By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Professor Alfred Bandele Kasunmu, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State and pioneering legal scholar, is dead. He was 92. The Nigerian legal profession is in mourning.
Kasunmu died peacefully in the early hours of Sunday, 9 August , 2026. His family announced the passage in a statement, describing him as a beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather whose life was devoted to law, scholarship and public service.
Born on May 23, 1934, in Lagos to parents from Ilesa, Osun State, his educational journey began at Elizabeth Fowler Memorial School, continued through Reagan Memorial Baptist School and Baptist Academy in Lagos, before taking him abroad.
He studied at University College London, where he earned a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws an academic foundation that would underpin one of the most consequential legal careers in Nigerian history.
Called to the Nigerian Bar in 1964, Kasunmu moved immediately into institution-building. That same year, he joined the Faculty of Law of the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University as one of its pioneer lecturers, helping lay the intellectual groundwork of one of Nigeria’s foremost law faculties.
In 1971, he moved to the University of Lagos as a Senior Lecturer and was elevated to Professor of Law. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1973 to 1975 a tenure that sealed his reputation as one of the leading legal scholars of his generation.
Public service followed in 1975, when he was appointed Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State, a position he held for three years. On January 25, 1978, he was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, among the earliest members of Nigeria’s Inner Bar. He was also a Notary Public of Nigeria.
Beyond the courtroom and the cabinet, Kasunmu shaped legal scholarship directly jointly authoring several influential legal texts and publishing numerous academic articles across different areas of law.
His practice was equally broad, with appearances before courts at various levels and arbitration panels in Nigeria and abroad, representing both Nigerian and expatriate clients across a career that spanned several decades.
Leading members of the legal profession have since described him as a scholar, mentor, advocate and statesman whose work influenced generations of Nigerian lawyers.
He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
