflessness which characterised her life and times. Jadesola was a shining example; she was a source of inspiration to many a Nigerian and her life would continue to inspire many more Nigerians.               

Nigeria’s weapon of mass defence (wmd)

THE desire of successive Nigerian governments has always been to steer the country away from a monocultural economy that is wholly dependent on crude oil export. Many a Nigerian government had toyed with the ideas of agriculture rebirth, textile industry revival and many other such policies that they thought would push the country into more economic prosperity and engender growth. But as much as they tried, none of these governments had considered the possibility of making the nation an exporter of weapons — the weapons of mass defence (WMD).

Unlike Saddam Hussein and his country Iraq, who were punished severely on the trumped up charge of being in possession of the dangerous version of WMD — weapons of mass destruction — by the United States of America, the Nigerian brand of WMD is not for human annihilation. Nigeria’s WMD, it has now been confirmed, saves lives.

A former commissioner for finance in Kogi State, Mr. Abiodun Ojo, should get a national award for pointing the new direction the country should take in its diversification efforts. Mr. Ojo, recently, told Nigerians and, indeed, the whole world that his country had a large arsenal of WMD, which could save the world from AK 47 and other assault riffles. He told the story of his exploits with Nigeria’s WMD. He narrated how three hired guns came to his house, shot him many times but thanks to the WMD, his body was rock-solid and impregnable. The assassins ran away when they discovered that Mr. Ojo was “WMD-proof.”

IT is not certain whether the Nigerian government is aware of the money-spinning venture that exporting its own brand of bullet-proof devices or weapon of mass defence to other countries can be. Now that Mr. Ojo has shown the way, the government can start tapping into the huge reserves of WMD and begin selling these weapons to the world at astronomical prices. It can begin by fabricating the type (“WMD body-filler” or Ayeta in Yoruba) that turned Mr. Ojo’s body into an impregnable fortress or by building larger ones that will make a whole city impervious to nuclear or “extended” bombs.