He was called to the bar in February 25th, 1998 and established his chamber, AGF Salaudeen & Co located in GRA Ilorin in year 2000. Although based in Ilorin, Salaudeen has practiced in Benin, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abuja and Lagos jurisdictions among other places for over two decades before he was elected as a lawmaker to represent Omupo constituency of Ifelodun Local Government during last year general election in 2019. In this interview with ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM, Hon. Abdulganiyu Salaudeen talks about one of his most unforgettable experiences as a lawyer.
One of such incidents that I can never forget in my years of practice didn’t happen before a judge or magistrate. It was when I had a brief that many people close to me could not rationalise as a Muslim. It was a case involving a masquerade that was arrested and charged to court by the police for public disturbance, I think. People were saying why I should take such a case as a Muslim. But I made them understand that although I am a Muslim but I am also a lawyer and I was trained to argue cases in court. Legal practice especially in criminal cases presumed an accused person innocent until proven guilty. Once your client has not told you that he has committed the offence, you are bound to argue it and it is the prosecutor that now has to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. It now remains to be seen whether he is successful or not. This was my position while I handled the case. But the orientation of people differs. However, it was a very tough case to handle because of peoples perception and thank God I was able to scale through at last.
