One of Nigeria’s legal icons and business leaders, Chief Ademola Edu, is dead.
The demise of Edu, 76, was announced yesterday in an obituary issued by his family.
Born October 21, 1945, into the family of the late Chief S.L. Edu and Alhaja Hunmuani, the late business leader attended Lagos Government School and later, Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos.
Edu, according to the statement by the family, laboured diligently to fulfill his responsibilities and excelled at Igbobi College, Lagos, where he also obtained the school colours in football.
He was briefly at King’s College, London, to study Law but ended up at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, and was later called to the Nigerian Bar in 1973.
The legal luminary worked as a young lawyer with Bentley and Co. from 1973 to 1975, when he established his own law firm, Ademola Edu and Co.
The deceased, the family noted, left no one in doubt about his high-rising profile in the legal profession, when he bought the law firm of Bentley and Co. in 1980, and went ahead to form Bentley, Edu and Co. the same year.
He carved the niche of a successful legal practitioner by acquiring in 1989, the prestigious law firm of Irving and Bonnar, the oldest law firm in Nigeria, founded in 1917.
A Notary Public, the late Edu was a trustee of the Dr. T.O.Elias Chair of Law at the University of Lagos and distinguished himself in the sphere of business, becoming Chairman of Bristow Helicopters (Nigeria) Limited in 2000, having been appointed to the board in 1977.
He joined the board of Glaxo in 1983 and also served as a Director of Eko Hotels, Lagos,from 1983 to 1986.
When the late Edu assumed authority as Chairman of Evans Medical Plc. in 2004, the statement noted, it was clear the company was set for an invigoration that eventually set a progressive tone for it in the health sector.
His deep impact on the company was such that today, Evans Medical Plc. is a respected leader in the league of drug manufacturers in the country.
He was a trustee of the Lagos State Education Endowment Trust and a founding member of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation and member of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, a fitting memorial for his father, the impeccable Chief S.L Edu, who was an indefatigable advocate of forest conservation and pioneer chairman of the Nigerian Conservation Fund.
The late septogenarian represented Hodder and Stoughton (UK) and was on the board of Nigerian Book Publishers, Ibadan, and a member of the International Trademarks Association.
A fellow of the Institute of Directors (UK), Edu was also chairman of Ogins Advertising Limited and Great Africa Finance Co. Limited. He was the first Chairman of Racal Survey Nig. Ltd.
His services to communities whose development contributed to, were rewarded with the chieftaincy titles of Atunluse of Awe and Baariyun of Epe land.
Edu was not a stranger to international awards and was honoured with the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Outstanding Merit Award and the African International Achievers Merit Award in 2004.
Another feather was added to his cap with the African Healthcare Personality of the Year (2009) Award conferred on him by the prestigious African Leadership Magazine.
An achiever of the highest order, Chief Edu was inducted into the respectable Africa Hall of Fame.
SAE, as he was fondly called, is survived by wife, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters and a large extended family, and will be sorely missed by all.
