Eyimofe Doyle Atake | |
---|---|
Born | 20 February 1958 66) | (age
Occupation | Lawyer |
Spouse | Dorothy Olufunmilayo Atake |
Parent(s) | Honourable Justice FOM Atake Victoria Arugha Patricia Atake (nee Foss) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | London School of Economics, Darwin College, Cambridge |
Thesis | Contempt in the Face of the Court and the Procedure for Committal |
Doctoral advisor | David Williams (British legal scholar) |
Website | eyimofeatake |
Eyimofe Doyle Atake, (born 20 February 1958) is a Nigerian lawyer. He was named a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1999. [1] [2]
Atake was born in Sapele, a town in Western Region British Nigeria (now, Sapele, Delta State, Nigeria) to Honourable Justice FOM Atake, a Judge of the High Court of Mid-western Nigeria (1967-1977) and a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979-1982) and his wife, Victoria Arugha Patricia Atake (née Foss). [3] [2]
Atake attended St. Saviours School in Ikoyi, Lagos, while his father served as a Senior Magistrate in the British Colony of Lagos in the 1950s and early 1960s. [4] He also attended a number of other schools across Nigeria as his father was occasionally transferred to work as a judicial officer in different parts of the country and his family moved along with him, the schools include Emotan Preparatory School, Benin, Our Lady's Preparatory School, Sapele, and Hussey Model School Warri. [5] Atake was educated at an independent boarding school for boys Copford College, Copford, Colchester, England, where he became a School Prefect, House Captain, Athletics and Table Tennis Captain and played Soccer and Rugby for the school teams. [6]
Atake attended the London School of Economics and Political Science and Darwin College, University of Cambridge [7] where he earned a doctorate degree in law in 1987, under the supervision of David Williams (British legal scholar). His PhD thesis titled Contempt in the Face of the Court and the Procedure for Committal made comparisons between the legal systems of England and Wales, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Nigeria. That work formed the basis for a book Contempt in the Face of the Court published in 1992. [3]
Eyimofe Atake attended The Hague Academy of International Law (1980 and 1981) and studied International Law under the guidance of Rosalyn Higgins, Baroness Higgins, while at the London School of Economics and wrote an LL.M dissertation under her supervision - Is restitution an appropriate remedy for taking of foreign property in contemporary International Law? [3]
Atake was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in July 1983. [7] In 1987, he did his pupillage for one year with Chief G O K Ajayi, at law firm GOK Ajayi & Co. In 1988, he set up his law firm Eyimofe Atake & Co. Barristers and Solicitors specializing in Maritime Law, Oil and Gas, Arbitration and commercial litigation. [8] In about 12 years of being in law practice and setting up of his Law Firm, he took Silk becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1999 at the age of 41. [9]
Atake has represented clients in the areas of Maritime/Admiralty Law, Constitutional and Commercial Law in Nigerian courts of various levels. In 2009, Atake convinced a Judge in a trial involving American witnesses that the court be moved to New York in the United States to hear further proceedings as the American witnesses were too old and ill to travel to Nigeria for the trial. [10] [11] [3]
In a 1997 case where Atake represented the defendants/Appellants, he convinced the Justices of the Supreme Court to rule that a case that has been discontinued and struck out, did not prevent a Court from making consequential orders, where it is established that, the Plaintiff who discontinued the case has abused the legal process by using the process of the court to gain unmerited advantages over the defendant, to the detriment of that Defendant. [12] In 1994, Atake persuaded a full bench of seven Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to decide that a judicial officer who has ceased to be one could appear for himself in person in a court of law rather than being represented by counsel and that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria did not place such a bar on a judicial officer who has ceased to be one. [3] [13] [14] Atake wrote on the Legal Aspects of Privatisation during the exercise in Nigeria in the 1990s. [3] As a result of his extensive writings in the press and comments on television, he was invited to deliver and delivered the Public Lecture on the Legal Aspects of Privatisation and Commercialisation at the International Conference organized by the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) in 1990. He served in the sub-committee of the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) for the privatisation of the Nigerian Fish Company. [15] [3]
Atake represented the University of Cambridge in Athletics against Oxford in all three years he spent in Cambridge, and he served as President of the Oxford and Cambridge Club of Nigeria between 2002 and 2006. [13] [16] [17] [14]
He has at various times been described as one of the best dressed men in Nigeria and one of the best dressed lawyers and a Nigerian worthy of note. [18] [19] He is known for his sense of style and has featured in several newspapers and magazines and won various professional and style awards. [20] For several decades he has been well known in the social scene and circles. [21] [22]
He is married to Dorothy Atake (née Kuku). [21] He has four Children, Eyitoritse, Timofe, Oritselaju and Amatoritsero.
