By Tunde Abatan
Until he breathed his last Tuesday morning at his Ibadan residence,he remains a notable figure not only in the legal profession where he has practise his trade over five decades but also as a notable politician.He was controversial as controversy could be especially when he had to deploy his legal acumen to defend his political beliefs.
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In his practise of law and politics which started initially as a member of the Action Group in the late 50s and early 60s,the early period of the first republic when he served as Education minister under the Tarawa Balewa regime,he also was part of the leading Yoruba politicians who pitched his tent which late Premiere of the Western region,Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola,when the later moved out of the AG after the rioutos 1962 Jos national convention of the party where,Akintola then Premiere was censored by the party for anti party activities. The events which followed the Jos convention marked the polarisation of a hitherto united Yoruba political family in the AG,which was then the ruling party in the region.The split of the party also was followed quickly by the famous treasonable felony trial which led to the imprisonment of leader of opposition,Obafemi Awolowo in 1963.
Akinjide followed Akintola in the formation of the Nigerian National Democratic Party(NNDP),which became the rallying point for opposition party in the then Western region. Its members were euphemistically addressed as’Demo’.It earned the title during the ensuing crisis which set ablaze the western region in the first republic as ‘Demo’ became home for opposition to the majority party.
Since then,Chief Akinjide,a leading member of the NNDP and very close follower of Chief Akintola became controversial in politics and in his law profession ,the practise of which he was a huge success.He was easily one of the very successful legal practitioners of his generation who plied his trade since he was called to the English Bar in the 50s and he has remained relevant as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN) and his vocation of politics which he took seriously .You can hardly separate him from the two.
It will be recalled that the formation of NNDP which later went into alliance with the Northern Peoples Congress(NPC) was a thorn in the flesh of the AG and its role in the widely disputed 1964 elections in the region led to the chain of events which set in motion the fall of the first republic in 1966.
After the fall of the first republic of which he was Minister of Education,under the Tafawa Balewa government, Chief Akinjide returned to his legal practise and it was from there that he later joined the newly formed National Party of Nigeria(NPN) in 1979.
He was part of the remaining members of the defunct NNDP which later joined the NPN and played active role in expanding its fortunes in the South west.
Chief Akinjide contested the governorship election of old Oyo state in 1979 against late Chief Bola Ige,his former for in the first republic and lost the election to Ige.
Not only that his party the NPN having lost the four states of which the former western region was later divided became the opposition party to the ruling party in Lagos,Ogun,Oyo and Ondo states.
However,Akinjide reinvented his genius in law when he led other lawyers to defend the legal tango which greeted the declaration of late Alhaji Shehu Shagari who was then the presidential candidate of the NPN.
Few days before the pronouncement of Alhaji Shagari as winner,Akinjide had propounded the theory of what is the two third of nineteen states as a result of the condition which stipulated that the winner of the election must score at least 25% of 2/3 of the states of the federation. In the early days prelude to announcement, it was clear that Shagari polled 25% in 12 states and significant vote in Kano while chief Awolowo got 25% in six States of the federation.Both candidates were obviously warning up for the electoral college to settle the election as stipulated by the electoral law when,the Federal Electoral Commission(FEDECO) through its executive secretary,Alhaji Ahmed Kurfi declared Shagari as winner having scored 2/3 in Kano state which is accepted as having satisfied the requirement of 2/3 of 19 states the n. Thus Akinjide legal proposition was accepted by FEDECO.
He became known as Mr 12 2/3.
FEDECO in glaring Shagari elected declared it was doing so,”in the absence of legal interpretation and guidance on what is 2/3 of 19 states”.
This legal interpretation by FEDECO irked Chief Awolowo who went to both electoral ,appeal court and ended up at the Supreme court.
In his ruling,then chief Justice of the Federation,Chief Atanda Fatai Williams, who was appointed few days before the election to replace Sir Alexander who retired, affirmed Shagaris election as President.Curiously,he declared that the judgement could not be cited as reference in any case in the country.
Thus,Akinjide legal proposition was to serve the exigencies of the moment.He earned his knick name,Mr 2/3, which became his alias.
When Alhaji Shagari formed his cabinet,Akinjide became the federal attorney general and minister for justice, in obvious compensation for his legal contribution to the party’s victory.
With the fall of the second republic,Akinjide went on exile to the United kingdom where he continued his legal practise.He returned to the country towards the later part of the 80s.
When the third republic birthed,Chief Akinjide joined the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and he became one of the members of the board of trustees.
His daughter,Jumoke Akinjide later became a minister under the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Chief Akinjide was a leading member of the Yoruba Council of Elders(YCE) otherwise known as Egbe Igbimo Yoruba since its formation in 2001.
Before his death in the early hours of Tuesday,he had been battling with an age related illness.
He would have been 89 in November.
Akinjide, an Ibadan high chief, attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, in Osun State and passed out with a distinction (Aggregate 6).
The legal luminary proceeded on his educational journey in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1951 and was called to the English Bar in 1955.
He was later called to the Nigerian Bar and he established Akinjide and Co legal firm.
The deceased was also a member of the Judicial Systems Sub-Committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975 to 1977.
His death marked the end of an era in the legal profession and in the nations politics having giving it all and seen it all since the early 50s and of which he has remained a consistent voice until he slowed down of recent obviously due to old age.
Eternal rest grant him.
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