A former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola is dead.
The renowned jurist, a former judge at the International Court of Justice(ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands passed away at the age of 89.
NewsClick Nigeria gathered that the founder of Crescent University in Abeokuta passed away at midnight on Saturday following a protracted sickness brought on by advancing age.
Segun Ajibola, SAN, the late jurist eldest child, revealed this in a statement on Sunday in Abeokuta.
He wrote, “With very deep heart and gratitude to Almighty Allah.
“Our Dad, Prince Bola Ajibola, departed this world over midnight. May Almighty Allah bless him with Aljanah Firdaus.”
The late Ajbola was President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) from 1984 to 1985. He was also one of five commissioners on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, organized through the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
He is a Prince from Owu and was born on 22 March 1934 in Owu, near Abeokuta, died 07 April 2023 Colonial Nigeria, to the Owu royal family of Oba Abdul-Salam Ajibola Gbadela II, who was the traditional ruler of Owu between 1949 and 1972.
He attended both Owu Baptist Day School and Baptist Boys’ High School in Abeokuta between 1942 and 1955. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Law (LL.B) at the Holborn College of Law, University of London between 1959 and 1962 and was called to the English Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn in 1962. He returned to Nigeria to practise Law, specialising in Commercial Law and International Arbitration.
Prince Bola Ajibola was chairman of the panel set up by the Plateau State government to probe the 2008 Jos riots. He established an Islamic and co-educational institution, Crescent University, in Nigeria in 2005, and he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN).
He was the High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2002. Bola Ajibola was the editor of Nigeria’s Treaties in Force from 1970 to 1990 and All-Nigeria Law Reports from 1961 to 1990. He has authored many books including ‘Heavens in View’, and various papers and articles on a range of legal subjects. He was married to Olufunmilayo Janet Abeni Ajibola, who died in London 8 June 2016
