Biography of Dr. Babatunde Ajibade

One of the fine lawyers from the South West doing the nation proud is Dr Babatunde Ajibade. With a career spanning over 30 years, Ajibade is a perfect description of the ‘let your achievements speak for you’ kind of person. Humble, resilient and unassuming, Ajibade’s career is unarguably one of the few that stands tall amidst several noisy, controversial and corruption stained lawyers in the country.

Dr. Babatunde Ajibade, SAN is the Managing Partner of S. P. A. Ajibade & Co. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1989 and elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in December 2007. He was the first member of his Nigerian Law School set of 1989 to be so elevated.

Dr. Ajibade obtained an LL.B Degree from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1988. He obtained an LL.M Degree in Corporate and Commercial Law from King’s College, University of London in October 1990 and a Ph.D Degree in Private International Law from the same university in October 1996.

Dr. Ajibade is a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, an International Practice Fellow of the International Bar Association and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom.


He combines the role of an advocate, a corporate/commercial solicitor, an administrator and a reformer and has excelled in each of these areas.


Dr. Ajibade is happily married with four children.


Dr. Ajibade, SAN is a strong advocate of a united Bar. He is of the strong persuasion that to solve the many challenges facing the profession, we must be united. According to Dr. Ajibade, SAN, the dividing lines we draw between the Bench and the Bar, between corporate/commercial lawyers and advocates, between law officers and the traditional Bar, between in-house counsel and external counsel, between young lawyers and senior lawyers and even the divisions across nationalities and ethnicities hamper rather than aid the course of the legal profession in Nigeria. While different segments of the profession have peculiar challenges, Dr. Ajibade, SAN believes that to successfully fight off threats to the rule of law, encroachment into our profession by foreign lawyers and other professions in Nigeria, and a myriad of other problems the legal profession faces, we must take steps to unite the Bar.


Dr. Babatunde Ajibade, SAN is the Managing Partner of S. P. A. Ajibade & Co. Since his admission to the Nigerian Bar in 1989, Dr. Ajibade has been engaged in active and full-time corporate and commercial practice, save for time taken out to pursue his postgraduate education. His area of academic specialization is in the field of Private International Law, with particular interest in the law relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.


Dr. Babatunde Ajibade, S.A.N., FCIArb is the Managing Partner of S. P. A. Ajibade & Co.  Dr. Ajibade’s area of academic specialisation is in the field of Private International Law, with particular interest in the law relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.


Dr. Ajibade has been involved in all aspects of corporate and commercial dispute resolution in Nigeria, and has expertise in litigation involving the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, banking law, intra-company shareholder disputes, as well as insolvency and insurance litigation.  Dr. Ajibade also has extensive experience in all aspects of commercial arbitration, both domestic and international, as well as in investment treaty arbitration.


Significant Clients include Tidewater Marine International Inc, Technip S.A., Gitto Costruzioni Generali Limited, Cybele Cosmetics Limited


5.         Honeywell Group Limited


6.         7UP Bottling Company Plc, Fan Milk Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and Sahara Group among others

Dr. Ajibade also has extensive experience in corporate commercial practice and company secretarial practice and has been involved in the Nigerian capital market as solicitor in several public offers of securities as well as in mergers and acquisitions. He is a founding member of the Capital Market Solicitors Association (CMSA). The CMSA was founded by Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN in 2001 and Dr. Ajibade, SAN was its pioneer Secretary 2001 – 2007, its Vice-Chairman 2007 – 2011 and its Chairman 2011 – 2013. He was also a member of the Rules & Regulations Sub-Committee of SEC’s Capital Markets Committee from 2002 – 2004 and its Vice-Chairman from 2004-2010.


Some of the transactions he has been involved in are:

Led the team that acted as solicitors to Consolidated Breweries Plc in its merger with Nigerian Breweries Plc;

Led the team that represented SRM Partners Limited in its acquisition of First Registrars Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc;

Represented Broad Communications in the divestment of its shareholding in Airtel Nigeria Plc;

Represented a Nigerian insurance brokerage company in its acquisition by and merger with a multinational insurance company;

Led the team that represented First Bank of Nigeria Plc in its suspended N500 Billion debt issuance programme.

 

Dr. Ajibade has been appointed to the Boards of a number of high profile companies and organisations, including Vee Mobile Nigeria Limited (now Airtel Plc), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Lome, Togo, Fan Milk Nigeria Plc (a wholly owned subsidiary of Danone France), and the International Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria.

As regards his service to the bar, Dr. Ajibade, SAN’s career has been characterised by quiet and efficient service to the legal profession. A few instances of his involvements are listed below:

  • Member of the NBA National Executive Committee (NEC) between 2016-2018 and from 2018 till date.
  • Member, NBA Legal Services Trade Mission to the United Kingdom, 2009.
  • Council Member, NBA-SBL 2014 to 2018.
  • Member, NBA Appointed SBL Council March 2011 – January 2012.

Chairman, Nominations Committee, NBA-SBL, 2011.


Chairman, Capital Market Solicitors Association between 2011-2013.

Member, NBA Liberalisation of Legal Services Working Group, 2012.


Chairman, Law Week Planning Committee NBA, Lagos Branch, 2014.

Chairman, Conference Planning Committee, NBA-SBL, 2016.

Vice-Chairman, NBA-SBL Committee on Banking, Finance and Insolvency, 2012 – 2016.

Chairman, Judiciary Relations Committee, NBA Lagos, 2019 till date.


https://spaajibade.com

0/Post a Comment/Comments