Renowned international lawyer and essayist Femi Ojumu has officially unveiled a three-volume literary compendium titled The Trinity. The launch, held yesterday in Lagos, attracted diplomats, legal luminaries, academics, and captains of industry. The event celebrated the enduring power of ideas and positioned the newly released books as essential strategic blueprints for navigating contemporary national and global complexities.
Structure and Content of The Trinity
The Trinity comprises three distinct yet interconnected volumes that thoroughly examine the critical pillars of modern statehood: Law and Geopolitics (Global Disequilibrium), Transforming Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Development (Policy Perspectives), and The Dynamic Intersection of Economics, Foreign Relations, Jurisprudence, and National Development.
Keynote Address by Former Minister
In his keynote address, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Major-General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd), emphasized the rare discipline required to translate complex geopolitical thoughts into actionable frameworks that could positively influence decision-makers. Sharing insights from his distinguished career, General Nwachukwu recalled his time managing Nigeria’s international operations and transitioning the country’s diplomatic focus in the post-apartheid era. “We were to use diplomacy to enhance the economic development of our people,” he explained, noting that Nigeria needed to aggressively position itself for growth alongside industrially advanced nations. Praising the author’s work, he added, “These books called The Trinity are going to be reference materials for policymakers, and I am going to buy some of them and support our military libraries and other instruments in the country with them.”
Chairman's Remarks
For his part, the chairman of the occasion and former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, hailed the author’s extraordinary intellectual bandwidth, marvelling at the rare feat of presenting three comprehensive volumes simultaneously. Akinyemi, who was represented by Professor Femi Otubanjo, said: “I know Femi for writing, but in this case, he is not unveiling just one book, but three books. I don’t know how he has found himself doing that. But we need people like Femi to save civilisation by churning out ideas that are important and cannot be destroyed, except maybe by an atomic bomb. That is why people say that the pen is mightier than the sword. It is a noble thing, and those who are able to do it deserve our commendation.”
Review by NIIA Director-General
Meanwhile, reviewing the collection, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Professor Eghosa Osaghae, described the work as a masterclass in public intellectualism. He commended Ojumu’s fearless, passionate, and blunt writing style, highlighting how the author confronts difficult modern realities, such as questioning the true metrics of assessing “repentant terrorists” in counter-insurgency operations. “When a book reviewer is asked to review three books, the person will ask if there is a logic that ties these books together,” Professor Osaghae remarked. “I think Ojumu is not just a jack of all trades; he is also a master of all trades. He writes with the authority of the master. There are over three hundred articles, we call them chapters, in the three books. In one, he talks about corporate governance, in another, he talks jurisprudence, in another, he talks foreign policy, and in another, he discusses autobiographies. He handles all of them with such brilliance. This work will help in shaping public domain agenda-setting for a long time to come.”
About the Author
Talking about the author, an international lawyer, Obi Ihonor, described Ojumu as a highly respected lawyer, writer, essayist, and foreign policy expert, who has spent decades advising multinational organisations, international energy firms, FTSE/NSE-listed corporations, high-net-worth individuals, and governments across both developed and developing economies.
Event Conclusion
The event, anchored by Oladeinde Nelson-Cole, concluded with an interactive session where scholars, students, and legal experts reflected on the books’ immediate relevance to a rapidly evolving world.
