Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, CON: Celebrating An Extra-Ordinary Life @ 90 By YC Maikyau, SAN

I am elated to celebrate the iconic woman of the Nigerian Bar, whose life has been devoted to the mentorship of younger women and the cause of gender empowerment – Chief Olufolake (Folake) Solanke, SAN, CON – a trailblazing woman of many firsts!

Chief Solanke was born on the 29th day of March 1932, to the family of Jacob and Sekumade Odulate in Ogun State, Abeokuta, Nigeria. After completing her secondary education at the Methodist Girls’ High School Lagos, she lost her father’s sponsorship to college for refusing to marry the man he had chosen for her (a common practice in those days), an experience which she recounts as one that greatly influenced her advocacy for women’s rights.

In 1950, she took a one-year higher course in Queen’s College, Onikan Lagos, before proceeding to England where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Latin and Mathematics from Durham University (now Newcastle University).

Subsequently, in 1955, she received a Diploma Certificate in Education. She then went on to spend some years as a classroom teacher, teaching Latin and Mathematics, first at Pipers Corner School, Great Kingshill, High Wycombe, Buckingshire, England and then at St Monica’s School, England.

After spending a few years as a classroom teacher, Chief Folake was, in 1960 admitted into Gray’s Inn, London for her professional training and was called to the English Bar in 1962.

She returned to Nigeria in August 1962 and joined the Chambers of M. A. Odesanya and from there moved to the law firm of Chief Fredrick Rotimi Williams and commenced full-time practice of law, upon her call to the Nigerian Bar in 1963. In 1966 she opened her own law firm “Alabukun Chambers”, from where she continued her very successful legal career.

In 1981 she made history, when she became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – the first female to take the rank in the entire country!

In 1986, Solanke was called to serve on a tribunal for the review of the sentences of politicians, where she performed a judicial role. She would subsequently decline an invitation to serve on the appellate bench, because she wanted to focus on her activism. She played a key role at the Zonta International Organization – an organization whose goal is the empowerment of women through service and advocacy. She contested for the presidency of the organization and was elected as its 42nd President, making her the first African and non-white to be president of the organization since its establishment in 1919. She paved the way for other Africans to hold international leadership positions in Zonta International Organization, as her successor to the office (43rd President of the Association) was an African.

Chief Solanke has been the recipient of numerous traditional titles, national and international awards and recognitions.

In 1981, following her conferment with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, she was conferred with a traditional title of “Yeyemofin of Ife” by the late Olubuse II, the 50th Ooni of Ife. She has also been awarded the national honor of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). Her public lectures on the “Trial” of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the “trials” of St. Paul, the Apostle received commendations from the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 2012, she received the International Bar Association’s Outstanding International Female Lawyer Award at the Association’s 5th World Women Lawyers’ Conference held in London, “in recognition of her professional excellence and immense contribution to the advancement of women within the legal profession”.

On the 17th of January, 2015, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of the many feats in her career by The Sun Newspaper. She is an honorary Fellow of The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and is the Patron of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan Branch.

Her publications include: A Compendium of Selected Lectures, Oral & Written Advocacy: Law & Practice, Traditional & Modern Trends in Advocacy, Selected Essays and Papers on Law and Societal Issues and her autobiography, Reaching For The Stars.

Folake Solanke, SAN is a pacesetter in many ways; she leads by her exemplary life of hard work, consistency and excellence, even as she has continued to mentor younger lawyers. Her impeccable dressing and strict adherence to the ethics of the profession are striking and worthy of emulation. Beyond her feats as the first female SAN or any other of her many ‘firsts’, the ever graceful and radiant Folake Solanke has become a living legend, having defied the odds to reach the zenith of the then male-dominated legal profession, and thereby set the pace for other women to follow.

On this milestone birthday celebration, we reflect on her life over the decades: the stories that have been told, her remarkable experiences and her well-lived life, and from it we have learnt and will continue to learn.

Thank you Chief, for all you are and represent.

Happy 90th Birthday, Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, CON; our mother and grandmother – and many happy returns!

Yakubu Chonoko (YC) Maikyau, SAN

Chairman, NBA Welfare Committee.