Former Nigeria’s
Attorney-General, Dr Olu Onagoruwa, 80, is dead. The human rights activist
reportedly passed on in the early hours of Friday.
Onagoruwa was appointed the
Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in
1993 and
later appointed as the African
representative to the body that drafted Ethiopia’s constitution that same year.
The deceased was also the Group
Legal Adviser/ Company Secretary of Daily Times Nigeria for several years.
Femi Falana, in a tribute in
September 2014 titled ‘Dr. Olu Onagoruwa’s Belated Admission To Inner Bar’,
wrote: “Dr. Olu Onagoruwa studied law at the University of London where he
obtained his LL.B; LL.M and PhD degrees. Upon his return to the country he
attended the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1971.
”After his pupilage he set up
his law firm in Lagos with bias for popular causes. As a liberal scholar he
combined his legal practice with regular commentary on socio-legal affairs. He
wrote several books and has to his credit over 250 published articles.
”At a period when human rights
had been put in abeyance by martial law, Dr. Onagoruwa handled many cases of
constitutional significance which questioned the basis of continued military
rule. He had cause to challenge the arrest of “political extremists” like Ken
Saro-wiwa, Minere Amakiri, Tai Solarin et al.
”When Chief Fawehinmi, Beko
Ransome-Kuti and I were detained at the Kuje prison in 1992 under the obnoxious
State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984, Dr. Onagoruwa was
on hand to defend us. On account of his leading role in the defence of public
interest cases he was subjected to crude intimidation by the military junta.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com