In the words of the 33rd Presidential of the United States of America, Harry S Truman, he said, “Men make history and not the other way around. The world’s history and its future has been greatly shaped for the better all thanks to the intentional and conscious efforts of men who has given themselves to growth, men who had and have always availed themselves the opposite to expand their horizon and in the process transforming our society for good through their valuable contributions for Progress occurs when courageous, skilful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
When it comes to this kind of men, Dr.Remi Olabutora, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria ranks tall amongst them. He exhibits a great level of consistency and profound intellectual curiosity fueled by an insatiable appetite for research, learning and knowledge
Remi Peter OLATUBORA graduated from the University of Lagos Nigeria in 1992 with Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) Hons. Degree. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1993 after having successfully completed his Barrister-at-Law (BL) programme at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. He started his early law practice in Lagos until he was elected to Ondo State House of Assembly, Nigeria in 1999 as a Member of the Ondo State House of Assembly (Parliament). In 2006, he obtained his Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
In 2017, he successfully completed his Master of Philosophy of Law (M. Phil.) degree in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. He is currently studying for his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree in Law in Obafemi Awolowo University focusing his research on gaps in international criminal law enforcement in national and international criminal courts. His areas of specialization include Public International Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and International Criminal Law.
He served as Attorney-General of Ondo State, Nigeria from 2016-2017. He represented Ondo State as a delegate to the Nigerian Constitutional Conference of 2014.
Adding to this,he has also served in various capacities as listed below
Member and Chief Whip Ondo State House of Assembly 1999-2003
Chairman Ondo State Sports Council 2009 -2011
Commissioner for Natural Resources 2011
Commissioner for Education October 2011- February 2013
Commissioner for Adult, Technical and Vocational Education 2013 -2016
Also, He has written many books on Nigerian law. The most famous of such books are:
(a) Electoral Law and Practice in Nigeria (2006),
(b) The Petition of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and Issues in Nigerian Election Law and
© Election Litigation in Nigeria (2015).
He is a member of European Society of International Law (ESIL) and the Nigeria Bar Association. He also teaches Constitutional Law and Legal Research Methods in Elizade University, Nigeria and has contributed many scholarly writings to top Nigerian Law Journals. Some of such journal articles are:
(a) An Analysis of the Compensation Provisions of the Land Use Act in Comparative Context IJICL 2016, Part 1 (January –June) Prospects and Challenges of Plea Bargaining in the Administration of Justice in Nigeria IFJR 2016, Part 3, (June-July).
(b) An Examination of the Onus of Proof and Rule against Hearsay Evidence in Election Petition, IFJR, 2017 vol. 11(1) (January- April).
His article on Immunities of State Officials and the Challenges of the Enforcement of International Criminal Law in Foreign Domestic Courts has been accepted for publication in Elizade University Law Journal. It is worthy of note that one of his texts titled ‘Electoral Law and Practice in Nigeria’ was listed by the Council of Legal Education (Nigerian Law School) as a reference text for the training of law students at the Nigeria Law School.
Adding to the long list of his laurels, he hits another amazing feat as one of his major work has earned him a position as one of the very few African legal scholars with specialty in International Criminal Law with capacity to prosecute international crime suspects or defend defend any such suspects in the ICC or any other international criminal courts or tribunals.
His PhD Thesis titled “The Challenges of the Enforcement of International Criminal Law” which focused on the examination of the normative gaps in the definitions of international crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and how these gaps impact on the enforcement of these crimes. The research work which Dr Olatubora carried out his PhD field work at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Hague, Netherlands in 2019 was examined by 5 professors, led by the renown public international law expert, Prof A Olatubosun, the Vice-Chancellor of Kola Daisi University, who described Dr Olatubora’s Thesis as a major contribution to the corpus juris of public international law and scholarship.
Despite the high numbers of milestones which can be credited to Dr. Remi Olatubora. SAN, he still shows an insatiable and unquenchable thirst to adding more laurels, contributing to the betterment of our society in the process, no wonder is considered as one of the best in his field in Nigeria.
Dr. Olatubora is happily married to Mrs Oluwasayo Janet Olatubora, a senior accountant with Ondo State Government. The marriage is blessed with (a) Ayodeji Moses Olatubora LL.B; LL.M (Northampton England);BL (Counsel Wole Olanipekun & Co.); (b) Opeyemi Josephine Olatubora LL.B Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti; and (c) Ayomide Joseph Olatubora (Aeronautic Engineer in training, National Aerospace University, Kharkov, Ukraine).