Former Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide , is dead .

Akinjide passed on at the age of 88 in his Ibadan residence , the Oyo State capital .

It was gathered that the legal icon , who died of complications from a protracted illness around 1 am , had been sick for three years .

Akinjide , an Ibadan high chief , was born in Ibadan , in the early 1930 s to an influential family of warriors .

He attended Oduduwa College , Ile – Ife in Osun State and passed out with a distinction ( Aggregate 6 ) .

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria proceeded on his educational journey to the United Kingdom in 1951 and was called to the English Bar in 1955 .
He was later called to the Nigerian Bar and established Akinjide and Co . , a legal firm.

He was a Minister of Education in the first republic, under Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Minister of Justice in the second republic , during the administration of former President Shehu Shagari.

Akinjide was a member of the judicial systems sub – committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975 – 1977 and later joined the National Party of Nigeria in 1978 , and became the legal adviser to the party .

While serving as the Attorney General of the Federation , Nigeria temporarily reversed the executions of armed robbers .

He was the lead prosecutor in the treason trial of Bukar Zanna Mandara; the eviction of many illegal foreign nationals from Nigeria which contributed to mild violence against some foreigners in the land.

His remains have reportedly been deposited in the morgue .