On Monday, December 14, 2020, Kunle Rasheed Adegoke, popularly referred to as “K. Rad”, a 2018 Osun State gubernatorial aspirant of the ruling party in Nigeria, made history by becoming the very first indigene of the ancient city of Osogbo, the Capital of Osun State, inducted as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the pinnacle of legal professional achievement in the most populated black nation in the world. Numerous Nigerians, including sons and daughters of Osogbo across the globe, celebrated K. Rad’s historic achievement.
Born on September 5, 1969 in Osogbo, Kunle Adegoke attended Ansar-ud-deen Primary School, Osogbo between 1975 and 1981. From there he proceeded to Ansar-ud-deen Grammar School, Osogbo between 1981 and 1986 where he obtained the West African School Certificate in flying colours. Thereafter, he acquired Advanced Level studies at Osogbo Grammar School, Osogbo and later gained admission to the University of Ilorin where he studied English Language and Literature between 1989 and 1992.
His educational career took a ricocheting course as he was compelled to proceed to the University of Lagos in 1994 to obtain an LLB Degree from the Faculty of Law of the University. This was following his expulsion from the University of Ilorin in his final year as an uncompromising student activist. As an unrepentant Marxist-Leninist, he became the Secretary General of the University of Ilorin Students’ Union and Secretary of Zone C of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in 1990.
‘K. Rad’, an abbreviation of the pseudonym, ‘Kunle Radical’, became the alias of Kunle Adegoke following his fearless habits of defending the interests of his constituency to the end, which eventually cost him a supreme price when he was expelled in March, 1992 by the authorities of the University because of his uncompromising positions against whatever he perceived as injustices from the university’s authorities against his fellow students.
Following this unfortunate incident, he took the bold decision and wrote the University Matriculation Examination (UME) again in 1993 and, upon a brilliant performance, was offered admission into the University of Lagos in 1994/1995 Session. While in academic limbo, in 1994, he served as Secretary at the NANS Convention that held in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State and later as Chairman, Convention of NANS which held in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State in 1995. His academic sojourn in the University of Lagos was another challenging experience as he was suspended on his birthday, the 5th day of September, 1997. Following what he believed to be a travesty of fair trial by the University authorities, Kunle Adegoke was expelled in the same month of September, 1997 as the authorities of the University reportedly considered his voice of dissent a sacrilege. He lost a year in the course of challenging the decision of the University in court until he was later re-instated in May, 1998 by Justice Tajudeen Odunowo of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
Despite the horrors of victimisation and undisguised poverty necessitating self-sponsorship, Adegoke completed his LLB studies with Second Class (Upper Division) from the University of Lagos in the year 2000 in the course of which he represented University of Lagos at the All African Universities Human Rights Moot Court Competition in the University of Legon, Ghana. He later attended the one-year vocational studies in the Nigerian Law School between 2001 and 2002. He was later called to the Nigerian Bar in February, 2003 as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in most challenging moments the details of which would be excellent scripts for the Nollywood. He later obtained his Masters’ Degree in Law with 4.0 Grade Points from the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos in 2009.
In the course of his struggles for a better Nigeria, he was in detention on numerous occasions, which include during the regime of Babangida in Ilorin in 1992; in 1995 in Sabo, Yaba, Lagos; in Owerri in 1996 during a NANS campaign and for the whole of January, 2003 shortly before his call to the Nigerian Bar.
Now a seasoned lawyer with many laurels to his name after cutting his legal teeth with the distinguished law firm of Olaniwun Ajayi LP between April, 2003 and September, 2004, he went into private practice in a thriving partnership in the law firm of M. A. Banire & Associates from August 2004 till 2017 when he floated Kunle Adegoke & Co. He was counsel to the then Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as he represented him during the long battles to reclaim the people’s mandate between 2007 and 2010 and the infamous forgery trial that accompanied it. He was counsel to many members of the House of Assembly of the State of Osun during the same period.
Kunle Adegoke is an election petition guru as he was a frontline team leader in the Benue State governorship petition between Steve Ugba v. Gabriel Suswam in 2011; the Kogi governorship election petition between Prince Abubakar Audu v. Governor Idris Wada; the Adamawa election petition between Markus Natina Gundiri v. Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako and the 2014 Osun governorship election petition between Iyiola Omisore v. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He represented many former and present members of the House of Assembly of Lagos State in 2007 – 2008 and 2015 in several election petitions and was counsel to the All Progressives Congress in several matters including the case of Agbaje v. Ambode. He is one of the legal experts who defended President Muhammadu Buhari in the Petition filed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Peoples’ Democratic Party after the 2019 Presidential election. He is also an expert in legal drafting and commercial law practice as he currently serves several governmental establishments, giant telecommunications and other big companies.
