Aare Afe Babalola: Impossibility Made Possible

By Mike Ozekhome SAN

He was born into an agrarian family in Ado Ekiti 92 whopping years ago. He thus becomes a nonagenarian. However, because his parents were illiterates, he does not really know the exact year, month or date he was born. He merely conjectured. While growing up, he lost 6 of his siblings to poor maternal care and preventable diseases. This story of “Impossibility Made Possible” (the very title of his personal autobiography) is one that rends the heart. He is none other than Aare Afe Babalola.

He was raised in the farm with his parents in a mud house, covered with a thatch roof. They used to sleep on banana leaves at night, which they usually change after about 2 or 3 days. But, he not only enjoyed it, he actually thought it was the best thing in life. After all, he had never experienced better life due to his humble beginnings. So, he was not even born with any wooden spoon in his mouth at all, let alone a silver or golden spoon. Nor was his case that of a child of destiny who had his palm kernel cracked for him by a benevolent spirt. He was simply a case of Romans 9:15; and raw dint of hard work and perseverance. As he once put it, “we didn’t bother about clothes. I was a young boy, I didn’t wear clothes, of course, there were no shoes at that time. I thought and I prayed then, that one day, I will inherit part of my father’s farm. I will inherit part of his cutlasses and hoes. That was my ambition.”

Babalola’s father had inherited a portion of his own father’s land at Ajipon, towards the present-day Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti. He later moved to Odo Asa, Igirigiri, seeking fertile land for cocoa cultivation. He did not strike gold, forcing him to again relocate to Alayegbe, 8 miles from home. This forced the young Babalola and his father to stay in the farm for about 3 months at a time; coming home merely to participate in annual festivals like Ogun or Egungun. So, the Aare grew up in farm settlements, romancing with elephants, antelopes, tigers, gorillas, monkeys and pythons.

Thus, from 6am to 6pm, the Aare and others would work in the farm and also hunt for animals, that would serve as delicacy with pounded yam at about 7pm. Farm life was not without its inherent dangers. Huge snakes mistaken for rodents dug holes, and menacing tigers were common place.

That is the classical “grass-to-grace” story of AARE AFE EMMANUEL BABALOLA, LL.B (Hons), BL, B.SC (Econs), OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D, D.LL, D.Litt, FCIArb, FNIALS. Very few Nigerians can claim to be as decorated as the Aare, whose only romance of a school was Emmanuel Primary School, Ado Ekiti. Afe is a Lawyer, Barrister, Economist, Teacher, Industrialist, Scholar, University Administrator, Farmer, Philosopher, Author, Philanthropist, Educationist, etc.

When the cerebral legal pugilist was about 8 years old, a Reverend Father came and pleaded with his father to send one of his children to school. As he was the eldest child, his father ordered him to go to school. This was how he left the farm house in 1937, to live in the town. Even then, it was not easy, as he had to walk about 5 kilometres everyday from his family house to Emmanuel Anglican Primary School, Okesha, Ado-Ekiti.

This inconveniencing ritual went on for about 7 years, even when he did not have any interest in learning, principally because on the farm, he didn’t have to bathe; or change his clothes; or clean his teeth. But in the school, he was made to do these. Nonetheless, the renowned Senior Advocate managed to complete his primary 6, where he obtained his standard six certificate. That was the end of his formal education in a school setting. All the other educational qualifications listed against his name were obtained through private study because he could not afford school fees for secondary school. He later attended the University and obtained his degrees in both economics and law (LL.B). I will tell you how the Aare wielded this Professor Peller’s abracadabra magic wand.

Chief Afe took advice from a white man and ordered coursewares from Wolsey Hall Oxford, one of the oldest home-schooling colleges in the world, founded by Joseph William Knipe in 1894, which offered courses for Primary, Secondary, IGCSE and A Level subjects to home-Schoolers. This is similar to what is obtainable on the internet nowadays as e-learning.

For a course that should take him 6 years to complete, he chose to do it in 5 years. He would read, prepare, write exams and send his answers by post to England where it would be marked, with necessary corrections and sent back in 14 days. By 1950, he attempted both Cambridge School Certificate Exams (the equivalent of Senior School Certificate) and Cambridge Advanced Level Certificate Exams, all at home. Although he passed the exams, he was however not satisfied with his grades.

So, he repeated the Advanced Level Exams to enable him prepare for university degree. By 1953, he cleared all the 4 subjects at the advanced level, more than the 2 that was required. At that time, there were only 3 Nigerians who had passed 4 subjects at one sitting in the Advanced Level Exams. The other 2 Nigerians aside the Aare were Igbos. It was a record then.

After passing his Advanced Level Exams, In 1953, he went further to prepare for a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of London, still studying from home. In 1959, he obtained BSc in Economics, but still proceeded to study for his Bachelor of Laws LL.B (Hons) degree, still from University of London, again from home. He completed this in 1963. He had to travel to London to sit for the Bar Exams.

