YCE’s President, Chief Idowu Sofola, a prominent Nigerian jurist, Bencher and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association has sadly passed away. This was confirmed by the Secretary-General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide.
Sofola, died on Friday night in Lagos at the age of 84, he had been president since 2017 after Maj.-Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo, passed on.
Sofola, who was born on Sept. 29, 1934, was the first black person to be awarded the position Secretary of the International Bar Association and was a prominent member of the Ikenne Social Circle and the Obara Ruling House for the Alakenne Royalty.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that Olajide told them on the telephone on Saturday that the YCE was grieved and shocked by Sofola’s death, who he said, was not ill or bedridden.
“I spoke with him few days ago, congratulating him on the appointment of his son as a high court judge and we were planning an event to host him.
“The icon is leaving us at a critical time particularly in Yorubaland as the country prepares for the 2019 general elections.
“He was an intelligent man of Yoruba extraction and the vacuum he left behind will be difficult to fill.
“It is great shock to me and YCE; a strong advocate and believer in true federalism, brilliant lawyer and defender of human rights and democracy,” he said.