Foremost Nigerian lawyer and senior advocate, Jonathan B. Majiyage, is dead.
He died Saturday morning at an undisclosed hospital in Abuja.
A message circulated in a number of lawyers’ platforms said “It is with great sadness but gratitude to the Almighty for a life well spent that I announce the unfortunate passing to glory of my beloved father and mentor Oga J B Majiyagbe SAN. He passed on some minutes ago.
Let us please remember the family in our prayers. May his gentle soul rest in peace.”
Nigerian Sketch confirmed his death from one of the lawyers in his law office in Kano, a former publicity secretary of the Kano branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Kudufoke Oluwatosin Deyon.
J. B . Majiyage, SAN
Jonathan Babatunde Majiyagbe (OFR), 89, became the first lawyer practising in northern Nigeria to be elevated to the rank of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1980.
After settling in Kano in the 1970s, he became a doyen of the legal profession in the state. He also rose through the ranks in the Rotary Club to become the president, Rotary International. In this interview he spoke about his early days as a lawyer, his experiences in the North, the civil war, and other interesting issues.
In a 2019 interview with Daily Trust, he said “I was born on July 10, 1934 in Lagos, so I have just celebrated my 85th birthday. My father, Jacob Mofolorunsho Majiyagbe was from Abeokuta, Ogun State, and my mother, Victoria Olatilewa Majiyagbe, also from Abeokuta, was a princess from the Ogunbona royal family.
“My father was a civil servant who worked as an almoner in the health department. He was transferred from place to place. I remember following him to Kaduna, Kano, Jos and Bamenda in Cameroon. That was how I became very familiar with the northern part of Nigeria. I returned to the North when I graduated in England.