I heard of MBG before I met him. It was from Prof. Abiola Sanni, professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, that I first heard the name. Prof Sanni had taken me under his wing following a chance encounter in his office at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. I was writing my final year thesis on Personal Income Tax Administration in Lagos State. By a strange coincidence, Prof is an expert in Taxation Law and that’s how he became my unofficial consultant.
Every time we discussed a jurisprudential point, Prof would say: “Your submissions always remind me of MBG. MBG is brilliant.” If I mentioned one case, Prof would retort: “You like dropping cases like MBG. There is no case that MBG does not know.” If I craved Prof’s indulgence to use a proverb [in Yorubaland, the younger person must be permitted before using proverb in the elder’s presence, if he wants to live long], Prof’s predictable response would be: “There is no proverb that MBG does not know.” And if our discussion was on Yoruba Music or Awolowo’s politics, your guess is right, Prof would say: “MBG is the undisputed champion of Yoruba history.’’
Who the hell was this MBG? I started getting curious about the person without ever meeting him. One day, Dr. Akeem Olajide Bello came into Prof’s office to discuss a legal point. In the course of their conversation, Dr. Bello said: “The only person who could have that brief is MBG!” MBG again! I asked Dr. Bello if he too knew MBG! He looked at me as if I was asking him if Ile-Ife was the source of Yoruba race. “Is there anyone in the legal circle who does not know MBG?” [I later inherited Dr. Bello’s office and designation in Alausa, but that’s a story I am going to tell you another day]
Years later, following my return from the University of Warwick, I finally met him! I had totally forgotten about the prodigy until I came from Port Harcourt where I was undergoing my NYSC to inform Prof Sanni that I had been offered employment at Aluko & Oyebode.
“Aluko & Oyebode! That’s where MBG works!” MBG again! It appeared that MBG and I had a date with destiny.
Finally, I met him! I don’t know if it’s peculiar to me, but if I hear of someone, my mind would create an instant mental picture of him before meeting him. In my mind, the MBG was a tall, gaunt man with bushy Afro, sparse in frame, tiny and penetrating eye, and an arrogant individual. Then I met him. He was nothing like the image in my mind. He was buried behind his desk with files and books spread around him. He was of medium height and had no professorial air around him. In truth, apart from his designer suit, he looked more like someone you would meet casually around Agbeni or Oje in Ibadan.
The first thing I discovered about MBG was that Prof. Sanni had not been truthful about him. MBG was not brilliant. He was super-brilliant. MBG was not intelligent. He was super-intelligent. Prof. Sanni had actually been modest in his description. MBG is that person that you have to describe in superlatives if you want to be fair to his extraordinary ability and massive endowment. Faced with the humongous talents he possesses, my initial ‘curiosity’ turned into an unfazed admiration. How could you not like him! He is an engaging individual whose humility belies his brilliance.
I became an instant mentee. He must have seen something in me for he too accepted me as a younger friend and brother. He became my unofficial supervisor and unpaid consultant. There was no work I did without showing him first. He is extremely generous with his time and resources. He would drop what he was doing to look at whatever miserable things I had concocted and made invaluable suggestions. The problem with showing your work to MBG is that he would always know one legal authority that you did not cite. He would stand up from his table and we would go to meet our ever-resourceful Mrs. Bolanle Olumekor in the library and voila! MBG would fish out the case. The authority would be the game changer.
It was from MBG that I learnt to be friend with Court Registrars at all levels. He knows them and they know him. They give him access to all judgments and records of proceedings. Anytime we finished from court, I would follow MBG to the Court of Appeal where he would check for all the briefs filed by leading lawyers. I don’t know how he does it but MBG could wrestle the Tablet of Ten Commandments from Moses. He would come back with copies of the briefs. In the office, he would tell me: “Onigegewura, this is Chief Olanipekun’s respondent’s brief. He considered the application of section 180 of XYG. Here is Chief Ladi Williams’ brief in the XYS Bank case. It is very interesting argument that Chief made. You may want to make a copy of yourself.”
