One of the biggest legal fees I collected is $30m – Afe Babalola

Legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has revealed some of the big legal fees he charged his clients.

Babalola made the revelation in an interview with a radio talk show host, Ifedayo Olarinde (aka Daddy Freeze), monitored by our correspondent in Lagos.

According to the legal icon, on one occasion, he was paid $30million for helping the government recover $300m from recalcitrant banks.

He recalled striking the deal with the government to get a 10% commission on funds recovered from the unwilling banks.

“I can remember one case where there was a syndicate of banks fighting the government over a certain matter.

“I said you (government) would pay me 10% of what I collect from them. At the end of the day, I collected $300million for them and of course 10% for me as commission”, he said.

Asked about other bigger legal fees he had charged, the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), said he also charged International Oil Company (IOC), Mobil Oil Exploration Company, $5million in an appeal case he handled for the firm in the 80s.

The ABUAD founder said the oil giant initially rejected his asking fee and engaged another SAN in Lagos who charged them N500,000, but lost the case.

“I was in my office when a message came from Lagos that Mobil people from Netherlands, Scotland and America wanted to see me.

“I went there and met some directors there. They had a big case and I charged them $5m. They decided to negotiate but I said no; that was what I would charge for the case. They said, ‘Ok, you will hear from us’. I went back to Ibadan. They never came back.

“About two years after, the same Mobil sent for me and I went. They told me that the last time we referred a case to you and you charged us $5million, but when you left, one of us said there was a senior advocate in Lagos who demanded less than N500,000 so we paid him. Now we have lost.

“From the way and confidence you addressed us, we want you to handle the appeal for us. Can you handle it for us?

“Why not, but my fee remains the same amount, I told them. They said ‘don’t worry, we will pay this time’. Not only did I collect the money, I also won the case for them. So they remain my client; I became the special adviser to the company”.

Balalola also confirmed to Daddy Freeze that his fees are charged in dollars.

“Yes, my charges are in dollars. But the client has a right to pay in dollars or its naira equivalent”, he explained.