'Fly TW!' Celebrating a legal eagle, objective politician at 48

The first principle of unalienable rights recognises that everyone is naturally endowed by their creator with certain rights that cannot be infringed or given away. Amongst these rights are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

In order to secure or safeguard these vital rights, “…..government are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from consent of the governed” as declared by Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), who was elected as the third President of the United States of America (1801-1809).

Politicians are naturally regarded as those with factory-fitted ability to outwit but one person that stands out among the rest is no other than the approachable and humble Barr. Tokunbo Wahab.

Tokunbo plays as stated above by Jefferson; a strong advocate of equity and justice, he is a passionate believer in the dictum that everyone deserves equal opportunities regardless of class or strata which has led him to provide countless pro-bono legal services to the poor and underprivileged even as far back as his post-law school days. A service he has faithfully prosecuted even to date and earned his firm, Wall & Ace LP, a Lagos State recognition award presented by the former governor of the state, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), during the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP) in April 2014.

Born on the 17th day of May 1972 to the family of late Mr. and Mrs. Olugbenga Wahab of the Otuwunmi Ateshinmara Royal Dynasty of Ketu in Epe Local Government area of Lagos State, TW, as he is fondly called, is a good and dependable politician whose delights lie in serving the people. He considers himself as servant and believes the people are his paymaster.

If one has opportune discourse with Otunba Wahab on politics, especially where his political party affiliation is challenged, one would have no choice but be humbled by his objectivity and levelheadedness in navigating the debate.

Otunba Wahab’s political maturity is a class on its own. Could it be because he is also a legal luminary of note? But one thing is sure; at 48years, TW’s political flight is just beginning.

There is an adage which states that an apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Otunba Tokunbo Wahab didn’t just chanced into politics, he was ‘born to do it’.

His father, Pa Olugbenga Wahab, who was popularly known as Dodo, was a well-known community leader in Epe before his demise in 1998 and his mother, Madam Muyi Wahab (Nee Sosanya Aberuagba) was also a prominent political leader both in Epe and Sagamu. A dogged grassroots mobilizer, Madam Wahab canvassed tirelessly for the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, during the latter presidential ambition on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the 1993 elections.

After the demise of his parents, the young Wahab was saddled with the responsibility of taking care of his six younger siblings and his maternal grandmother, Mama Onipanla of Sagamu, who passed on to glory at the age of 93 in July 2012.

Tokunbo had his primary and secondary school education in Epe. He attended the Army High School Epe. Whilst in secondary school, he represented the Epe Division in Debates even up to the state Level, and in his final year at the Army High School, Tokunbo was the senior prefect, again demonstrating leadership at a tender young age.

Tokunbo went on to study Mass Communications at the Ogun State Polytechnic and proceeded after concluding his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) to the University of Benin (UNIBEN) to study Law.

At UNIBEN, he was a student union leader as well as president of the Law Students Association.

During the June 12 democracy struggle, Tokunbo as a student union leader, led numerous anti-military government protests, fighting to reclaim the MKO Abiola Hope-93 mandate. He came in confrontation with Abacha military government because of these and was thrown into detention for months in 1994.

A member of the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association, he is an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Wharton University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to envisioning Wall & Ace LP where he is a managing partner, Tokunbo has garnered wide experience, exposure and expertise handling high profile assignments across different sectors and industries, locally and globally both at Paul Usoro (SAN) & Co where he spent several practice years and Aluko & Oyebode, Lagos Nigeria (one of Nigeria’s leading law firms).

He was a member of the team that drafted the Nigerian Communications law and the enforcement regulation. He was also a member of the Presidential Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) Strategic Action Plan committee for the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). He has handled the documentation and perfection of mortgages across Nigeria on behalf of several commercial banks and has vast experience in the documentation and perfection of titles for numerous properties across Nigeria.

Aside from this, Tokunbo has provided legal counsel to several clients on legal regulatory and contractual issues relating to telecommunications, litigation, mining, and real estate transactions.

A strong grassroot mobilizer, Tokunbo is a registered member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ward Q1 from the Lagos East Senatorial District. He leaves his footprints in the sands of time wherever he has been privileged to associate, from his Epe homestead to Alimosho (his residency constituency of many years) and now in Ikeja.

Apart from being the grand patron of Gbobaniyi Age-Group, he is an illustrious member of the Epe Club, the prominent F’s Club, Lagos and Lagos Country Club.

Tokunbo Wahab is a role model, an ardent performer and a change agent who is passionate about any course he pioneers. He is a philanthropist committed to the course of the less privileged, thus has built and supported Orphanages providing scholarships to indigent children. An ardent believer in the Christian faith and God’s Covenanted promises, Tokunbo has single-handedly supported several missions and church building projects.

He is the current Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Education.

Happily married to Oluwatosin and blessed with two lovely children, Otunba Tokunbo Wahab indeed represents the hopes, aspirations and the interests of every citizen in the state.