The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN, commiserates with the family of the late Prince Bola Ajibola, SAN, the Owu kingdom, the management, staff and students of Crescent University, Abeokuta, the government and good people of Ogun State, friends, mentees and associates of Prince Bola Abdul Jabbar Ajibola (SAN, KBE,D.Sc,D.Litt,FNIALS,FCIArb,CFR) who passed away early this morning, Sunday, 9 April 2023, at the ripe age of 89.
Prince Bola Ajibola, SAN was President of the NBA between 1984 and 1985. In 1985, he became Nigeria’s Attorney-General/Minister of Justice, a position he occupied before moving 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. The former NBA President was also Chairman of the Body of Benchers and Council of Legal Education.
A selfless Nigerian, as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice between 1985 and 1991, Prince Ajibola was reputed to never take home a salary, asking that same should be distributed to the coffers of Federal Government, the NBA and charitable/humanitarian organisations.
An elder statesman and an international icon, Prince Ajibola was Chairman of Nigerian delegation to the Nigerian-Cameroon Mixed Commission on the Bakassi Peninsula. He also 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 lover of education and believer in the potentials of young Nigerians, Prince Ajibola established Islamic Mission for Africa in 1996, which metamorphosed into the present day Crescent University in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The NBA President prays for the repose of the soul of late Prince Bola Ajibola, SAN, and beseeches God Almighty to forgive him and grant family and friends the fortitude to bear this huge loss.
Akorede Habeeb Lawal
National Publicity Secretary