Renowned corporate lawyer, businessman and philanthropist, Chief Chris Ogunbanjo, has passed on.
The Erunwon-Ijebu-born Ogunbanjo died on Saturday, October 7, 2023, about two months before his 100th birthday.
Born on December 12, 1923 into one of the most prominent families in Ijebuland, he obtained a degree in Law in 1949 and was called to the bar in 1950.
His father, Daniel Ajayi Ogunbanjo, was a headmaster, a deacon and later became a very prominent Pastor and Canon in the defunct Western Region.
His mother, the late Madam Towobola, hailed from a neighbouring village, Ijebu-Imushin.
Chris attended St. Phillips Primary School, Aiyetoro, Ile-Ife before proceeding to Oduduwa College, Ife for his secondary education in 1936. In 1938, he moved to the prestigious Igbobi College in Lagos where he completed his secondary education.
Ogunbanjo began his Legal Practice in 1950 as a Partner in a law firm then known as Samuel, Chris & Michael: made up of the late Chief Samuel Akintola, former Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Christopher Ogunbanjo and late Justice Michael Odesanya; whose offices were situated at Tinubu Square in the heart of Lagos.
After the dissolution of the partnership in 1960, he created Chris Ogunbanjo & Co; a Commercial Law firm considered to be the building platform for many successful luminaries in Nigerian legal practice.
Ogunbanjo employed his profession, Law, as a veritable instrument of change in the Nigerian legal, corporate, industrial and management practice.
Within a few years of specialising in corporate law, he was spotted and appointed “Retainer-Solicitor” to the NIDB Project by the Federal Government and International Finance Corporation.
He was also part of several top companies such as West African Batteries, Metal Box Toyo, Union Securities, 3M Nigeria, ABB Nigeria, Roche Nigeria and Chemical and Allied Products Ltd.
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