College honours late activist lawyer, Aturu

The institution’s Rector, Prof Olukoya Ogen, said the late Aturu was recognised and honoured for “his contributions to the development of the college in particular and the society at large”. Aturu had graduated with first class honours in Physics from the Adeyemi College of Education, before proceeding to study Law as a second degree at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He was known in his lifetime for championing the cause of the masses, as exemplified in the class action he filed in 2012 against the Lagos State Government to stop the ban on commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada riders, from operating in parts of the metropolis. He also earned himself the name ‘Baba Suwe’s lawyer’, after defending popular Nigerian comic actor, Babatunde Omidina, aka Baba Suwe, who was in 2011 arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for alleged drug trafficking. Aturu died in July, 2014 at the age of 49. The post-humous award conferred on him by one of his alma maters was picked up by his wife, Adebimpe, and son, Oluwatobi, accompanied by Lagos-based activist lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa. Reacting to the honour done to his departed colleague, Adegboruwa, in a statement, said, “I commend the authorities of the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, for this great and deserving gesture and recognition, especially at a time when academic awards have been monetised as some form of ransom for financial and political patronage. “Surely, Bamidele Aturu lives in our minds, forever.”]]>