TWO BROTHERS. TWO NEIGHBOURING STATES. BOTH ATTORNEYS-GENERAL AT THE SAME TIME!
TWO BROTHERS. TWO NEIGHBOURING STATES. BOTH ATTORNEYS-GENERAL AT THE SAME TIME!
In 2004, if you asked to see the Attorney-General in Lagos, you would be directed to an Osinbajo. Cross into Ogun State and ask the same question, and you would be directed to another Osinbajo.
And yes, they were brothers.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, became Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State in 1999, under Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Four years later, his younger brother, Akin Osinbajo, SAN, took up the same office in Ogun State under Governor Gbenga Daniel.
So, from 2003 to 2007, the two brothers served as the chief law officers of neighbouring states. Yemi left office in 2007 when Tinubu’s tenure ended. Akin stayed on in Ogun until 2011, serving through both of Daniel’s terms.
Before he became Attorney-General, Professor Osinbajo had already built a career at the University of Lagos. He joined UNILAG as a lecturer in 1981, became a Professor of Public Law and headed the Department of Public Law from 1997 to 1999. He also served as a legal adviser to Prince Bola Ajibola during his time as Attorney-General of the Federation.
One of the most consequential cases of Yemi’s tenure came during those years. In 2004, after President Olusegun Obasanjo directed that local government allocations to Lagos be withheld, Lagos took the Federal Government to the Supreme Court. Yemi argued the case for Lagos, and the Court held that the President had no power to withhold the statutory allocations due to the state’s 20 constitutionally recognised local government councils.
The brothers also built their private practices at different firms. Professor Osinbajo was a founding partner of SimmonsCooper Partners before going on to serve as Nigeria’s Vice President from 2015 to 2023. Akin Osinbajo SAN is Joint Managing Partner at Abdulai, Taiwo & Co., where his practice includes commercial litigation. He is also a Chartered Arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
It is one thing for two children from the same home to enter the same profession. It is quite another for both to become Senior Advocates of Nigeria and, for four years, for two neighbouring states to turn to those brothers for legal advice at the highest level.
Imagine the gist when they met at a family gathering after a long week in office. One would have stories from Alausa. The other would have stories from Abeokuta.