He was named a Chief with the title Tolugbogwa of Warri Kingdom [23] on 22 August 2023 by His Royal Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR, the Olu of Warri. [24] [25] [26] [27]
Delta State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State on August 27, 1991. Bordered on the north by Edo State, the east by Anambra and Rivers states, and that south by Bayelsa State while to the west is the Bight of Benin which covers about 160 kilometres of the state's coastline. The state was initially created with 12 local government areas in 1991 which was later extended to 19 and now has 25 local government areas. Asaba as its state capital located along the River Niger on the northeastern end of the state, while the state's economic center is Warri on the southwestern coastline.
The Itsekiri are one of the Yoruboid subgroup of Nigeria's Niger Delta area, They speak a Yoruboid language and can be found in Delta State. The Itsekiris presently number 2.7 million people and live mainly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Significant communities of Itsekiris can be found in parts of Edo and Ondo states and in various other Nigerian cities including Lagos, Benin City, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Many people of Itsekiri descent also reside in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The Itsekiris are closely related to the Yoruba of South Western Nigeria and also close to the Okpe people and Edo peoples. The Itsekiris traditionally refer to their land as the Kingdom of Warri or 'Iwere' as its proper name – which is geographically contiguous to the area covered by the three Warri local government districts. The area is a key centre of Nigeria's crude oil and natural gas production and petroleum refining and the main town Warri forms the industrial and commercial nucleus of the Delta State region.
Richard Eyimofe Evans Mofe-Damijo, popularly known as RMD, is a Nigerian actor, writer, producer, lawyer, and former journalist. He was also a former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Delta State in 2009. In 2005, he won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2016.
Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi,, SAN was a Nigerian author, publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights lawyer, and politician.
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Chief Arthur Edward Prest was an Itsekiri politician of biracial heritage from the Warri division of southern Nigeria.
Udoma Udo Udoma is a commercial lawyer and founder of the Nigeria law firm Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie. His career spans law, business and politics, as he served as a senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, as a Federal Minister from 2015 to 2019, and on the boards of various corporations in both the private and public sectors.
The Kingdom of Warri, Warri Kingdom or Iwere Kingdom, was established in 1480, was part of the Nigerian traditional states its ancestral capital is based in Ode-Itsekiri, Warri South LGA, Delta State, Nigeria with a palace erected in 1950s in the heart of the city of Warri, Warri South LGA, Delta State, Nigeria.
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Olu Oyenakpagha was the 8th Olu of Warri who ruled over the Itsekiri people. He was named Omonighenren which translates to Prince with the golden skin. On ascension to the throne as Ogiame, Olu of Warri Kingdom, he was named Obanighenren which translates to King with the golden skin. His other name was Don Antonio Domingos. He was the son to Olu Atuwatse I and succeeded his father as the 8th Olu of Warri. He wrote a letter to Pope Clement X in 1652 which was delivered to the Pope successfully. He was educated at home and at an institute in Angola. Like his father, he married a Portuguese noblewoman. His son Olu Omoluyiri succeeded him.
Olu Atuwatse II was a Nigerian traditional title holder and paramount leader of the Itsekiri who was Olu of Warri from 1987 to 2015. He was the 19th Olu of Warri Kingdom with the title Ogiame Atuwatse II. He was born Godwin Toritseju Emiko. He succeeded his father Erejuwa II as the Olu of Warri. He was a lawyer by profession and was a recipient of the Commander of the Niger (CON) award from the Nigerian Government. He died in 2015 and was succeeded by his brother Ikenwoli.
Ogiame Atuwatse III is a Nigerian traditional king of the Kingdom of Warri in the Delta State. He was born Utieyinoritsetsola Emiko, also known as Tsola Emiko, on April 2, 1984 to Olu Atuwatse II, the 19th Olu of Warri, and Gladys Durorike Emiko. He is also a descendant of Olu Akengbuwa.
Franklin Oritse-Mueyiwa Atake known by his initials FOM Atake was a Nigerian Jurist and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1979 to 1983 during the Nigerian Second Republic.
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