Upon completing his law exams in London, in 1963, he was subsequently called to the Bar as a member of the Lincoln’s Inn, London; and he registered as a member of the Bar of England and Wales. Thereafter, he returned home to begin his legal practice as a litigation lawyer at the Chambers of Olu Ayoola in Ibadan, until 1965, when he established his own law firm: Afe Babalola & Co (Emmanuel Chambers) in Ibadan.

His Chambers has since remained a reputable, leading law firm in Nigeria with offices in Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt; and has produced over 1,500 legal practitioners, including Judges, Senior Advocates of Nigeria and Attorney Generals.

In 1987, he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the highest rank in the legal profession in Nigeria. After reaching the pinnacle of Law Practice in Nigeria, he was offered the position of a Judge, by Justice Oyemade who was then the President of The Court in the Defunct Western Region of Nigeria, but he rejected it, because he wanted to remain in active law practice.

As a Solicitor and general Advocate, Chief Afe has handled over 10,600 court cases, many of which were such landmark cases that could have scared away the cowardly. He has handled many cases that have helped to redefine the law and recreate our jurisprudence.

As a Presidential Nominee at the 2005 National Political Conference, Chief Afe chaired the Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Federalism Committee, arguably one of the most sensitive Committees. The living legend was twice offered the ministerial position of the Attorney General of the Federation by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, but he twice rejected it.

In 2001, he was appointed, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He held the position till 2008 during which he emerged as best Pro-Chancellor of Nigerian Universities consecutively in 2005 and 2006.

With the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) firmly in his kitty, the cerebral Advocate was conferred with the title of the Aare Bamofin of Yoruba Nation, in 2008 by His Royal Majesty, Alayeluwa Oba Dr. Lamidi Adeyemi II, the Alaafin of Oyo. This was in recognition of his legendary exploits in legal practice and his fame that spreads like manure, abroad beyond the African shores and the Black Race.

The Alaafin in pronouncing him as Aare Bamofin, decreed his preeminence as a Royal Highness and tribal legend. He was forbidden from ever prostrating to any man, except God. He was required to carry himself in the manner of a royalty. The Aare has won several awards and honours locally and internationally. He has bagged the LL.D (Honoris Causa) from Universities in Ekiti, Kogi, Lagos, Jos, Akure, and the University of London.

The LL.D degree award made Afe Babalola to belong to the elite class of honorary recipients of the degree of the University of London, having been preceded by only two Africans in the history of the University, Nelson Mandela and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu.

In 2009, Chief Babalola, at the ripe age of 80, established the now famous popular Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) on a 130 hectares of vast expanse of land in Ado Ekiti, to promote education in Nigeria and the university’s College of law has at different times, been rated best in Nigeria. Indeed in 2013, this university was ranked the second-best private university in Nigeria and 17 of 136 universities in Nigeria.

The university with a 3-star guest Inn facility offers academic programmes in six Colleges of Law, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Social and Management Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences. It also offers Postgraduate Studies. Its College of Engineering is built on about three and half acres of land and is well equipped with sophisticated state-of-the-art facilities brought in directly from Europe and the Americas. It is reputed to be one of the largest in Africa. ABUAD’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences and its Multisystem Teaching Hospital with theatres, 8 modular CT and MRI scan machines, ICU and 16 kidney dialysis and machines are nullus secondus in Nigeria, given its sophisticated medical facilities and the professional expertise with which patients are handled.

When I visited this living legend in May, 2018, he spritely took me from his offices upstairs to the downstairs and handed me over to a high-ranking university official, who took me on a guided tour of ABUAD’s facilities. I was showed vast expanses of agricultural trees, mangoes, guavas, oranges, pineapples; fish ponds, factories to process, package and sell the fish; potteries; piggeries; etc. The university is a town within the Ado-Ekiti town. He fondly calls me, “Mike Ozekhome, my son”, an acknowledgment I proudly swallow, hook, line and sinker. He fires the embers in me, also a grass-to-grace story, elevated by God Almighty. He inspires Africans, Nigerians and the black race.

Wealth or money? This is no longer Aare’s headache. He is rated among the Top 10 Richest Lawyers in Nigeria; and highest private Investor in Ekiti State; with an estimated net worth of $350 million. Even with his stupendous wealth, goodwill, societal reach and intellectual fecundity, Aare Babalola still wears humility like a second skin. At his age, when his peers should be relaxing, smoking a pipe and sleeping, Chief Afe works round the clock. He personally oversees his vast empire called a university. As a multi-columnist, he still directs national affairs with his rare insights and lucid adumbrations.

Believing that “no idea is stupid; it is better carried out than ignored”; Chief Afe once said: “The only change that can be a lasting change, that would change the world and change the people, is changing the mind of the youths.” Then, he added the clincher: “Hard work does not kill; what kills is indolence.” Then the icing on the cake: “My legacy is not in the buildings I have, not by the money in my account, but in these children, students of my school.”

My good friend, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, once described Chief Afe as a man who has broken into smithereens, the usual adage that a tree cannot make a forest. I agree with him that his gargantuan contributions to national development have put the proverb to severe test, as the national icon has become a huge forest, both metaphorically and in reality.

Thought for the week

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

–Walt Disney