Bayo Ojo

Ojo was called to the Nigerian Bar in July 1978. He had his first solo court appearance as defence counsel in a rape case before Hon. Justice Anthony Iguh of the High Court of Justice, Enugu, in 1978. The case was a legal aid brief and Ojo lost it because of the overwhelming evidence against his client. He was then a member of the National Youth Service Corps.

He worked at the Ministry of Justice, Kwara State, as a state counsel for four years. During this period, he obtained a certificate in Legal Drafting from Royal Institute of Public Administration, London in September, 1981. Thereafter, he proceeded to the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, to obtain LLM in September 1982. In March 1983, he opted out of government service to join the firm of Oniyangi & Co as head of chambers. In 1986, he founded the law firm of Bayo Ojo & Co.

He was elected President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in 2004. Subsequently, he was appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice^[4] by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

During his term as Attorney-General, he regularly appeared in court personally to argue cases on behalf of the government. Previous attorneys-general had mostly preferred to engage lawyers in private practice to appear for the government. He was noted for his brilliant efforts in decongesting Nigerian prisons by engaging lawyers in private practice to defend various individuals who were being held by the state without trial. He also had a limited measure of success in advocating for an improvement in the welfare of younger lawyers.

As of 2007, he is a member of the United Nations International Law Commission. He remains a close associate of Nasir EL-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu.

• Oyekunle Tinuade, and Ojo Bayo Handbook of Arbitration and ADR Practice in Nigeria LexisNexis: 2018 ISBN 978-0-639-00355-9^[5]

Cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo 1999-2003