K-RAD (APC), Battling Against The Odds

With 169 days to go into the election on September 22nd, the preliminaries and the heats for the main race, we continue the review of the purported contestants, even though none of them has formally declared.

Born on September 5, 1969, in Osogbo, he attended Ansar-ud-deen Primary School, Osogbo between 1975 and 1981; and Ansar-ud-deen Grammar School, Osogbo between 1981 and 1986. He did his Advanced Level studies in Osogbo Grammar School and later gained admission to the University of Ilorin where he studied English Language and Literature between 1989 and 1992.

He proceeded to the University of Lagos in 1994 to obtain an LLB Degree from the Faculty of Law following his expulsion from the University of Ilorin in his final year as an uncompromising student activist. As an unrepentant Marxist-Leninist, the then Secretary General of the University of Ilorin Students Union and Secretary of Zone C of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Adegoke, popularly known as K-Rad, an abbreviation of the pseudonym, Kunle Radical, defended the interests of his constituency to the end and paid the supreme academic sacrifice when he was expelled in March, 1992 by the authorities of the University, after which he later gained admission into the University of Lagos in 1994/1995 Session.

In 1994, he served as Secretary at the NANS Convention that held in Obafemi Awolowo University and later as Chairman, Convention of NANS which held in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1995. His academic sojourn in the University of Lagos was another challenging experience as he was suspended on the 5th September, 1997, and subsequently expelled in the same month of September, 1997 by the authorities of the University who considered his voice of dissent a sacrilege. He lost a year in the course of challenging the decision of the University in court until he was later re-instated in May, 1998 by Justice Tajudeen Odunowo of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Adegoke completed his LLB studies with Second Class (Upper Division) in the University of Lagos in the year 2000 during which he represented University of Lagos at the All African Universities Human Rights Moot Court Competition in the University of Legon, Ghana. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in February, 2003 as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He later obtained his Masters’ Degree in Law with 4.0 Grade Points from the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos in 2009.

Now a seasoned lawyer with many laurels to his name after cutting his legal teeth with the law firm of Olaniwun Ajayi LP between April, 2003 and September, 2004, he has been into private practice in a thriving partnership in the law firm of M. A. Banire & Associates from August 2004 till date. He was counsel to the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as he represented him during the long battles to reclaim the peoples mandate between 2007 and 2010 and the infamous forgery trial that accompanied it. He was a counsel to many serving members of the House of Assembly of the State of Osun during the same period.

Kunle Adegoke is an election petition expert as he was a frontline team leader in the Benue State governorship petition between Steve Ugba v. Gabriel Suswam in 2011, the Kogi governorship election petition between Prince Abubakar Audu v. Governor Idris Wada, the Adamawa election petition between Markus Natina Gundiri v. Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako and 2014 Osun governorship election petition between Iyiola Omisore v. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He is also an expert in legal drafting and commercial law practice.

Kunle is a prolific writer whose writings have graced the pages of many Nigerian newspapers and legal journals among which are:

The Constitutionality of the Sharia – article published in the Guardian Newspaper of December 7, 1999; Is Iraq Still A State?  an article published in the Guardian Newspaper (2004); Renvoi – a research project (2000); Current Trends in the Formation and Interpretation of Contracts – article published in Legal Aspects of Finance in Emerging Markets (ed. Olaniwun Ajayi) Lexis Nexis, 2005, page 267;mFrustration of Contracts: Common Causes, Resulting Rights and Liabilities  article published in Legal Aspects of Finance in Emerging Markets (ed. Olaniwun Ajayi) Lexis Nexis, 2005, page 299; The Blue Book 2004: Practical Approach To The High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 co-authored and published by M. A. Banire & Associates in conjunction with Excel Publication Services Ltd., in 2004 with second and third editions having been published in 2008 and 2012); The Blue Book: Practical Approach To The High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2nd Edition, co-authored and published by Ecowatch Publications Services Ltd., 2008; and The Blue Book Law Report: A Compilation of Cases on Lagos State Rules of Practice and Procedure [2008] BLR (Pt. 1) co-edited and published by M. A. Banire & Associates, 2008 among others.

He is, above all, a litigation lawyer with rich accounts of legal exploits in many Nigerian courtrooms. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the International Section of the American Bar Association, and the International Bar Association. He was a distinguished Nigerian NGO delegate at the September, 2013 United Nations Conference in New York on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples where his non-governmental organisation, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), was conferred with observer status of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Kunle Adegoke served as a member of the Strategy Committee for the election of AB Mahmoud, SAN as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association in 2016. He is today the Secretary of the North East Task Force of the Nigerian Bar Association responsible for rendering legal service for the rehabilitation of the victims of Boko haram insurgency in the North Eastern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. He is currently serving as a co-opted member of National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association. The Chief Judge of Lagos State swore him in as a Notary Public in 2017.

He is happily married to Olufunmilola and blessed with four beautiful daughters, Mofe, Tara, Sewa and Funmi.