Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (MOB) was born on Monday, July 29, 1963, at Iyin-Ekiti, a town in Ekiti State, south-western Nigeria into the family of the late Sir Stephen Ogunjuyigbe Bamidele, and spent his early life in Lagos State also in the south-western part of Nigeria where he attended Baptist Academy Secondary School.
He graduated, with honours in 1986, from the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife with a Bachelor of Arts degree and, subsequently, from the University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) Degree with honours, in 1990. After his call to the Nigerian Bar, Bamidele launched into a full-time legal career in 1992. He obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from the World-renowned Franklin Pierce Law Centre at the University of New Hampshire Law School, Concord, New Hampshire, USA. He specialized in Intellectual Property Law, with a bias in International Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law, including the Licensing of International Transfer of Technology.
He also attended the University of Benin where he received a bachelor’s degree in law in 1990. Having graduated from the Nigerian Law School, he was called to the bar in 1992.
MOB as he fondly called proceeded to the prestigious Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, the United Kingdom where he received a master’s degree in law and was called to the New York Bar in January 1999.
He was one of the defence counsels, led by Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole Ajayi to the late politician and philanthropist Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) during the treason trial in 1994 after the Saturday, June 12, 1993, Presidential Election was annulled.
Michael Opeyemi Bamidele is a Distinguished Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District in Ekiti State southwest Nigeria.
He is currently a Distinguished Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, the Chairman, Southern Senators Forum and Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters in the 9th National Assembly, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Michael Opeyemi Bamidele is the Founder, Principal Attorney & Head of Chambers at the Law Office of Opeyemi Bamidele & Associates (with offices in Maitama District, Abuja and Lekki Phase 1, Lagos) from where he is at the moment on leave of absence.
Bamidele is a New York Attorney, Member of the 7th House of Representatives and three-term Member of the prestigious Lagos State Cabinet between 2002 and 2011. He is a lawyer without borders, licensed to practice in the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court; an Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law of the State of New York, USA; and a Notary Public of Nigeria.
A learned counsel of no mean stature, Bamidele is an active Member of the New York and Nigerian Bar, a Member of the American Bar Association, and a Member of the International Bar Association. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Nigeria), the Chartered Institute of Management Consultants as well as the Chartered Institute of Local Government and Public Administration, Nigeria, among others.
In April 2016, he was appointed by the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU-ECOSOC) as a Consultant and Facilitator; and in May 2016, he was invited by the United Nations to participate in the World Humanitarian Summit (which was held on 23rd and 24th of May in Istanbul, Turkey) as an AU Facilitator. In June 2016, he was appointed by the 8th National Assembly as a Legal Consultant to the House Committee in charge of the Constitutional Amendment. Following the conclusion of the Edo State Governorship Primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in June 2016, he was appointed by the Nigerian ruling party as the Chairman of the Edo State Governorship Primary Election Appeals Committee.
In October 2019, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele was appointed a Member of the prestigious Body of Benchers, Nigeria. He is a seasoned and multilateral legal practitioner, Civil Rights activist, a former Honourable Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development as well as Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy consecutively in Lagos State. He was a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budget and Research in the 7th National Assembly. He also served as the Chairman of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) between July 2011 and June 2015.
Given his long years of fledging legal practice in Nigeria and overseas, coupled with his unique wealth of experience as a seasoned politician, consummate public administrator and quintessential Federal lawmaker, Bamidele has traversed the three arms of Government in the course of his political and legal career. Here is a man with sterling leadership qualities and a highly meticulous approach to burning issues of national pedigree. Based on these enviable pedigrees, one could rightly admit that he is yet one of the newly emerging leaders of a new Nigeria.
Bamidele epitomizes integrity and his passion for progressive change is insuppressible. He is indeed a symbol of an upcoming generation of intelligent, result-oriented and dynamic leaders and visionaries.
