BABS MOBOLAJI WILLIAMS PRIZE
About Babs Mobolaji Williams
Born in 1942, Babs and his older brother, Gabi, were two of the sons of Alhaja Morunranti Dosunmu, popularly known as Mama Gabi. She was a dynamic businesswoman who, despite a modest formal education, rose to become a foremost trader of textiles and the toast of Lagos Society. By virtue of unflinching hard work and entrepreneurial vision, she became wealthy and was able to single-handedly educate her first set of 5 children in Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States and Switzerland. They all grew up in Lagos and independently became well-known personalities in the society.
The first set of children include late Dr. Gabi Williams (first born) and (second born) late Babatunde Mobolaji Williams, a Cambridge educated lawyer who, upon his return to Nigeria, established Babs. M. Williams & Co., a thriving legal practice in Western House, Broad Street, Lagos Island. The law practice is still active and is owned by the youngest of Mama Gabi’s daughters, Ms. Bolanle Dosunmu.
Babs studied law at the prestigious Christ College, University of Cambridge. Here, his brilliant intellect, warmth and sociability, and in the words of his close friend, Bashorun JK Randle, his ‘clubable’ personality, distinguished him.
Close friends still living are: Ladi Jadesimi - founder of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) and Chairman, First City Monument Bank; Bashorun JK Randle - former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Professor Kasunmu Salawu - Professor of Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and Ambassador Patrick Dele-Cole, also an alumnus of the University of Cambridge. Ambassador Dele-Cole was the Managing Director of Daily Times, Nigerian Ambassador to Argentina and Brazil and a presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the early 1990s.
Late Dr. Jerry Grange, C.E.O of the National Orthopaedic Hospital and husband to former Nigerian Minister of Health, Adenike Grange, was a close friend. Late doyen of Nigerian art collectors, Sammy Olagbaju, and Babs who was also a great patron of the arts, hosted a succession of salons to showcase the works of visual artists. Thanks to promotional activities such as theirs, many exhibiting artists, who in those days would have been described as ‘emerging’ such as Bruce Onabrakpeya, have become legendary African artists whose works sell at high prices in auction houses around the world.
Babs married Irene Ampah of the prominent Ampah family based in Accra, Ghana. The couples were blessed with 2 daughters, Morouranti (after her grandmother, Mama Gabi) and Morenike. Like their father, both daughters have been successful in their chosen careers. Alongside Sir Jeremy Cooke, a former judge in charge of the Commercial Court 2012 – 2016, Ranti Williams has hosted the In the Dock Podcast. The series looks at what’s happening in the UK courts and asks whether the law is helping or hurting your Christian faith. Morenike Willliams is a writer and an Emmy nominated TV producer known for Killing Eve (2018), Delicious (2016) and Lewis (2006).
