Julius Odupitan, a lawyer who was called to the Nigerian Bar at 76, was buried in Atan Cemetery in Lagos on Thursday.

He passed away in 2021 at the age of 89.

Popularly called ‘Baba Ayu’ (Baba and you) by his classmates, he started his journey to the legal field in the 1990s at the Lagos State University (LASU).

The journey to achieving his lifelong profession was tough due to his poor family background.

When he was much younger, his father who couldn’t afford a formal education sent him to his uncle who was a motor mechanic, to be his apprentice.

This development made the deceased unhappy yet he remained determined.

Mr Odupitan eventually found his way to Lagos, became a typist, and worked in the public and private sectors.

In 1962, he went to Britain and took up employment with the British Board of Trade and the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Legal journey

In Britain, he attended the Balham and Toothing College, London, and became a chartered secretary.

In the late 1960s, he tried to gain admission into one of the Inns of the Court of London but the plan failed.

He returned home to take employment with the Lagos State Civil Service, where he rose to the rank of a Principal Auditor in 1991 and retired at 59.

But he was unfulfilled, he had to pursue his lifelong ambition, so, he enrolled for GCE and applied for a Diploma-in-Law programme at LASU in the late 1990s.

After the completion of his Diploma programme, he enrolled in the 1999/2000 session for the Bachelor of Law and graduated in the 2006/2007 session.

He was called to the bar on November 18, 2008, and enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Again, his tenacity and diligence paid off after he was appointed a Notary Public by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, seven years after he was called to the bar.

According to his classmate, he stood out because of his smart outlook.

“After we had written our final Bar exam, Baba Ayu turned to me: ” Ogun, now I can die!”

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