Late Professor Jelili Omotola’s Enduring Legacy
The Late Professor Jelili Adebisi Ajetumobi Omotola, SAN, was a man of true pedigree and fine distinction, whose scholarly and brilliant mind was evident through his vast achievements and contribution in the academia and far beyond, most especially concerning land law in Africa. The Late Professor straddled major citadels of learning with huge published works, conferences, court references, inventions, professional/academic distinctions, scholarships, fellowships, journal contributions and editorials.
True to his colossal status, he published 50 articles in various Law Journals from 1973-2004. His first article in 1973 in the Nigerian Law Journal Vol. 7, pp.38-47, was titled “Adverse Possession of Registered Land” and his 50th article in 2004, was titled “Primogeniture in African Customary Law: Survival of Culture: University of Indiana Law Review Vol. 15 (2004).
Professor Omotola who was also a prolific legal writer, wrote his first book “Essays on the Land Use Act” published by the UNILAG Press in 1980. In 1982, he wrote the “Report of a National Workshop on the Land Use Act” also published by UNILAG Press. In 1983, he offered “Cases on the Land Use Act” and in 1984, he became the Editor, Journal of Private and Property Law, UNILAG.
The erudite Omotola invented the word “DEEMED GRANT”, in order to distinguish it from “ACTUAL GRANT’ in the Land Use Act (1978) first contested at the Court of Appeal, accepted as his invention in the Supreme Court. The term is now nationally adopted.
At a public presentation of the book “ABC of Contemporary Land Law in Nigeria”, written by Honourable Justice Innocent Umezulike, former Chief Judge of Enugu State, former Deputy Governor, Delta State, Professor Amos Utuama, SAN, said that “the commitment and interest in the research and teaching of Property Law of the late Professor Jelili Omotola, was unparalleled.”
While commending Justice Umezulike for dedicating his work to Professor Omotola by bringing the memory of the legendary legal scholar back into reckoning, Utuama said “Professor Omotola’s seminal writings on the Land Use Act, were and remain of immense assistance to members of the legal profession, like the Judges, Lawyers who argue before the courts; these help students and bureaucrats in understanding its policy and principles. His works remain most authoritatively outstanding, cited and relied upon, by the very best in the legal profession”.
In his article “Reminisce on Omotola, Land Law” (The Guardian, Sunday, April 13, 2008), Kunle Sanyaolu avers that “although he was many things to many people, including being an Activist and National Executive Committee (NEC) member of the Nigerian Bar association (NBA), Omotola stood out distinctively, for his profundity for law relating to real property. Two (now twelve – emphasis mine) years after his demise, Omotola’s life and times continue to be cherished by thousands of people, who had one opportunity or another to have come across him”.
Sanyaolu writes further that “as an Administrator, he would be remembered for being the architect of a millennium University of Lagos. His tenure as VC featured an unprecedented pace of activities and development of the ivory tower, which would be difficult to match or surpass”.
For 24 years or so before his death, Omotola had advocated a review or repeal of the Land Use Act, enacted 40 years ago. He dealt extensively with the law, in his UNILAG inaugural lecture in the late ‘80s, and came out with a resounding applause. His comprehensive position and suggestions on the Act, were then reduced to the “10 Commandments” by Professor Nurudeen Alao. It is instructive that, even after his death, his analysis of the Land Use Act remained so strong, as to elicit yet another round of lively debate on what should be the fate of the Act”.