Legal Tenders
Legal Tenders

The team

Senior counsel, every engagement.

At Legal Tenders, every matter is partner-led. You speak to the lawyers doing the work. A vetted counsel network builds around them, brief by brief.

Emmanuel Olu-Festus, Founding Partner of Legal Tenders

Founding Partner & Principal Counsel

Emmanuel Olu-Festus

Corporate · Technology · Data Privacy · Strategic Advisory

Emmanuel founded Legal Tenders to build the kind of firm modern Nigerian businesses actually need. Commercial, responsive, and fluent in the legal questions raised by technology, data, and digital operations.

With over a decade across corporate law, regulatory compliance, and emerging tech, he advises founders, executives, and boards on the matters that shape how their organisations grow and protect what they've built.

A certified Data Protection Officer, Emmanuel leads the firm's NDPA and data privacy work, supporting clients across fintech, health, and digital platforms with end-to-end compliance frameworks.

Certified DPOCalled to the Nigerian BarCorporate & Tech Advisory
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The partners

Senior counsel across every matter.

Alongside the Principal, Legal Tenders brings together a partnership of experienced practitioners spanning corporate practice, compliance, data protection, appellate advocacy, and academia, across Nigeria, the UK and beyond.

Mary Olu-Festus, Partner · Corporate, Commercial & DisputesPartner

Mary Olu-Festus

LL.B, B.L

Partner · Corporate, Commercial & Disputes

Mary is a results-driven legal practitioner with over eight years of post-call experience advising individuals, businesses, and corporates across diverse sectors. Her practice spans corporate and commercial law, litigation, garnishee proceedings, employment and labour law, property and real estate, company formation and regulatory compliance, wills, probate and estate administration, and alternative dispute resolution.

  • Corporate & Commercial
  • Litigation
  • Employment Law
  • Probate & Estate
  • ADR
Abdulmuhsin Abubakar Wakawa, Partner · Data Protection, Labour & Constitutional LawPartner

Abdulmuhsin Abubakar Wakawa

LL.B, B.L, LL.M, CDPO, Ph.D Candidate

Partner · Data Protection, Labour & Constitutional Law

Wakawa is a Notary Public, IIM-certified Data Protection Officer, and Ph.D candidate at Nasarawa State University. He lectures at Baze University, Abuja and has served as Senior Legal Officer at the Nigerian Army University Biu and as a Principal State Counsel at the Attorney General's Chambers, The Gambia, under Nigeria's Technical Aid Corps. His research focuses on ICT and data privacy law, labour law, constitutional law, and clinical legal education.

  • Data Protection
  • Labour Law
  • Constitutional Law
  • Legal Academia
  • Notary Public
Abdulrahman Abimbola Onashoga, Partner · Appellate, Criminal & Human Rights LawPartner

Abdulrahman Abimbola Onashoga

LL.B, B.L, LL.M

Partner · Appellate, Criminal & Human Rights Law

Abdulrahman is a qualified legal practitioner with a decade of progressive experience across private practice, appellate litigation, and public sector legal service. He has served as Legal Assistant to Justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and holds an LL.M in International Human Rights Law from The University of Law, Manchester (UK). He currently contributes to the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom and is progressing towards qualification as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

  • Appellate Practice
  • Criminal Law
  • Human Rights
  • Commercial Law
  • UK & Nigeria
Bagi Ali, Partner · Compliance, AML & Risk AdvisoryPartner

Bagi Ali

LL.B, B.L, DCP

Partner · Compliance, AML & Risk Advisory

Bagi is a results-driven compliance professional with over a decade of experience in regulatory compliance, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), customer due diligence, and risk assessment across financial services and asset financing. She advises on customer onboarding, loan documentation, collateral verification, adverse media screening, fraud detection, and the design of controls that reduce risk exposure and support sustainable, compliant growth.

  • AML / KYC
  • Regulatory Compliance
  • Risk Assessment
  • Financial Services
  • Asset Financing

Counsel network

The right specialists, engaged by matter.

We build a counsel team around each engagement, drawing on a vetted network of senior lawyers, regulatory specialists, and sector advisors. The Principal personally leads every brief, with specialist expertise added where it strengthens the outcome.

  • Discipline

    Company Secretarial

  • Discipline

    Data Privacy & Protection

  • Discipline

    Intellectual Property

  • Discipline

    Technology & Startup Law

  • Discipline

    Corporate & Commercial

  • Discipline

    Property & Real Estate

  • Discipline

    General Legal Advisory

  • Discipline

    Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Work with the team

Book time with a partner. Real conversation, no triage.

Book a consultation →