AARE AFE BABALOLA, SAN, B.Sc. (Econ.), LL.B (Hons), B.L., OFR, FNIALS, FCIArb, LL.D.

ONE of the wonders of creation is the dotting of the galaxy of humanity with giant stars of men and women. These stars are the inventors, the great writers, the philosophers, the philanthropists, all who spend their intellectual and material endowments for the collective good of the majority in a grand design to leave the world around them better than they met it.

Such is the story of Nigeria’s own Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, a man who by dint of hard work, determination and sheer grace of God fought and conquered debasing and grinding poverty right from his root in Ado-Ekiti where he grew without a pair of shoes, where he lived in a thatched house without a door and a parenthood that could not see him beyond secondary education because of paucity of funds in those early days. Yet, he has since risen from that bucolic beginning to become a leading citizen of the world and a toast of many.

Fortunately, the young Afe Babalola understood the great powers of the twin master keys of hard work and determination to tear down what appeared to be the Berlin Walls or the Walls of Jericho of illiteracy and poverty befuddling his otherwise great and verdant future. 
Having no opportunity for secondary education, he ventured into private study through correspondence, reading with hurricane lamps in one obscure village near Ibadan, an endeavour through which he acquired London GCE Ordinary and Advance levels, one after the other, with flying colours.

The outstanding performances gave him an impetus that he could convert his obstacles to out-and-out stepping stones to success and great accomplishments. He thus registered as an External student at the University of London where he bagged a B.Sc. in Economics in 1959. Not long after that, the man who has since won acclaim as an icon in legal practice and in quality education through private initiatives, again registered for Law, again as an External student in the same University of London where he became a Barrister at Law at Lincoln’s Inn in 1963.


His ovation reverberates from Ewi’s palace in his root in Ado Ekiti to the Alafin’s palace in the ancient city of Oyo where he has been awarded frontline chieftaincy titles. His prodigious personality rings bells in Aso Rock where his name echoes as Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

Chief Afe Babalola also owns a huge law library and is strongly devoted to the advancement of law and the legal profession in Nigeria.
If Chief Afe Babalola can rise above his foundation, you too can rise above your foundation. Your becoming has nothing to do with your beginning.

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