He also earned LLB (1989) from University of Ibadan, LLM (2006) from Obafemi Awolowo University, and PhD Law (2013) from University of Leicester, United Kingdom. He was called to the Nigerian bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in December 1993.
Prof Alabi started his career as an Assistant Lecturer in his alma mater (Obafemi Awolowo University) in January 1990 and became a Lecturer I in 1995 before resigning his position to join practical politics in December 1998. On his return to the academia, he had a brief stay at Babcock University before joining the University of Ilorin as a Lecturer I in the Department of Public Law in August 2005. He later moved to the Department of Political Science to become a Senior Lecturer and was elevated to the position of a Professor in the Department in September 2011. He has held dual faculty positions across universities. He was an Associate Lecturer and later Adjunct Professor in the Department of Public Law while still domiciled in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ilorin. He also taught Constitutional Law at the University of Abuja and the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) before joining the Osun State University as a Professor of Political Science in December 2019 from where he moved to the Department of Public and International Law in October 2021. He is a Visiting Professor, University of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Outside the Ivory Tower, Professor Alabi has traversed the world of governance and practical politics at all levels of government. He was Secretary to the Local Government (SLG), Ejigbo Local Government of Osun State (February 1991 to November 1993); Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly (May 1999 to May 2003); and Member, 8th House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria (June 2015 to June 2019). At the international level, he was an Expert in Good Governance, Ethics and Professionalism in the Public Sector and Head, Parliamentary Capacity Building Programme at the Centre Africain de Formation et de Recherche Administratives pour le Developpement (CAFRAD), the Pan-African Intergovernmental Organisation based in Tangiers, the Kingdom of Morocco (October 2008September 2010). He was Chairman of the Nigerian-UK Parliamentary Friendship Group (2016-2019). Currently, he is a Member of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of CADRAD, a Member of the International Forum of Seafarers, and is on the CPA-UK Modern Slavery Project. He has held and continues to hold short-term and ad hoc positions of significance, with immense contributions to human development.
Prof Alabi has some academic laurels to his credit, including: Professor David Ijalaye Prize for the Overall Best Student in Masters of Laws (LLM) for 2005/2006 Session, Obafemi Awolowo University; Postgraduate Fellowship Award, Obafemi Awolowo University, 1985-1988; African Fellowship Award, American University in Cairo, Egypt, 1986/87 (not utilised); and the Best Overall Student in Political Science, University of Ife, 1984. He was the Scholar of the Month (May 2010) and Fellow of the Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences. His Inaugural Lecture entitled Politics and Law: Anatomy of the Siamese Twins was delivered at the University of Ilorin in November 2014. He has been in legal practice through his law firm, Mojeed Alabi & Co (ADEBOLA CHAMBERS), since he was called to the Bar in 1993.
Professor Alabi has attended academic/learned conferences and participated in educational/leadership/management workshops, seminars, retreats and conferences across the globe. He is registered as a Consultant on the data base of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Department of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), and has had consultancy relationships with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Actionaid International Nigeria (AAIN), the Africa Leadership Forum (ALF), the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) of the African Union (AU), the Conference of African Ministers for the Public/Civil Service (CAMPS), the International Forum of Seafarers of Dakhla (Morocco), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the African Parliamentary Knowledge Network (APKN), among other international networks on governance and policy issues.
Professor Alabi has held many leadership and management positions in the University system. Apart from his membership of statutory boards, he was Organiser of the Master in International Studies (MIS) Programme and later Head of the Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, where he also served on the Unilorin Strategic Planning Review Committee and the Editorial Board of the Ilorin Journal of Business and Social Sciences. Earlier at the Obafemi Awolowo University, he was for years the Departmental Examinations Officer, represented both the HOD Political Science and the Dean of Social Sciences on the Faculty Board of Law, and served on the Editorial Board of the Ife Social Sciences Review. Also, he has also served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences and the Journal of Law and Conflict Resolution, among others. He is currently the Managing Editor of Uniosun Journal of Law, Development and Humanities ( a TETFUND journal).
The broad theme of Prof Alabi’s academic writings has centred on scholarly exploration of the different dimensions of the interwoven, complex, inseparable, symbiotic and inextricable links between politics and law, addressing such issues as constitutionalism and constitutional developments, the rule of law, human rights and state security, local self-governance, leadership succession, political parties and election law, the judicial process and independence of the judiciary, regional integration, administration of justice, inter- and intra-governmental relations, public service ethics and anti-corruption, among others, within the context of the respective role of the courts and the legislature as governance institutions in the search reforms for human development. He is the author of The Supreme Court in the Nigerian Political System (2002), ECOWAS Court and Regional Integration in West Africa (2016) and Constitutionalism in Nigeria: Politics and Law in an Emerging African Democracy (2022),
Editor of Unbroken Legacy of Service: Speaker Bello’s Twelve Years under Three Administrations in Osun State (2011), and Co-Editor of Perspectives on the Legislature in the Government of Nigeria (2010) among other books and articles in learned publications. He is currently the Provost, College of Law, and teaches Public and International Law.