Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife will, on Tuesday, July 30, confer its 2024 Excellence Award on Professor Yusuf Olaolu Ali, SAN, a renowned legal luminary and renowned academic as well as a distinguished alumnus of the institution.
A statement put out by the institution on the event describes Ali as “an outstanding alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University”; and the award as a “celebration of excellence in academia”.
The statement enjoins all and sundry to join the university community in its Oduduwa Hall to honour Ali whom it further describes as “a distinguished scholar whose dedication and achievements have significantly our academic community and beyond.
It would be recalled that Professor Yusuf Olaolu Ali is a distinguished Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, is the Founder of the renowned Ghalib Chambers, a foremost Law firm in Nigeria, headuartered in the ancient and historical city of Ilorin, Kwara state and which he established in 1994, after serving for 11 years with the firm of Adegboyega Awomolo & Co.
The erudite scholar and celebrated Law practitioner recently celebrated 30th anniversary of the Chambers.
The scholar cum practitioner of Law as well as the nation-builder that he (Ali) has always been was reflected in the theme of the special lecture which hallmarked the 30th anniversary celebration, to wit, “Presidential or parliamentary system of government: Where is tie convergence?” And the man of the people and of honour that he is and will always be was reflected in the roll call of dignitaries that graced the occasion, including the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Kashim Shettima; Attorney General of the Federation and Honourable Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); Kwara State Governor, His Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola; former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN); and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Registrar, Prof. Is’haq Oloyede; with the Emir of Ilorin, His Majesty Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari was the royal father of the day; and many others from across the various segments and geographies in Nigeria.
Significantly, in his speech at the anniversary celebration, Ali presented a 450-paged compendium which was unveiled by the Vice President as “the contribution of Ghalib Chambers to the legal and general Community”; disclosing that the compendium was not to be sold; and he added that “In Sha Allah, from next year when the Chambers will be 31 years old we would be instituting an annual National Day discourse to mark the yearly anniversary of the Chambers”.
Adewale Adedoyin, an admirer of the amiable Professor remarked on the Ghalib Cambers anniversary in these words, “Ghalib Chambers, just like your esteemed self, has been both a beacon and an icon to not only the legal profession and the Judiciary but the entire Nigerian nation; and to not only the current but also the coming generations”.
