Kayode Ajulo: A Classic Mix of Class, Candour, Charisma, Courage and Comradeship

Kayode Ajulo: A Classic Mix of Class, Candour, Charisma, Courage and Comradeship.

The décor in his Kayode Ajulo & Co. Castle of Law Chambers in Abuja is quite revealing and first-time visitors are struck by the obvious attention to detail in design and finishing. Soft hymns wafts across the lobby from a metallic-black grand piano being played by a young well-dressed man in the corner.

Welcome 

That Barrister Kayode Ajulo is a man of class both in and out of the nation’s courtrooms is a fact that needs no debate. Tall, young, dynamic, debonair and always with a smile, his calm but unassuming demeanor conceals the steely determination and burning passion with which he pursues his goals.

Barr. Kayode Ajulo

He attributes his focus and other positive character traits to a strict Christian upbringing and the orientation and tutelage received during his time as a student at Aquinas College, Akure, University of Jos and law offices of Attorney-General of Federation, Chief Afe Babalola, Dr. Tunji Abayomi.

“I passed through great institutions and I am privileged to passed through some grand master in law practice. I served country at the Federal Ministry of Justice, with late Bola Ige, SAN as the Minister. The present Chief Judge of Ondo State, Hon. Justice Sehinde Kumuyi was my Head of Department, my direct boss. Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, GOK Ajayi, SAN and Dr. Tunji Abayomi need no introduction", he said, smiling with a wistful look in his eyes. “I never drilled, they taught me three indelible lessons and my mind is constantly impregnated with three things: never to consider anything impossible, and to be daring in our imaginations, and to strive for integrity, compassion and excellence in our exploits.

The trajectory of his life thus far has embodied these three qualities. Always politically inclined, he had served in several leadership capacity dating back to when he was Seventeen years old as an executive of union body.

As an undergraduate he served among others as Secretary of SUG Social Committee, Treasurer of the Student Union back in the UNIJOS and Member of Caretaker Committee. His co-executives member and comrades in campus politics, Hon. TJ Yusuf and Philip Shuaibu who were National Secretary of the National Association of Nigerian Students and National President of NANS respectively are now lawmakers in the National Assembly. Ajulo himself was once a candidate of Labour Party for exalt Senate seat in 2011.

Today, as the former National Secretary of the Labour Party, Ajulo is probably the youngest Nigerian to ever held such a position of leadership in a leading political party in modern Nigerian political history.

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KAYODE AJULO & CO. CASTLE OF LAW, founded in 2001, is a full corporate and litigation law office with established and well equipped up-to-date state of the art information technology to facilitate seamless operation locally and internationally.The firm was established by Kayode Ajulo, LL.B. (Hons.) LL.M., MNIM, ACIArb, fcl

His legal practice parades an array of “heavyweight” clients which include several Federal and State government agencies in Nigeria and international organizations; his acquaintanceship with the high and mighty in the land is a testimony to his savvy in the courtroom and professional conduct and courtesies which has endeared him to many who are generations ahead of him age-wise.

When asked about this, he replies with a smile and ascribes it to that popular Yoruba saying about how well scrubbed hands would facilitate a young man’s dining with the elderly. He has close relationships with the top echelon of the Nigerian firmament and has functioned in advisory capacity to past presidents and several governors.

As an advocate for social justice, good governance and social opportunities, his    legal advocacy practice spread beyond the nation’s shores to countries such as the United Kingdom, Ghana, Guinea, providing consulting services for the governments of about twelve countries across Africa and Europe. He is holds  membership of several organizations, including Avant Garde international, International Association of Human rights Lawyers, Nigerian Red Cross, the Nigerian Institute of Management, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and International bar association (IBA), Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK.

A deeply sensitive and upright individual, Ajulo ascribes his famed spirit of “aluta” advocacy, burning compassion and renowned philanthropy to growing up under the tutelage of two parents, a bookseller father and a seamstress turned entrepreneur mother who taught him to bear the burden of his neighbor while also stressing that the term “neighbor” encompasses everyone who he encountered in need of help.

“My mum was the human embodiment of mercy and kindliness. She never discountenanced the needy around us all through my years growing up. She always had a plate of hot steaming food available for the hungry. My dad, on the other hand, never could stand injustice. He taught me to always stand up for my own rights, and to be a defender of the helpless. These were the Christian traits they passed on to me, so for those who knew my family, it would be no surprise to them that I turned out like this. I was raised to be a conscious and compassionate human, not just to seek my own interests,” he said still wearing his trademark smile.

His compassion and philanthropy finally found full expression when he established the Egalitarian Mission For Africa, a non-profit organization established for the promotion of rule of law, social and economic equality in Africa. A voice in the local and International media, his non-profit has been in active advocacy campaign for global good governance and democracy as well being one of the leading voices against corruption, nepotism and injustice across Africa. As Founder/Chairman, his activities have straddled the global landscape as he continues to champion the rights of the oppressed while cross-fertilizing ideas with governments and personalities. Today the NGO act in advisory capacity to many States in Nigeria and sixteen African countries at no cost.

For Ajulo, the next best influence after parental guidance has been the educational environment in which he was raised. First a student of Aquinas College, he proceeded to study Law at the prestigious University of Jos from where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in law (LLB. Hons) in 1999. He obtained his Master of Laws’s Degree (LL. M), bagged an honourary Doctor of Law, LL.D and is currently pursuing his Ph. D. in Social Justice and Corporate Social Responsibility in the United Kingdom. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in some universities, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State included.

In 2013, he was appointed by the government of Ondo State as the Chairman of the Board of Ondo State Radio-Vision Corporation.

How does he combine all, and find time for family and friends? A smile flashes again, and he says “It is all about the orientation; it is about pushing oneself beyond all imagined limits”. He unwinds by spending time with family, going to the cinema or holidaying in and outside Nigeria.

“I also used to love biking very much; I would get on my power bike and just take a cross-country hike to relax. But with the growth of my family, I had to exercise caution being responsible for the welfare of loved ones,” he says.

A glance round his office shows the urbane personality for which Ajulo is famed for building. Framed paintings of Mohandas Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, General Benjamin Adekunle (Black Scorpion), JusticE Kayode Esho and his mother, Princess Christiana Monisola Ajulo. Up and above them all, sits an artist’s impression of Jesus Christ. His moral and political influences, he calls them.

“I like to judge my moral conducts and professional choices by asking what would these persons do in any scenario where I find myself. The answers I have gotten have never failed me till date,” he says.

He also maintain that he's not a professional politician but a professional in politics, which necessitated his proposed summit of Association of All Nigerian Professionals in Politics (AANPP) serving as a convener of the summit to be held in December this year in Abuja.

Ajulo remains a shining light amongst His people and prides himself as locally bred and he gushes with honest appreciation of his time amongst intellectuals in the world.

“I travel a lot around the world and each time after presenting my papers during seminars, workshops and conferencesI always tell them that I am very proud to be a product of Nigeria system".