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Segun Onakoya (1940 – 2015)

By Editor
19 September 2015   |   2:52 am
THE death has occurred of former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Segun Onakoya. He died in the early hours of Wednesday August 26, 2015, at his Ijebu Ode country home, Ogun State at 75 years.
Onakoya

Onakoya

THE death has occurred of former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Segun Onakoya. He died in the early hours of Wednesday August 26, 2015, at his Ijebu Ode country home, Ogun State at 75 years.

Born on July 31, 1940, in Odogbolu Local Government, Onakoya was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1972, after bagging LL.B (Hons) Degree at Holborn College of Law, London.

Onakoya was the NBA General Secretary from 1987-1988 when the late Alao Aka-Bashorun was NBA President. It was a most remarkable and active period for the association. Until his death, Onakoya was a life Bencher, Body of Benchers; life member, NBA National Executive Committee; and member, Council of Legal Education, among other numerous positions.

Onakoya hails from Imodi, (The City of God) in Odogbolu Local Government of Ogun State. His parents were Pa Samuel Onanuga Onakoya (a foremost Glass Merchant) and Mama Felicia Abosede Onakoya, a Princess from Ilishan in Ijebu – Remo.

He started his educational career at Wesley School, Ijebu Ode. He attended Olu–Iwa College, Ijebu–Ode between 1956 and 1959 and Kingston–Upon Hull College of Commerce, Hull, Yorkshire between 1964 and 1965. He then proceeded to Holborn College of Law, London, where he obtained LL.B (Hons) degree in 1970.
While at Holborn, he was active at the Student Union and was elected British National Union Representative in the College, a position which earned him a place in the British National Union Executive.

He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1972 after attending Nigerian Law School in 1971/72. He was very active at the Nigerian Bar both at his branch (Lagos Branch) and the national level.

On the international scene, Onakoya also excelled. He has been a member of the International Bar Association since 1985. He was the Vice–Chair of Discrimination and Gender Committee of the IBA.

By October 2002 he was appointed the Secretary of the African Regional Forum of the IBA, of which he was a co-founder in 1998 in Vancouver and served as an Executive Member of the Forum from 1998 to 2002. At the IBA Conference in Auckland, New Zealand 2004, he became the Chairman of the African Regional Forum.

He is survived by a wife and children.

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