K-Rad@50: Profile in courage: ‘Kunle Rasheed Adegoke: The quintessential Comrade/Social Engineer
Born on September 5, 1969, in Osogbo. He attended Ansar-ud-deen Primary School, Osogbo between 1975 and 1981. From there he proceeded to Ansar-ud-deen Grammar School, Osogbo between 1981 and 1986 where he obtained the West African School Certificate in flying colours. He did his Advanced Level studies at the Osogbo Grammar School and later gained admission to the University of Ilorin where he studied English Language and Literature between 1989 and 1992.
As an uncompromising student activist and unrepentant Marxist-Leninist, Secretary General of the University of Ilorin Students’ Union and Secretary of Zone C of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Kunle 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 from the University of Ilorin in March, 1992 by the school authorities. This was when he was already in his final year in the university.
It was following this unfortunate incident that he wrote the University Matriculation Examination (UME) again in 1993 and, upon a brilliant performance, was offered 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 day of September, 1997, his birthday 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.
Despite the horrors of victimisation and undisguised poverty necessitating self-sponsorship, 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 later attended the one-year vocational studies in the Nigerian Law School between 2001 and 2002. He was later called to the Nigerian Bar in February, 2003 as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in most challenging moments the details of which would be excellent scripts for the Nollywood. 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 distinguished law firm of Olaniwun Ajayi LP between April, 2003 and September, 2004 after which he went into private practice in a thriving partnership in the law firm of M. A. Banire & Associates for over a decade. Today, he is the Principal Partner of Kunle Adegoke & Co. with offices in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. He was counsel to the former Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as he represented him during the long battles to reclaim the people’s mandate between 2007 and 2010 and the infamous forgery trial that accompanied it. He was counsel to many members of the House of Assembly of the State of Osun during the same period.
Kunle Adegoke is an election petition guru as he was a frontline team leader in the Benue State governorship petition between Steve Ugba and Gabriel Suswam in 2011, the Kogi governorship election petition between Prince Abubakar Audu and Governor Idris Wada, the Adamawa election petition between Markus Natina Gundiri and Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako and 2014 Osun governorship election petition between Iyiola Omisore and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He represented many members of the House of Assembly of Lagos State in 2007 – 2008 and 2015 in several election petitions; and was counsel to the All Progressives Congress in several matters including the case of Agbaje and Ambode. He is also on the legal team of President Muhammadu Buhari at the 2019 Presidential Election Tribunal. Kunle Adegoke is also an expert in Legal Drafting and Commercial Law Practice as he currently serves several governmental establishments, giant telecommunications and other big companies.
Kunle Adegoke 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.
Frustration 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.
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.
Secured Credit and Intricacies of Choses in Action – a research project (2008).
The Return of Oranmiyan – The Legal Battles to Reclaim Aregbesola’s Mandate, co-authored and published in 2011.
Right to Challenge Nomination in Election Petition – the Need for the Supreme Court of Nigeria to Overrule Itself. (Yet to be published).
“Internet Jurisdiction: A Catch-22 Situation and The Trajectory of the Nigerian Judicial System” (Unpublished) being paper delivered at a One-Day Conference during the 2016 National Cyber Security Awareness Month on the 8th day of December, 2016 at Oriental Hotel, Lagos and reported at http://technologytimes.ng/nigeria-cybercrime-act-weighs-down-federal-high-court/ accessed on 19 April, 2017.
“Recent Intervention against Banking Collapse in Nigeria” (Yet to be published).
Nigeria Cyber Law and Cyber Citizenship in a Digital World” a lecture delivered on 25th August, 2017 at the 2017 Nigeria ICT Impact CEO Forum & Awards.
He is, above all, a respected 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 also served as 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 also currently served as a co-opted member of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association.
In 2019, Adegoke was shortlisted by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, a body that selects lawyers for conferment of the prestigious rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria. 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.
