CITIZENS COMPASS – Prince Bola Ajibola, a former Attorney General of the Federation, is dead.
The former Judge, International Court of Justice died in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital in the early hours of Sunday, April 9, 2023.
He was aged 89..
The Owu, Abeokuta Prince and former High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom was 89 years few weeks ago.
Bolasodun Adesumbo “Bola” Ajibola, KBE was a Nigerian jurist, he was Attorney General and the Minister of Justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991 and a Judge of the International Court of Justice from 1991 to 1994. He was president of the Nigerian Bar Association from 1984 to 1985.
Born: 22 March 1934 (age 89 years), Owu, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He attended Baptist Boys’ High School, Òkè Saje Abeokuta and University of London.
Though his family is yet to give details of his burial arrangements, he is however, expected to be Buried according to Islamic rites.
Born on 22nd March, 1934 to the Owu Royal Family, Bola Abdul Jabbar Ajibola attended Owu Baptist Day School, Ago Owu and Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun State for his primary and secondary schools education between 1942 and 1955.
In 1958, he was enrolled at Holborn College of Law, University of London from where he graduated in 1962 with a degree in law before he was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn on November 27, 1962.
He was President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), 1984-1985 and Attorney-General/Minister of Justice (1985-1991). From there, he moved to the International Court of Justice, Den Hague, Netherlands.
After a three-year stint at the World Court in 1994, he further served as Judge Ad Hoc of the World Court from 1994 to 2002. He was appointed Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also served as the Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2002.
He was Chairman, Nigerian delegation to the Nigerian-Cameroon Mixed Commission on the Bakassi Peninsula. Prince Ajibola served as Vice President and later President of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal from 1994 to 2005; President, World Association of the World Jurists and Arbitrator, Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Dispute Commission.
A voracious reader, prolific writer, renowned administrator, jurist and arbitrator of global acclaim, Prince Ajibola has attended numerous international conferences and has held international positions and arbitration assignments too numerous to mention here. In his professional career, he has provided outstanding legal consultancy services to several companies including Avon Cosmetics Limited; Masms Solicitors and Co. of London; Exxon, Houston, Texas, USA and Arthur Anderson and Co., London and Lagos.
In recognition of his outstanding imprints on the sands of time, Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto, awarded him Doctor of Literature (D. Litt) in 2003 while the Federal University of Agriculture conferred on him an Honorary Doctor of Agriculture (D. Agric) in 2004. As the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice between 1985 and 1991, he never took home a salary, asking that same should be distributed to the coffers of Federal Government (35%), Nigerian Bar Association (25%) and Charitable/humanitarian organisations (40%). The first Nigerian to be so selfless.
He also founded African Concern, a non-governmental organisation in Lusaka, Zambia in May, 1995 to promote peace, justice and harmony among peoples of Africa in order to eradicate the problems of refugees arising from political conflicts and natural disasters. This, he accomplished in association with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to give succour to refugees in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda.
Prince Ajibola, an altruist, founded Islamic Mission for Africa in 1996, which gave birth to Crescent University, Abeokuta, a visionary initiative capable of building a new generation of graduates imbued with industry, moral uprightness and diligence as well as the inculcation of spiritual redevelopment in young men and women.
He has to his credit other awards and honours among which are: Knight of the Order of British Empire (KBE), 1989; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitration (FCIArb); World Jurist Award 1987; Senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), 1986; Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR) among others.
Judge Bola Ajibola is the Founder/Proprietor, Crescent University, Abeokuta. Built on the pedestal of knowledge and faith, the university was established as a private academic institution under the banner of Islamic Mission for Africa(IMA).
