Akingbolahan Adeniran has served as a sub-national attorney-general in Nigeria (Ogun State), an adviser to a Nigerian Vice-President as well as an investigator and attorney in two intergovernmental organizations (the International Criminal Court and United Nations). He is specialized in human rights, criminal, contracts, and corporate law. He is a Partner in the law firm, Awodi & Co. (Legal Consultants), and Proprietor in the rule of law advisory practice, Awodi Advisory Services.

In 2022 and 2023, after two decades of work primarily focused on international criminal justice and in-house rule of law advisory, Akingbolahan pivoted to private practice and independent consulting. As an international rule of law consultant, he is engaged with the Justice Action Coalition Task Team (to advise on operationalizing a global intergovernmental coalition set up to catalyze the delivery of people-centered justice worldwide), Project Expedite Justice, a US-based non-profit (to empower conflict- affected communities to seek justice and accountability in the Horn of Africa), and Wayamo Foundation, a German NGO (to develop the capacity of investigators and prosecutors to tackle mass atrocities in two countries).

Between 2020 and 2021, he served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Ogun State. During this time, he focused on implementing people-centered justice projects (e.g. tackling gender-based violence), improving access to justice, protecting the rights of suspects in detention, ensuring proper coordination of the criminal justice sector, utilizing technology to facilitate the administration of justice, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, institutionalizing ADR and supervising the establishment of a state law enforcement agency.

He coordinated Ogun State’s reforms on the Enforcement of Contracts sub-indicator of the Ease of Doing Business Project, taking the State to the second position (out of 37) for that sub-indicator on the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) national rankings of 2021. He co-chaired a monitoring committee set up to supervise the administration of criminal justice and which was adjudged the best performing monitoring committee at state level in Nigeria by the Federal Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee in November 2021.

In 2019, he served as a Team Leader in the Office of the Prosecutor of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in Arusha, Tanzania, where he was responsible for coordinating an international effort to locate and bring Rwandan genocide fugitives to justice. Before this assignment, he was engaged as an embedded consultant to provide rule of law advisory services to the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Between 2012 and 2015, Akingbolahan served as the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, on Legal Matters and advised the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State on a variety of matters, including the administration of criminal justice. He was the Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Sector Reform Committee tasked with the reform of the administration of criminal justice in the State. Consequently, he focused on restructuring the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and improving cooperation between investigators and prosecutors.

He was the lead counsel for the State in the Coroner’s inquest into the death of 116 persons following the building collapse on the premises of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, which resulted in recommendations for the prosecution of two contractors for criminal negligence and of the Church for failing to procure the necessary building permits. He was involved in several high-profile prosecutions in the State, including a terrorism prosecution which led to the conviction of three members of Boko Haram in Lagos State. He is a founding member of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team and Public Interest Law Partnership of Lagos.

Akingbolahan worked as an investigator and a trial lawyer at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands between 2003 and 2012. He has facilitated numerous training workshops for prosecutors and investigators of the Nigeria Police and other law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Angola, Cape Verde, and Mozambique on a variety of legal and investigative topics.

Akingbolahan has advised governments over a number of public-private partnership transactions and other complex agreements. He has negotiated many commercial out-of- court settlements involving large sums of money. He has been involved in the legal due diligence of a leading commercial bank, and by virtue of this and subsequent experience, he is familiar with the common causes of the failure of companies, particularly SMEs, indebted to banks in Nigeria.

He is an accredited mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (UK). He sits on the Board of several organizations, including I Choose Life Foundation Nigeria, a non-profit set up to address the menace of drug abuse in society and tackle mental health issues. He has authored several articles published in international journals, including “A Mediation-Based Approach to Corporate Reorganizations in Nigeria”, “Anti-Corruption Measures in Nigeria: A Case for Selective Intervention by Non-State Actors”, and “Non- Profit Privatization of the Management of Nigerian Public Schools: A Legal and Policy Analysis.” He is also a co-editor and co-author of the book, “International Criminal Investigations – Law and Practice”.

He graduated with a first class honours degree in Law from the University of Lagos and holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.