Former Attorney-General of the Federation  and Minister of  Justice, Richard Akinjide is dead. Akinjide died in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in the early hours of Tuesday after a brief illness at the age of 89.

Chief Akinjide who died of complications from a protracted illness had been sick for three years.

The Public Relations Officer of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Mr Toye Akinrinlola, confirmed to newsmen that the former Attorney- General was brought in dead at about 2 am on Tuesday.

Richard Akinjide was born in Ibadan, in the early 1930s to an influential family of warriors. He attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife in Osun State and passed out with a distinction (Aggregate 6).

He proceeded on his educational journey to the United Kingdom in 1951 and was called to the English Bar in 1955.

He was later called to the Nigerian Bar and he went on to establish Akinjide and Co., a legal firm. He distinguished himself as a lawyer and was made a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

He was a former Minister of Education in the government of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa during the First Republic and the Minister of Justice in the administration of President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic.

He was also a member of the Judicial Systems Sub-committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975-1977 and later joined the National Party of Nigeria in 1978. He became the Legal Adviser for the party and was later appointed the Minister for Justice.

It was in his role as the Attorney-General of the Federation that Nigeria temporarily reversed execution of armed robbers.