Ladi Williams, senior advocate of Nigeria, dies of COVID-19

Oladipupo Williams, a legal luminary and senior advocate of Nigeria is dead.

According to Kunle, his son, Ladi, as he is fondly called, died in the early hours of Sunday from complications due to COVID-19.

“My father passed away this morning from COVID despite being double vaccinated with Oxford AstraZeneca,” Kunle said on his Facebook page.

He was 74 years old.

Ladi was called to the Nigerian bar about 48 years ago and became a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1995.

Ladi and his father (late Fredrick Rotimi) were the first father and son to become Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

He was the principal partner at Chief Ladi Rotimi-Williams Chambers (CLRWC), a Nigerian law firm based in Lagos.

He founded the law firm to provide a variety of high quality legal services to individuals, private corporations and public sector organisations.

The senior lawyer was regarded as one of the top 100 senior advocates in the country with expertise in litigation and commercial law.

According to a profile on his chamber’s website, his early working life was spent at his father’s chambers, Rotimi Williams Chambers and he was a major contributor to the success of the renowned chambers.

He was appointed as a member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee in 1988. He was also appointed director of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), and he served the corporation during his tenure.

His service to other industries has seen him on the board of prestigious corporations such as UPS/IMNL, TSA and Mutual Benefits Assurance.

His interest in the affairs of the ordinary Nigerian citizen led him to join the non-political group “The Patriots” where he served as secretary to this influential association, showcasing his passion for bringing justice and providing welfare to the less privileged Nigerian.

Since 2005, Ladi and his brothers have been engaging in a dispute over his properties.

When the matter got to the supreme court, Sylvester Ngwuta, a former supreme court justice, had advised them to go and settle the dispute out of court.

The court directed them to work out a solution to the dispute among themselves without the involvement of an arbitrator.