In his quest to continue serving the less privileged, he has represented many oppressed members of the society pro bono.
Kunle Adegoke is a prolific writer whose writings have graced the pages of many Nigerian newspapers and legal journals among which are:
- The Constitutionality of the Sharia – article published in the Guardian Newspaper of December 7, 1999.
- Is Iraq Still A State? – an article published in the Guardian Newspaper (2004).
- Renvoi – a research project (2000).
- Current Trends in the Formation and Interpretation of Contracts – article published in Legal Aspects of Finance in Emerging Markets (ed. Olaniwun Ajayi) Lexis Nexis, 2005, page 267.
- Frustration of Contracts: Common Causes, Resulting Rights and Liabilities – article published in Legal Aspects of Finance in Emerging Markets (ed. Olaniwun Ajayi) Lexis Nexis, 2005, page 299.
- The Blue Book 2004: Practical Approach To The High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 co-authored and published by M. A. Banire & Associates in conjunction with Excel Publication Services Ltd., in 2004 with second and third editions having been published in 2008 and 2012).
- The Blue Book: Practical Approach To The High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2nd Edition, co-authored and published by Ecowatch Publications Services Ltd., 2008.
- The Blue Book Law Report : A Compilation of Cases on Lagos State Rules of Practice and Procedure [2008] BLR (Pt. 1) co-edited and published by M. A. Banire & Associates, 2008.
- Secured Credit and Intricacies of Choses in Action – a research project (2008).
- The Return of Oranmiyan – The Legal Battles to Reclaim Aregbesola’s Mandate, co-authored and published in 2011.
- Right to Challenge Nomination in Election Petition – the Need for the Supreme Court of Nigeria to Overrule Itself. (Yet to be published).
- “Internet Jurisdiction: A Catch-22 Situation and The Trajectory of the Nigerian Judicial System” (Unpublished) being paper delivered at a One-Day Conference during the 2016 National Cyber Security Awareness Month on the 8th day of December, 2016 at Oriental Hotel, Lagos and reported at http://technologytimes.ng/nigeria-cybercrime-act-weighs-down-federal-high-court/ accessed on 19 April, 2017.
- “Recent Intervention against Banking Collapse in Nigeria” (Yet to be published).
- Nigeria Cyber Law and Cyber Citizenship in a Digital World” a lecture delivered on 25th August, 2017 at the 2017 Nigeria ICT Impact CEO Forum & Awards.
- An Interrogation of the Special Recovery Powers of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria: Trends, Amendments and Constitutionality, a paper under publication by the Osogbo Bar Journal.
- An Analysis of the Omission of the Judicial Etc. Officers and Appeal by Prosecutors Act of 1963 from the Laws of the Federation, 2004: When is the Prosecutor’s Right of Appeal Actually Lost? Recently published in December 2020 Edition of the Law Journal,
- The Compass: A Compendium on Civil Procedure Rules in Nigeria (co-authored with Dr. Muiz Banire, SAN et al.)
He is, above all, a respected litigation lawyer with rich accounts of legal exploits in many Nigerian courtrooms. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the International Section of the American Bar Association, and the International Bar Association. He was a distinguished Nigerian NGO delegate at the September, 2013 United Nations’ Conference in New York on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples where his non-governmental organisation, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), was conferred with an observer status of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. He also serves as a member of the Board of Governors of HEDA. He was recently made the Chairman of the Finance Committee of SPIDEL of the Nigerian Bar Association. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).
Kunle Adegoke served as a member of the Strategy Committee for the election of AB Mahmoud, SAN as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association in 2016. He was the Secretary of the North East Task Force of the Nigerian Bar Association responsible for rendering legal service for the rehabilitation of the victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe between 2016 and 2018. He also served as a co-opted member of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association in 2016 – 2018. The Chief Judge of Lagos State swore him in as a Notary Public in 2017.
Kunle Adegoke had a great foray into politics when he contested the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State in 2018. His campaign was ranked excellent as it was well entrenched in issues and developmental economics. He is a philanthropist with thousands of beneficiaries to his credit.
He is happily married to Olufunmilola and blessed with four beautiful daughters, Mofe, Tara, Sewa and Funmi.
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