The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has joined a host of other prominent dignitaries to mourn a former Attorney General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice, the late Prince Bola Ajibola.
OsunDaily News recalls that Ajibola, who was also a former Judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague died on Saturday at age 89.
According to the NBA, the late former AGF was selfless in his service to the country.
The association said Ajibola during his time as AGF never took a salary, instead he would ask that it should be shared to the coffers of the Federal Government, the NBA and charitable/humanitarian organisations.
In a condolence message by the National President of NBA, Yakubu Maikyau said Ajibola, who was AGF and Minister of Justice between 1985 and 1991 was a lover of young Nigerians who had potential.
The NBA boss in the condolence letter signed by the association’s National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb Lawal extended the association’s condolence to the late Ajibola’s family, to the Owu kingdom, the management, staff and students of Crescent University, Abeokuta, the government and people of Ogun State, friends, mentees and associates of late Prince who was the President of the NBA between 1984 and 1985.
The letter partly reads, “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.
“An elder statesman and an international icon, Prince Ajibola was Chairman of the 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 of the World Association of the World Jurists and Arbitrators, and the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Dispute Commission.
“A lover of education and believer in the potential 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”.
