Show where Senator Alli practiced law in 38 Yrs— GSM Advocates tackles Oyo APC

The controversy over the legal credentials of Senator Sharafadeen Alli took a fresh twist on Sunday as the GSM Advocates challenged the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) to show verifiable records of where the Senator has been engaged as a lawyer in nearly four decades of practice.

The group said Governor Seyi Makinde’s viral comment questioning Alli’s courtroom experience should not be reduced to semantics by the APC, which had responded with the names of law firms without stating what he actually did as a lawyer.

The debate started after Governor Makinde, while addressing supporters, said Oyo people should not vote for someone who claims to be a lawyer but has never entered a courtroom.

In response, the Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation, through its Director of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, said the Senator began his practice in 1987 as a corps member with A. E. Enumah and Associates in Nnewi, Anambra State, was retained for his brilliance but returned to Ibadan at his parents’ request, and later practised with the respected R. A. Sarumi and Company before founding B. A. Alli and Company in 1994.

However, the GSM Advocates, a group loyal to Governor Makinde, said the explanation was not enough to convince the public.

According to the group, it is common knowledge that the practice of law goes far beyond appearing in court. Lawyers, it noted, are also engaged as solicitors drafting contracts and agreements, as corporate counsel serving as company secretaries and handling incorporations, as property lawyers managing conveyancing and land documentation, as arbitrators and mediators resolving disputes outside the courtroom, as legislative draftsmen and policy advisers to government, and as academics and legal consultants.

The group argued that if Senator Alli has truly been in active legal practice since 1987, the APC should find it easy to tell the public where he has been engaged among these several fields.

It asked the party to make available any record of companies he advised, any property transactions he perfected, any arbitration panels he sat on, any legal opinions or academic works he authored, or any bills and executive orders he drafted during his time as Secretary to the State Government and Chief of Staff, which reflected legal expertise.

The group maintained that mentioning law firms alone does not prove active practice, especially as Senator Alli has been in full-time politics for most of his adult life, serving as the first executive chairman of Ibadan North Local Government, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff to former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, and now Senator representing Oyo South — offices which, according to the group, have brought no meaningful benefit to the public but rather to himself and a few members of his family. It also referenced his recent elevation as a beaded crown-wearing Oba at Mapo Hall in April.

The GSM Advocates said the question is not meant as an insult but as a demand for accountability ahead of the 2027 general election, adding that Oyo people deserve to know the professional footprint of anyone seeking to govern the state.

It challenged the Oyo APC to publish verifiable details of his legal engagements within 48 hours instead of resorting to what it described as rabble-rousing.