By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan On Monday, April 20, 2020, people of the South West zone of the country woke up to receive the news of the demise of...
By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan
On Monday, April 20, 2020, people of the South West zone of the country woke up to receive the news of the demise of an erudite legal luminary and a core Yoruba politician, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) who died at the ripe age of 88.
Chief Akinjide propounded the controversial legal arithmetic of 12 two-third majority votes in the law court which secured victory for President Shehu Shagari of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) during the 1979 presidential election and truncated the dream of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was said to have a chance to win the election on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) if the expected second ballot held.
READ ALSO:RICHARD AKINJIDE: Footprints of legal, political giant
The then Electoral Law required that a winning candidate must have the highest number of total votes cast at the election and at the same time secure “not less than one quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two thirds of all the (19) states within the federation.” Awolowo had challenged the declaration of Shagari as president saying although Shagari had the highest votes, winning in 12 states did not meet the requirement of two third of 19 states which ought to have been rounded up to 13 as a state could not be fractionalized. The Supreme Court however upheld Chief Richard Akinjide’s submission that since Shagari had two third of the votes cast in the 13th state, which was Kano, his 12 two third majority votes was enough for him to be declared the winner.
This argument made late Akinjide, who was the Minister of Education during the administration of the then Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, to be very popular among members of the NPN and other Nigerians. But this did not go down well with many Yoruba people who were mainly members of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria.
Some Yoruba elders spoke on his role in the second republic.
The Secretary General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide, who expressed his personal opinion, said, “many Yoruba felt very bad and aggrieved because they loved Chief Obafemi Awolowo so much. You know, I was very close to Awolowo.
Surprisingly, Chief Akinjide was very close to Awolowo too. He used to visit him regularly. Yoruba people of that time had forgotten the fact that Chief Akinjide was doing his job as a lawyer. He had to win the case for his party and he propounded that ingenious theory which was widely applauded. He had to protect his job as a legal practitioner.
“To me, Chief Akinjide did no wrong in propounding that theory which he believed could get him victory. Of course, the theory was the basis for the dismissal of Awolowo’s case. Chief Akinjide was very articulate in the first and second republics but after that 12 two-third palaver, Chief Akinjide retreated to his shell so to say”.
Another elderly Yoruba man who preferred anonymity, said “as a Yoruba person, after that judgment, Yoruba people did not like him and he knew this so well and nothing much was said about him since that time”, he said.
With that ingenious theory, late Akinjide was well admired by many people especially Ibadan people.
His party, in the second republic, later recognized his efforts as he was made the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
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