The Legacy of Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola (SAN) 

BY ADETUNJI OMOTOLA

It will be a fundamental faux pas or, at the very least, a misnomer to ignore the need to establish a solid legacy for one of Africa’s foremost legal minds in property law.

Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola was also the fiercest critic of the Land Use Act, 1978 and devoted much of his time to publications on the Act. He defied the odds to become the eighth Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos 1986.

Also, he defied the most incredible odds to become the seventh Vice-Chancellor of the University.

A young Jelili Omotola had shown early promise while studying his LLB at the University of London by bagging prizes in English Criminal Law and Land Law in 1966. The following year, he was called to the Gray’s Inn Bar, the same year he achieved his LLM degree. He completed his PhD in 1971, after which he returned to Nigeria to begin his career as a Law Lecturer at the University of Lagos.

Prof. Omotola’s legacy, especially his brilliant academic work, remains scattered and complicated to access almost two decades after his demise.

His works in property law spanned five decades and took him to all corners of the globe, from Southern Africa to Gambia, the US,the UK and Venezuela amongst others.

Some attempts have been made to exhume some of those works, but most remain scattered waiting to be assembled and magnified for the benefit of millions of legal scholars accross Africa and beyond.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the assumption of office by the late Professor Jelili Adebisi Ajetumobi Omotola (SAN) as the seventh Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos.

This year also marks 25 years after his exit from the University, where he rose from being a junior lecturer in 1971 to becoming its first and only lawyer Vice-Chancellor. Appointed on April 26, 1995, he assumed office on May 8, 1995.

Being the maverick he was, his first port of call as Vice-Chancellor was the University security post, where he discovered to his utter dismay that they had no toilets and that the nearby bush was their default location.

His tenure as Vice Chancellor was a remarkable show of astuteness and doggedness, as well as creating an environment for sustainable peace, progress, and security in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

As Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Omotola articulated his vision for a better University of Lagos in the Omotola Agenda, which contained a dynamic action plan.

The thrust of the agenda was to give the University a world-class status. He had a vision of action outlined in six heads of action plan, namely: (1) Creating and Sustaining Academic Excellence; (2) Improving the Welfare of Staff and Students; (3) Broadening the Financial Base of the Institution; (4) Improving the Infrastructural Facilities in the ivory tower; (5) Administering Justice promptly and honestly; and (6) Fostering Strong External Relations for the University.

Having posited earlier that the academic works of the late great Professor Adebisi Omotola (SAN) remain scattered and challenging to source, there have been some modest efforts to bring the same to light.

Since his untimely demise on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 (day of the eclipse), the quest to ensure his legacy remains began in 2007 with the posthumous publication of the book ‘Law of Secured Credit Transactions’, a master’s degree material published by Evans.

In 2011, a compendium of some fifteen articles on land law titled’ Professor Jelili Omotola’s Body of Work’ was published and launched at the University of Lagos’s 5000-seater Multi-purpose Hall, which was later renamed Adebisi Omotola Hall on January 17, 2017. These legacy projects hopefully would forever cement Prof. Jelili Adebisi Omotola (SAN)’s name in the annals of property law and academic administration in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.

In 2013, three authors, Great Nwakaibeya, Vabge Begha and Adetola Onayemi, published the book, ‘Among Giants Memoirs: Deans of The Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. The book devotes pages 175-191 to the tenure of Omotola between 1986 and 1990

In 2016, at a memorial lecture on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his demise, in the preface to a book ‘Critical Issues in Nigerian Property Law,’ he edited, a professor of property Law, and former Deputy Governor of Delta State, Late Prof. Amos Agbe Utuama (SAN) wrote: “The book is about critical issues in Nigerian property law and written in honour of Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola (SAN). The book is to testify that even after death, his outstanding contribution to developing property Law through research and teaching continues to resonate strongly.

A Second Publication, titled A Visionary University Administrator: Professor Omotola Jelili Adebisi (SAN), was also presented at the same event. The memorial lecture was delivered in grand style by a professor of law and a Supreme Court Justice, Chima Centus Nweze. The 46-page lecture was titled ‘Professor Jelili Omotola and the Polemicisation of Real Property Jurisprudence in Nigeria.’

