An Icon, Adesina Ademola Ogunlana (1964-2024); Struggle Was His Life — Part 1

Adesina Ademola Ogunlana 

Wading through the storms of life as he lost mother to the cold hand of death, he was not deterred from his focus but he grows stronger.

While gradually coming to terms with the reality of the untimely departure of my former boss and Comrade, Adesina Aluta Ogunlana, I took a flashback into his eventful 60-year sojourn on this planet. In my reflection, all I found was a life full of battles. Ogunlana’s life story could make a well-scripted movie under the theme “Life as a Battlefield” or, more euphemistically, “The Battlefields of Life.” In this short tribute, I shall attempt to give a summary of some of the significant battles in the life of this iconic personality.

Loss of His Mother at the Age of 12

Adesina Ogunlana was a twelve-year-old boy when he lost his mother. Even at that very tender age, he remained focused and refused to capitulate so early in life. At the age of 17, he gained admission into the University of Ife to study English Language under the Faculty of Arts. He graduated at 21. At Ife, he was a Campus Journalist, where he maintained a regular pamphlet publication under a pen name called “Junior on Sunday.” He once told me how his publication led to a near-physical confrontation with one of his lecturers after Ogunlana published a story about an amorous affair between the lecturer and one of the female students in the department. Incidentally, this same lecturer, a Professor of English and a cerebral newspaper columnist during the military era, sat beside me at a social event in Lagos yesterday. We shared bottles of wine together.

Life as a Law Student

Adesina Ogunlana entered Lagos State University (LASU) in 1989 to study Law. I also entered LASU the same year to study History. Despite his first degree in English, he entered the 100 level through JAMB. His attempt to enter the Law degree program with his first degree had just been thwarted by the retrogressive policy of the Babangida junta when the Ministry of Education, under the leadership of the bigoted tribalist called Jubril Aminu, temporarily banned holders of Bachelor’s degrees from using their certificates to gain admission to read another course at the first-degree level. The reason behind this retrogressive policy, according to Professor Jubril Aminu, was to bridge the educational gap between the North and the South.

In his “never say die” philosophy of life, Ogunlana decided to write JAMB and entered into the 100 level, a level below the 200 level that his first degree entitled him to. It was at LASU that our paths crossed. We first became associates and later comrades in the Students’ Union. He was a big brother in whom I felt secure. As a Law student, he disciplined himself so hard to survive.

His Expulsion from LASU

The events leading to the LASU crisis of 1991/92/93 are not the focus of this write-up. What is, however, worth referring to here was the expulsion of Adesina Ogunlana as a student of Lagos State University. Earlier on, fourteen student activists, including myself, were given indefinite suspensions by the school authorities for what the authorities considered to be our roles in the turbulent days in LASU. Ogunlana was at the forefront of the struggle for our reinstatement. Unfortunately for him, another list came out, and Ogunlana’s name was number one on the list of 31 students given outright expulsions by the school authorities.

In his “never say die” spirit, Ogunlana, while the battle for reinstatement was still raging on the streets and in the courtroom, decided to get married to his fiancée, Ibiyemi Adetoro, now better known as Mrs. Ibiyemi Ogunlana, in a well-attended wedding ceremony on the campus of the University of Lagos, Akoka. I remember Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Ogunlana’s former lecturer and friend (later Vice President of Nigeria), saying the reason he attended the wedding ceremony was that he wanted to see what an activist’s wedding would look like. Mr. Ogunlana was the first person I knew who got married as an expelled student.

Life as a Young Lawyer

By the time he qualified as a lawyer, Mr. Ogunlana was already mature in age. He needed to earn a living to maintain himself and his family. He came up with the idea of doing private tutorials for Diploma in Law students and the defunct Evening Law program. Together with his friend, Kareem Olatoye (now the Dean of the Faculty of Law, LASU), Kembi, and Wale Salu, he founded the EXCEL LAW TUTORIALS. They were using the LASU premises for the lectures. A former Dean of Law at LASU became so petty that he insisted they could not use the school premises for the tutorial class. When Ogunlana and others secured a place outside the University campus, the same lecturer started threatening students who attended the class. Ogunlana refused to be discouraged.

On the legal practice front, Ogunlana started taking up very big tasks as a young lawyer. As a one-year-old at the bar, Ogunlana successfully defended Wale Arigbabu (Bruno), the then President of the LASU Students’ Union, who was charged with murder alongside other student activists after a students’ unrest that pitted LASU students against some motor park touts.

His Anti-Corruption Crusade and the Battles that Pitched Him Against Judicial Authorities

Sometime in 2001, Ogunlana started a publication called “The Learned Squib.” The publication began as a 4-page newsletter focusing on monitoring the activities in the administration of justice in Lagos State. By this time, I had also been admitted to the Nigerian Bar, and naturally, I joined Ogunlana’s Chambers and became part of the editorial team of the Squib Magazine. The main attraction then was the decision to monitor and report the times of commencement of sittings by every court in Lagos State. The practice and conventional rules recognize 9 o’clock as the time for commencement of court sittings. Few judicial officers kept faith with this standard practice. Some judges used to commence sittings as late as 12 pm or even later. This was identified as one of the factors responsible for the delays in the dispensation of justice. Ogunlana took up the battle to help sanitize the administration of justice. “The Learned Squib” started gaining popularity, and Ogunlana started getting more popular with both young and old cadres in the legal profession.

The magazine later expanded its scope to report many unwholesome practices in the judiciary and the legal profession in general. The powers that be in the administration of justice started getting uncomfortable. Sometime in 2001, the then Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Sotuminu, issued a directive banning the circulation of the Learned Squib magazine from the premises of all the courts in Lagos State. That was the beginning of a long epic battle that saw one of Nigeria’s greatest lawyers, the late Chief GOK Ajayi (SAN), coming out to defend Ogunlana on many battlefronts.