Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo SAN GCON (born 8 March 1957) is a Nigerian lawyer, professor, and politician who served as the 14th Vice President of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he previously served as Attorney General of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and holds the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Education
Osinbajo was educated at Corona Primary School in Lagos. He attended Igbobi College in Yaba, Lagos, from 1969 to 1975, where he won several awards: the State Merit Award (1971); the School Prize for English Oratory (1972); Adeoba Prize for English Oratory (1972-1975); Elias Prize for Best Performance in History (WASC, 1973); School Prize for Literature (HSC, 1975); and the African Statesman Intercollegiate Best Speaker’s Prize (1974).
He then studied for his undergraduate degree at the University of Lagos between 1975 and 1978, where he obtained a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) Degree in Law and won the Graham-Douglas Prize for Commercial Law. In 1979, he completed the mandatory one-year professional training at the Nigerian Law School, where he was admitted to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In 1980, he attended the London School of Economics and obtained a Master of Laws degree.
Early Career
From 1979 to 1980, Osinbajo served the compulsory one-year youth service as a legal officer with Bendel Development and Planning Authority (BDPA) in Bendel State.
In 1981, at 23, he was employed as a law lecturer at the University of Lagos. From 1983 to 1986, he served as a Senior Lecturer of Law at the University of Lagos. From 1988 to 1992, he was appointed the Senior Special Adviser (Soliciting and Litigation) to Nigeria’s Honourable Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Bola Ajibola.
In 1997, Osinbajo became a professor of the law of evidence and was head of the Department of Public Law at the University of Lagos from 1997 to 1999, until his appointment as Commissioner for Justice.
From 1999 to 2007, Osinbajo served in the Lagos State Cabinet of Bola Tinubu as the Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
In 2007, Osinbajo was made Senior Partner at Simmons Cooper Partners (Barristers and Solicitors) in Nigeria.
His other past roles include:
Senior Officer, United Nations Operations in Somalia, Justice Division, UNOSOM II.
Member, United Nations Secretary General’s Committee of Experts on Conduct and Discipline of UN Peacekeeping Personnel around the globe, 2006.
Senior Partner in the law firm of Osinbajo, Kukoyi & Adokpaye.
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