Wole Olanipekun and the law of the land, by Abiodun Komolafe

by · The Eagle Online

Decades ahead, a fastidious, dispassionate scholar will cast his gaze upon one of those who kept his reputation unblemished and acknowledge him in remembrance of times past. A key factor in the choice of subject will be tracing how a man distinguished himself without becoming mired in the quicksand of a society enmeshed in moral decline during the very epoch in which he operated and reached great heights.

Wole Olanipekun fits the bill for such a persona. Even within his own lifetime, he has become a role model for aspiring young lawyers who want to build a professional career on the basis of standards, not shortcuts and sleights of hand.

Olanipekun is a throwback to an era when those so fondly remembered today reached the pinnacle of the legal profession without involving themselves in shady practices. There has never been a whiff of the untoward about him, even in these days of muckraking social media. Indeed, he belongs to the days of the true Esquire – a term the uninitiated now use to describe all lawyers in the face of declining standards. They would be well-advised to look into the historical roots of the term and what it actually depicts.

The word itself emerged as what is now known as the Bar was becoming established and institutionalised after the proclamation of the Magna Carta in 1215, setting off a constitutional evolution that later forced the containment of the Divine Right of Kings. The Esquire was, in most cases, the second son of the Squire, who was a nobleman and landowner. The eldest son inevitably inherited the bulk of the estate and the second son had to be packaged into a profession to make a living.

The emerging legal profession, in particular, the Bar, absorbed a lot of the Esquires in those early days. This meant that the Esquire had the mien, gait, and bearing of the nobility and was expected to have impeccable standards of integrity as well as the ethos of Noblesse Oblige, which translates from the French as “The obligation of the aristocracy to show compassion and care to the less fortunate.”

This should be the hallmark of the Esquire, and Wole Olanipekun exhibits those traits of high standards – integrity and compassion – expected of the profession. This is a remarkable feat, as he has commendably swum against the tide of a society in moral decay. His success has been based on rigorous thinking and application, which led to his carving a path to the forefront of the legal profession and earning great acknowledgment and kudos locally and internationally.

To understand Olanipekun, you have to look past the silk gown and the legendary legal briefs. This Senior Statesman isn’t just a lawyer; he is a permanent persona in the Nigerian power structure – proof that a highly successful route to the apex still exists, devoid of ‘as-man-knows-man’ sycophancy and assorted trickery.

To his admirers, he is the grand architect of judicial order, a man who prevents political chaos by resolving disputes with clinical finality. 

To his critics, the courtroom under his influence can feel like a theatre of the absurd, where the “impossible” suddenly becomes law with uncommon alacrity in a few hundred pages.

Olanipekun is currently the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos, the Chancellor of Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology (BOUESTI), and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ajayi Crowther University. He also leads the Wole Olanipekun Foundation (WOF), his philanthropic vehicle. This is only a chapter in an ever-expanding legacy of service.

It shows a mentorship of a very high standard that all four of Olanipekun’s children are lawyers, and two of them, instead of becoming spoilt, entitled brats, have also reached the highest level of the profession in his lifetime. With the other two siblings also advancing remarkably within the legal space, it is clear this guidance has extended far beyond his immediate and extended family.

Away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos and the high-stakes drama of Abuja, one encounters a different Olanipekun in Ikere-Ekiti, his hometown. Here, he isn’t just a Senior Advocate; he is an institution. His community footprint is not driven by jockeying for political relevance or seeking to become a traditional ruler. In a state that prides itself on being the ‘Fountain of Knowledge’, the former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President and Chairman of the Body of Benchers has steadily elevated his interventions. It is a commitment that will no doubt intensify in the years ahead.

On Tuesday, the Asiwaju of Ikere Kingdom commissioned two major projects in Ikere-Ekiti. The morning event saw the launch of the Chief Wole Olanipekun Digital Centre at Amoye Grammar School, his alma mater, while the afternoon was dedicated to opening the state-of-the-art NewCruse Mother and Child Maternity Complex at the State Specialist Hospital.

Indeed, a cursory glance at Olanipekun’s asset validates his capacity to easily afford for himself, his immediate, and his extended family the best and, by implication, most expensive medical facilities obtainable anywhere in the world. To have therefore thought beyond his immediate circle speaks to a very humane disposition. This must be commended.

Moments like this remind us that to be remembered isn’t about one’s job title or the length of one’s resume. It isn’t about vanity either. In a society that easily forgets its past, legacy is about becoming a landmark in the public consciousness. Nelson Mandela is honoured for choosing reconciliation over revenge, and Lee Kuan Yew for transforming Singapore into an economic powerhouse.

Here in Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo’s name remains shorthand for visionary leadership due to his investment in free education. MKO Abiola is also remembered for his supreme sacrifice for the democracy we savour today, irrespective of its irresistible, chaotic ‘Kpanlogo’ rigmarole.

For Olanipekun, his real legacy won’t be his win-loss record in court; it’ll be the version of Nigeria he helped bake into reality through his landmark victories. By filling the gaps in the lives of his people and living virtuously, he has, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization.”

Sunday Saanu will remember Olanipekun as “an angel in human form, a phenomenal philanthropist given to humanity by divinity.” Saanu is a prominent beneficiary of the Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme (WOSS), crediting the initiative with providing essential support when he needed it most. Now a doctorate holder, he serves as the Director of Public Affairs and Communication at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE).

I share Saanu’s sentiments. Again, if the late Oba Oladele Olasore had not intervened after six years of post-secondary stagnation due to financial constraints, the story of my life might have capsized midstream.

In closing, it would be commendable – and many have suggested this – for the legal titan to help initiate a Nigeria Legal History Project, to trace the roots of the development of the Common Law in Nigeria and even across British West Africa. Such an initiative will ignite an interest in impressionable young minds and highlight an era when the Bar and the Bench in Nigeria operated within the context of the highest imaginable standards.

We salute the courage of Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Gentleman, Esquire. And as Governor Biodun Oyebanji prayed for him, we echo: As his days, so shall be his strength!

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

Email: ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk; Mobile: 08033614419.

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