One day, a youth corps lawyer, let’s call her ABC, asked me: “Onigegewura, how’s your Daddy?” I was surprised that she knew my father. “He’s fine. You know my father?” She nodded with mischief: “Is MBG not your father? Every time, Onigegewura go and make copy of this, go and make copy of that as if you are his son!” I smiled. Some weeks later, ABC wanted an authority on section 417 of the old CAMA. Strangely, I had just obtained a ruling in my favour on the provision. It was MBG who assisted me to navigate the address that led to the ruling. I gave ABC the ruling and additional authorities I got from MBG. “Wow! How do you source for all these unreported decisions?” It was now my turn to tell her: “Onigegewura go and make copy of this, go and make copy of that!” ‘This and that’ are what you are holding. She got the message and she became another mentee of the famed MBG.
Dr. Bello is right. The number of senior lawyers who does not know MBG in legal circle, at least in Lagos, could be counted on the fingers of one hand. MBG is the unofficial reference librarian. He is consulted daily by leading practitioners. Trust MBG, he is always available and willing. He is one of the most respected counsel around. If he receives ten calls in a day, nine of the calls will be from lawyers who wanted to find out one authority or another from him. In Federal High Court one day, two lawyers were arguing about a legal issue. One of them, learned Mr. Toyin Ukoh [I hope my recollection of his name is right] said: “If I call Alhaji Gani now, he will confirm the position.” I asked him if he knew MBG. In his somewhat sonorous voice, the lawyer quipped: “All of us know Alhaji Gani!” MBG is also known as Alhaji Gani, Alhaji, or simply Gani.
I thought I loved books until I met MBG. If there is someone in love with books, look no further than MBG. His budget for books is more than what an average Faculty of Law spends on developing their library. I don’t think there is a leading library in the South-West that MBG has not visited. He is on first name terms with most law librarians in Lagos. It was through MBG that I became friend with the famous Mr. Brown of Chief Rotimi Williams Library. Of course, there is no lawyer who does not know Mr. Brown.
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MBG knows all the volumes in Obafemi Awolowo Library in Ikenne. He is at home at Simeon Adebo Library in Abeokuta. He is a regular visitor to Oyo State Ministry of Justice Library in Ibadan. He is friend with the Librarian of Lagos State Ministry of Justice in Alausa. And of course, I am one of the major beneficiaries of his book expeditions. Anytime he comes back from his book excursions, he happily shares copies of the book he finds with me.
In the ‘Acknowledgment’ to the second volume of my Onigegewura book [in press], one of the names I paid tribute to is MBG, naturally. It is the least I could do for a man who has been of immense benefit to me. In the course of writing the book, I needed a volume on the alleged $12 billion missing oil money. I searched for the book in Abuja with no luck. I called MBG. He told me to check my whatsapp. That’s MBG for you!
I want to believe that I am one of the trusted people who have access to MBG’s bedroom. The massive bedroom is lined from top to bottom with rare volumes on different topics. When I was working on ‘The Diamond at the Bar: A Chronicle of Lessons and Values from the Life of Aare Afe Babalola’, I wanted to cross-check a vital piece of information supplied by one of our distinguished contributors. For this purpose, I needed the Report of a Tribunal set up by Oyo State Government in the 80s. MBG took me to his bedroom and on a shelf in one corner was the Report!
His uncommon brilliance notwithstanding, MBG does not claim to know everything. He is always ready to admit if he does not know something. I recall one night when I called him. I had boasted to one of my younger friends, Ephraim Ajijola [now a doctoral student at York University, Canada] that MBG would know of a particular authority. We called MBG. “Walahi, I don’t know. But I will find out for you.” That’s MBG for you. His simplicity is disarming.
MBG is generous. If I had said it before, forgive me. He is very generous. When I was headhunted to join the Government, I was not aware that there was a public service rule that salary would be paid only after three months. Three months! Lobatan! When I told MBG, in passing, he nodded and we moved on to other topics. On the day that our Aluko & Oyebode Partner, Mrs. Kofo Dosekun was marking her 50th birthday somewhere on the Island, I attended the event with MBG in the company of Yemi Akangbe [my brother who has just made Silk]. After the event, MBG passed an envelope to me without Yemi knowing.
Have I told you about MBG’s wife? I don’t know whether Chef Hilda prepared ewedu in her famed Guinness World Record effort. If she did, I did not taste it. But I have tasted Alhaja’s ewedu many times. You know Aluko & Oyebode is a 7-day law firm. We worked every day of the week. Whenever I finished working on Saturday, I would find my way to MBG’s house in Magodo, on the pretext of looking for one book, but the truth was to eat. As MBG is generous with his books, Alhaja is more generous with her pots of soup. I would be met with steaming Amala and the famous ewedu, every time.
