Olumide Babalola

Olumide Babalola is a Nigerian lawyer, author, consumer rights advocate, social critic and civil rights litigator. He was born in 1981 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Western part of Nigeria.
Education
Olumide had his secondary school education at Loyola College, Ibadan where he obtained the West African Examination Council certificate in 1998. He later proceeded to Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University) where he obtained Bachelor of Law Degree in 2008 and was accepted to the Nigerian Bar in December 2009.
Legal career
After his mandatory NYSC Program in Bauchi State, he began his legal career in the firm of Brick house Solicitors in 2011, where he spent 5 years before setting up his law firm in 2016.
Public interest litigation
In 2015, he approached the Federal High Court for interpretation of section 254c of the Constitution with respect to right of appeal from the decisions of the National Industrial Court. Although he lost at the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal upturned the decision in January 2018.
In 2017, he filed a class action against all local governments in Nigeria under the auspices of Association of Local Governments in Nigeria (ALGON) over the irregular unified marriage certificates issued by local governments in contrast to the form provided under the Marriage Act. He got judgement in May 2017 when the Lagos High Court declared the irregular marriage certificates null and void.
In 2017, he filed an action against the Corporate Affairs Commission against the latter’s requirement of Nigerian Bar Association’s consent for the registration of Lawyers’ association. The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos agreed with him and declared the requirement unconstitutional in June 2018.
He currently represents a host of Non-Government Organisations focused on media, good governance and accountability to wit: Media Rights Agenda, Enough is Enough, Paradigm Inititative, BudgiT, Consumers Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria, Laws and Rights Awareness Inititaive etc.
Publications
In 2013, he published a book titled “The Attorney General: Chronicles and Perspectives” - a historical material on the occupants of the Nigerian office of attorney general of the federation right from its constitutional inception.
In 2015, he published his fist casebook on labour and employment law. An assortment of over 260 decisions of the Nigerian appellate courts on labour and employment issues.
In 2016, he published his second casebook on corporate law and practice - another publication with over 400 decisions of the Nigerian appellate courts on company law and practice.
In February 2018, he published Nigeria’s first law dictionary titled "Babalola’s Law Dictionary" which contains 2100 words and phrases as defined by Nigerian appellate courts since 1955 together with over 5000 cases.
Consumer rights litigation
In 2016, he filed a class action against the major telecommunication companies in Nigeria for unsolicited telephone calls and violation of constitutional right to privacy which were at their peak in Nigeria between 2015 and 2017. The class action, among other advocacy moves, forced the regulator to create dedicated channels for complaints against such unsolicited calls. The matter is currently pending before the Court of Appeal.
In 2017, he filed another class action against all the commercial banks in Nigeria challenging their deduction of stamp duty from cash lodgements and deposits.
Professional bodies
He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, International Bar Association, World Litigation Forum, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and The British Nigeria Law Forum (United Kingdom).

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