Mr Ajibola, the founder of Crescent University, Abeokuta, died on Saturday midnight after a long illness associated with old age.
A former judge of the International Court of Justice, Hague, Netherlands, Bola Ajibola, is dead.
Mr Ajibola, the founder of Crescent University, Abeokuta, died on Saturday midnight after a long illness associated with old age, his family said. But before his death, he had written his name in gold on the sand of time especially in the law profession.
Commonly referred to as "Prince" in Abeokuta his home city, Mr Ajibola was born on 22 March, 1934, in Owu in Abeokuta, to the family of Abdul-Salam Ajibola Gbadela II, who was the traditional ruler of Owu between 1949 and 1972.
Mr Ajibola attended Owu Baptist Day School and Baptist Boys' High School both in Abeokuta between 1942 and 1955. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) 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. He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1980. It was largely due to his efforts during that period that the practice of Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) became composite parts of Nigerian legal practice.
In 1984, he became the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). His performance as NBA president was said to have caught the attention of the then military President, Ibrahim Babangida, who appointed him Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991.
In his six years in the office, Mr Ajibola was reputed never to have collected a salary.
Yemi Osinbajo, now the vice president of Nigeria, was one of Mr Ajibioa's special assistants.
After his service as Nigeria's chief law officer, Mr Ajibola moved to the International Court of Justice, World Court as the judge from 1991 to 1994.
As a judge, Mr Ajibola had his way with words and was also a maverick of idioms and proverbs. His judgments and opinions were laced with rich Yoruba proverbs.
After his time at the international Court of Justice in The Hague, Mr Ajibola took up a position in 1994, as a member to the Permanent Court of Arbitration with respect to the court's deliberations on the land dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon.
Mr Ajibola was also a member of the United Nations Compensation Commission on Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait; Arbitrator and Commissioner of the Ethiopia/Eritrea Boundary Commission. He was member, Vice-President and then President of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal.
He later served as Chairman of the Nigerian Delegation to the Nigeria/Cameroon Mixed Commission on the Bakassi Peninsula; High Commissioner to the United Kingdom amongst numerous other high profile, nationally and internationally.
The deceased founded the African Concern in 1994. This was intended as an African response to the Rwandan genocide and many other wars and civil strife.
In Abeokuta, He founded the Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA) in 1996 to promote Islam in its true light as a religion of peace, love and harmonious co-existence amongst all peoples - doing so through the means of education, socialisation, publicity and enlightenment.
Mr Ajibola is loved in Abeokuta.
Mr Osinbajo recently described him as a man of good virtues, recalling how the late judge sold almost all he had to establish Crescent University in Abeokuta.
While speaking at the 100th anniversary of Mr Ajibola's alma mater, Baptist Boys High School (BBHS), Abeokuta, Mr Osinbajo extolled the exemplary lifestyle of Mr Ajibola, asking the coming generation to emulate him.
Mr Osinbajo said, "He (Ajibola) sold every property he had in Lagos and moved to his home in Abeokuta. He established the Crescent University with all the resources he had.
"I asked him why, he said at the end of the day wealth means nothing if it doesn't positively impact the lives of others."
AWARDS / HONOURS
Knight of the Order of the British Empire - from Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, May 1989 (KBE).
Conferred with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) of the University of Buckingham by its Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. Baroness Margaret Thatcher of Kesteren, 24 February 1996.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) 1986.
Conferred with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (D. LItt.) of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto on Saturday 13 December 2003.
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Conferred with Honourary Degree of Doctor of Agriculture (D.Agric) of the University of Agriculture Abeokuta (UNAAB) on 27 January 2004.
Conferred with Honorary Chieftaincy Title of Olu-Omo (the paramount child) of Egbaland by His Royal Highness, the Alake of Egbaland and the entire Egba Community.
Life Member, Body of Benchers, Nigeria
Honorary Award of Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Recipient of 1986 Ogun State of Nigeria Outstanding Citizen Merit Award
Distinguished Fellow of the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta.
Life Member Nigerian Institute of International Affairs Grand Patron of the Nigerian Feminist Law Journal
Academico Correspondiente, Academica Chilena De Ciecias Sociales Politicas Y Morales - November 2000
Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies.
Independence Medal of the First Class Order Award by His Royal Highness King Abdullah of the Kingdom of Jordan.
Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), among others.
