I didn’t start primary school until 17 – Senior lawyer

By John Ogunsemore

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa has disclosed that he did not start primary school education until he was 17 years old.

Okutepa, who became a lawyer in 1991, disclosed this in a statement shared on X to commemorate the 34th anniversary of his call to bar.

The constitutional lawyer said, “On this day 34 years ago, 10th December 1991, I was called to the largest Bar in Africa, the Nigerian Bar.

“I enrolled at the Supreme Court as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. I spent three days traveling to Lagos to be called to the Bar. I did not have the money to use taxi. I boarded a lorry call 911.

“It was a lonely ceremony as I had nobody to accompany me on the trip. But God accompanied me. From 1991 till date God has been with me as a lawyer and legal practitioner. In all these years I travelled to almost all parts of Nigeria in the course of my legal practice. God has always blessed me and protected me.

“Were there adversities? There were but in all God made me triumphed over all adversities. Within these thirty four years, the lord honoured me and elevated me to the Inner Bar on the 7th of July 2011. God has been kind to me. Given my background stories I am the most unqualified person to be so favoured by God. The stories of my life showed me that greatness is not a function of your background but a function of the grace of God.”

Okutepa emphasised that he had to surmount huge obstacles to climb the ladder of success.

He said, “I was never amongst those privileged to be sent to school. I did not start primary school until I was over 17 years. I ran to primary 2 on the 3rd of September 1977. I stopped at Primary 3, to learn motor cycle mechanics.

“I finally got opportunity to write my first school leaving certificate examination in 1980 when late Umaru Fonga as Headmaster gave me the opportunity to do so. I did not go to secondary school at all. I wrote my GCE from home. Today I celebrate the hands of God upon my life. The story of my life is a story of from grass to grace. It is a syllabus of from nothing to something.”