Professor Gabriel Adesiyan Olawoyin was born in Ile-Ife on 31 July 1939 to Mr Joseph Adekanmi Perry Olawoyin and Mrs Julianah Waleade Olawoyin (Nee Adewuyi) both of blessed memory, he was the second of three children of his parents. His father was born into the Giesi Royal Family of Ile-Ife while his mother was also a princess in the Oshikola Royal Family of Ile-Ife. His maternal grandfather, Prince Samuel Adetunji Adewuyi, the then Sooko Laekun of Ife, was the immediate senior full biological brother of the late Ooni of Ife, Kabiyesi, Alaiyeluwa Sir Adesoji Aderemi KBE.
Daddy was baptised in St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Iremo, Ile-Ife, on 2 November 1941, while he became a communicant at St. David’s Anglican Church (now Cathedral) Ogbomoso in 1957, during his secondary school days.
Following his primary education in the Royal School, at 135 Iremo Road, Ile-Ife (his maternal grandfather’s private school); African School, Ilesa; African School, Oke-Eso, Ile-Ife and Central School, Ilare, Ile-Ife, he went to Oduduwa College in September 1951 before proceeding to Ogbomoso Grammar School in January 1953. Daddy completed his secondary education in December 1958 when he passed the West African School Certificate Examination in the first division and emerged as the best overall candidate in Ogbomoso Grammar School which had a 100% success rate for its final year students in that year.
For a brief period in 1959, he was in Abeokuta Grammar School, Abeokuta where he registered for the Higher School Certificate Course. He was admitted to the University of Ibadan later that year for an honours degree programme in Mathematics and Geography. However, fate dictated his decision to opt for law as a result of which he left for England on 10 August 1961 for the proverbial “golden fleece”.
Between 1959 and 1961, Daddy worked as a Federal civil servant in Lagos, an accounts clerk with the Nigerian Breweries Limited, Iganmu, Lagos, a teacher in Origbo Community High School, Ipetumodu, Osun State and statistics clerk with Total Oil Products Limited in Lagos before he left Nigeria for the United Kingdom to study law. Following his success at the G.C.E Advanced Level Examination in London in January 1962, he studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science from October 1962 to September 1966 during which period he obtained the Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees of the University of London.
Daddy returned to Nigeria in October 1966 and immediately joined the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) as an Assistant Lecturer in Law on 1 November 1966. Between September 1968 and September 1970, he was on study leave at the University of Bristol where he got his PhD in Law in July 1970.
Daddy returned to the University of Ife in October 1970 as a Lecturer Grade II. A year later he was promoted from Lecturer Grade II to Lecturer Grade I. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in Law in October 1974.
Following the decision of the Council of Legal Education to rescind its earlier decision that lecturers who had taught law in any Nigerian University for not less than five years would be granted exemption from attending Nigerian Law School, he proceeded to the Nigerian Law School in 1974, nine years after obtaining his law degree. In June 1975, he was called to the Nigerian Bar following his performance as the best overall student in the Nigerian Bar Examination of that year, winning three of the available four prizes awarded by the Nigerian Law School that year.
Daddy’s first major experience as a practising lawyer was in 1976 when he represented the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) before the Akanbi Tribunal, headed by the Honourable Justice Muhammad Akanbi, which investigated the circumstance leading to the collapse of the hostel buildings in that University.
Daddy’s experience/exposure at that Tribunal was the turning point in regard to his earlier resolution to launch out into full-time private legal practice. That singular, but crucial experience led to his firm decision to quit full-time academics for legal practice as soon as he clocked fifteen (15) years as a University teacher by 1981. Daddy’s fifteen years’ service to the then University of Ife witnessed a few interesting and sometimes heart-warming experiences which combined to assist him tremendously in his God-directed life.
On 12 May 1978, Daddy had the distinction of being appointed as the first Nigerian Professor of Business Law. From October 1980 to March 1981, Daddy served as the first Visiting Research Professor at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Lagos. Daddy retired from University teaching in October 1981 since he was in full-time private legal practice as the Principal Partner in the law firm of Olawoyin & Olawoyin in Lagos till he voluntarily retired in 2016.
While in legal practice, Daddy served as a part-time lecturer at the Nigerian Law School from 1981 to 1982 and the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos from 1986 to 1988.
Over the years, Daddy served as either Chairman or Member of various Boards or Committees at the Local, State and Federal Government levels. These include the Chairmanship of Ife/Ijesha Zonal Health Board; membership of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos from 1984 to 1986; membership of the Consultative Assembly on the review of Company Law in Nigeria in 1990; membership of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Coal Corporation from 1991 to 1993 and membership of the Study Group on Legal Issues relating to the Privatisation and Commercialisation of Government Enterprises in 1992.
At various times, Daddy was director of some companies in the private sector. He was the Vice-Chairman of ICC Nigeria for several years, a member of the Board of ICC and Chairman of its Arbitration Commission since its inception. For a period of eighteen years, from May 2000 to June 2018, Daddy was a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris.
In September 1998, daddy was called to the Inner Bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. From 2005 to 2016, he was Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Ife. The duties and responsibilities of that office gave him a world view of the activities of the Anglican Church in the spiritual and secular realms.
Daddy was Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Osun State University from November 2012 to June 2015.
Daddy became a member of the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral in 1983 and he was one of the foundation members of the Band of Light of AVMCC which was inaugurated in 1986. Daddy was a patron of six societies at Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral: a) Ambassadors of Christ Society b) Christian Morning Star Society c) Ladies Christian Circle d) Light of the World Society e) The Good Samaritan f) The Lord’s Vessel. He was a Lay reader in AVMCC, a member of the Intercessory Ministry and a Friend of the Choir.
In addition to his wife of over fifty-seven years, Mrs Agnes Arike Olawoyin (nee Oladini), Daddy is survived by his sister, Mrs Regina Ajiboye, half-brothers, half-sisters, children, grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Daddy impacted many lives and will be greatly missed, but we are consoled by the fact that he is at peace with his creator and we would see him again on resurrection day.