Justice Nweze, in his introduction, remarked, “It is with humility that I approach this podium this morning to share my humble reflection on the above subject with the august and distinguished audience assembled here. I understand that today’s events were designed to mark Prof Jelili Omotola (SAN)’s tenth memorial anniversary. After Professor Omotola’s translation to other realms of creation… I was somewhat perplexed that an event marking, as it were, his contributions to real property jurisprudence could be initiated by an organization other than his primary constituency, namely academia.’’

Eulogizing the legacy of Omotola, Nweze noted: “I would venture the view that Professor Jelili Omotola’s worthiest legacy was his capacity to mentor numerous scholars who have succeeded in sustaining the critical tradition of scholarship which he championed and exemplified. It is common knowledge that there were, and still are, many scholars who bestrode (and are still bestriding) their areas of specialization like the legendary colossus but whose memories have, suddenly vaporized either with their retirement or with their demise (or will soon vaporize) on account of their failure, neglect or share resolve to groom acolytes or other scholars to propagate their tradition of academic enquiry.

“My research reveals that many of Omotola’s supervisees are excelling in their various endeavours in life. While one of his former students is now a Chief Judge with an engaging passion for scholastic disputations, at least three others are now Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Indeed, four of his protégées are now eminent Professors of Law. These achievements vindicate the aphorism that a candle loses nothing by lighting other candles!”

Justice Nweze continued: “Against this background, this distinguished assemblage of personages here should oblige me as I intend to round off this lecture with a challenge I have continued to throw at Nigerian scholars. I present the same challenge to real property scholars in Nigeria on this occasion.

“Today’s events demonstrate that Jelili Omotola now belongs to that intellectual pantheon where avatars, whose effervescent ideas catalyzed the current trends in legal axiology and the epistemology of law, are venerated.

The jurist concluded by submitting, “May it then be so with Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola, SAN, for his unforgettable role in the polemicisation of real property jurisprudence in Nigeria! One sure way of achieving this is by the collation and publication of the controversies in the LUA into a single volume, preferably, dedicated to the memory of the irrepressible Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola, SAN, who even at the time of his death ten years ago did not leave this world without provoking yet a mystical controversy.

In 2016, the book, Jelili Omotola and I: Memories of My Father, written by Adetunji Omotola (his son), was first published in South Africa. In 2022, the book’s second edition was published with the title Jelili Omotola: Memories of My Father. This book captures the Law Professor’s ancestry, early years and sojourn in England before his career as a Law Lecturer and later as an academic administrator. This book was also published on Amazon, later the same year.

In 2023, Professor Omotola’s inaugural lecture titled’ Law and Land Rights: Whither Nigeria? Delivered on June 29, 1988, was reprinted and published in South Africa to mark its 35th anniversary. The lecture, which was delivered on the first anniversary of the demise of Prof. Omotola’s beloved mother, Alhaja Saratu Ajibewaji Omotola of blessed memory, coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Land Use Act 1978.

In the introduction, Professor Omotola remarked’ Today is an auspicious occasion in my life. The day marks a turning point in my academic career when I am called upon to deliver my Inaugural Lecture. He further stated that the topic-“Law and Land Rights Whither Nigeria?’ had been chosen with extreme thoughtfulness and excitement because it represents the core of my significant research efforts in my academic career.

Professor Omotola was a brilliant scholar who won many prizes at the secondary and university levels. He was adamant that academic brilliance ought to be accompanied by prizes.

In 2023, the family donated N5 million to the University of Lagos for the best student in Land Law, Conveyancing and Secured Credit Transactions for ten years, at N500,000 per year split into three awards. On January 16, 2025, Omosuyi Elijah Segun bagged a BSc First Class in Accounting and the Late Professor Jelili Omotola (SAN) Prize for Best Student in Business Law. Similarly, Segun Adebayo bagged a Master of Law Distinction and the Late Professor Jelili Adebisi Omotola (SAN) prize for best student in Secured Credit Transactions.

–Barrister Adetunji Omotola wrote from Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a global diasporan thought leader, Wine Consultant, and SADC specialist