Akintola Olufemi Eyiwunmi, CON (May 27, 1936 – June 20, 2008) was a Nigerian

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

, former judge at the

High Court of Lagos State The High Court of Lagos State is the highest state court of law in Lagos State. It has several divisions, including Igbosere, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Epe, Lagos State, Epe, Ajah, Badagry, and Ikorodu. References External links Lagos State Judiciary ...

and Justice of the

Supreme Court of Nigeria The Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN) is the highest court in Nigeria, and is located in the Central District, Abuja, in what is known as the Three Arms Zone, so called due to the proximity of the offices of the Presidential Complex, the National Ass ...

Early life

Justice Eyiwunmi was born in May 1936 in

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

, Southwestern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He attended CMS Grammar School and the Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos where he obtained the West Africa School Certificate in 1948. In 1957, he proceeded to the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

where he obtained a bachelor's degree in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

in July 1961.

Law career

After he was called to the English bar, he returned to Nigeria as law clerk in the

in 1962. In 1963, he joined the Oyo State Ministry of Justice at Ibadan where he bagged a scholarship award to study for an LL.M. in International Air and Space Law at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Canada, which he completed in 1964. He returned to the Ministry of Justice, Ibadan in 1964 and was appointed a

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Advo ...

at the Director of Public Prosecutions's office and was deployed to Lagos State in 1967, the same year the state was established. In 1974, he was appointed director of Public Prosecution, Lagos State and later Solicitor General in 1978, a position he held till May 23, 1979, when he was appointed to the bench of the

as a Judge and in 1988, he became a Justice at the courts of appeals. On November 26, 1998, he was appointed to the bench of the

, where he retired on May 27, 2006, as Justice. On March 15, 2006, before his retirement, he served as Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Reform of the Administration of Justice System in Nigeria. In 2008, two years after his retirement, he became a member of the Nigerian Police Service Commission, a position he held until his demise on June 20, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyiwunmi, Akintola Olufemi 1936 births Nigerian jurists People from Lagos State 2008 deaths Yoruba legal professionals Alumni of the University of Hull McGill University Faculty of Law alumni Methodist Boys' High School alumni CMS Grammar School, Lagos alumni Lagos State judges Supreme Court of Nigeria justices

Early life

Law career

See also

References