When Lagos burnt on 20 October 2020, MBG was one of the unknown victims. You recall that the hoodlums burnt the High Court of Lagos State and also set the City Hall on fire! MBG’s massive chambers – the law firm that had been of immense value to many of us – went up in flames! It was a terrible day for all. MBG was trying to be strong when I called him from Abuja. I could hear Alhaja sobbing in the background. It was an October I will remember for a long time. I don’t know if he has ever received compensation for the huge loss.
It was a terrible blow. Many people who were affected abandoned legal practice and moved back to their villages. But MBG remains unshaken! Like the proverbial Phoenix, MBG rose from the ashes of the arson. In two years, he has succeeded in setting up a more befitting law firm with hundreds of volumes of law reports and books on every imaginable subject. And he continues to be generous with his resources as ever. If the aim of the arsonists was to cripple MBG, they failed. As Yusuf Olatunji sang in Volume 17: “Yegede won ko ge o. Ese teni won ge la fi n rin yi o, Yegede won ko ge o e!”
MBG is still on his feet! To God be the Glory.
Now, talking about Yusuf Olatunji, if there is someone who deserves a Doctorate Degree in the music of Baba L’Egba, it is no other than MBG. Before I met him, I thought was an expert in the music of the doyen of Sakara music. Then I met MBG and I realized that I was an elementary student as far MBG was concerned. He not only knew the wordings of all the 38 albums waxed by the legendary Olatunji, he also knew their respective volumes. When Alaafin Adeyemi returned to his royal ancestors, I was evoking his passage with Yusuf Olatunji’s song celebrating youthful Yoruba Obas in the 70s: “Awon to gbafe, to je olomode Oba, ti e ba ti mu Agura, pelu Sikiru, Afolabi Ayangburen le o fi k’eta, ati Oba Oyo Adeyemi mi. Ewe mo dun joba, ti e ba ti ri Salawu o ba oba mu…” MBG nodded. “That’s Volume 31 – Ayangburen Ikorodu!”
Not only that, MBG knew the back story of every album. He knows the reason Yusuf Olatunji praised Lamidi Adedibu and Inaolaji in Volume 9. He knows why Jarinatu Seriki was praised in Volume 16. It was from him that I heard the story of Badejo Okusanya in Volume 14. We were coming from the Court of Appeal one day when we were talking about Okerayi. He regaled me with tales of both the Okerayi that KWAM 1 praised and Alimi Okerayi, his father, that Olatunji praised in Volume 7! If you want to know the Buruji Ayinde that was praised in Volume 11 or the Jimoh Olojo he praised in Volume 15, MBG is your best source.
Anytime I pass by the burnt City Hall, I thank Almighty Allah who has bestowed His Favours on MBG and restored his unquantifiable losses. The Yusuf Olatunji’s song that comes to my mind [as adapted] is from Volume 16:
“Eda ti o ba ni suru ko ni je ika o/
Ewe to ti n ru ri, ki o to salairu mo, a soju Oluwa/
Cocoa to ti n so ri/ ki o to se alaiso mo/ asoju oloko/
osika e parapo/ e fe wo ile ola/
e o parapo e o tun mo/
MBG oju ko ni ti e o/Ni tori pe oju ki ti osu/”
[The patient will never have cause to regret/
The leaves that are blossoming/
what will make them to wither, in the presence of God Almighty
The cocoa trees that are productive/
What will make them unproductive, in the presence of the dutiful farmer
The wicked conspire to burn the house of the wealth
The same wicked people will rebuild the mansion
MBG, You will never be put to shame
Because the silver moon is never put to shame.]
PS. Those of us who are close to MBG have been pleading with him to do something. Ever the self-effacing personality he is, he has consistently maintained that it will come at the right time. Please next time you see him, do something for me. Ask him: MBG, when are you going to do it?
PPS: I finished this piece yesterday night and I forwarded the draft to Ephraim in Canada. Early this morning, Ephraim sent me the following: “BUT this story is not complete for one reason, and I really pray that it is not published yet: you did not add that MBG gave me money when I was going for my LL.M at Warwick. When I returned and met him in court, he remembered me, but he claimed he didn’t remember giving me money.”
Onigegewura’s task is done.
-Olanrewaju Onigegewura
Winner, British Council Professional Achievements Award
