Oyo judiciary holds valedictory session for Justice Gbolagunte

Oyo State Judiciary, on Monday, held a valedictory court session to honour what it described as the rare legacies of Justice Adegboye Ayinla Gbolagunte who departed the world on June 24, 2024, while still in active service as a judge of the state judiciary at the age of 64.

The court session which held at the Oyo State High Court Complex, Ringroad, had in attendance family friends, and colleagues from the legal profession and the media in recognition of his efforts as a former lecturer in communication and the first high court judge produced by the Faculty of Law of the University of Ibadan.

Speaking during the valedictory court session, the Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Iyabo Yerima, said Justice Gbolagunte was an excellent jurist who discharged his duties honestly and impartially, adding that his “demise has left a great vacuum in the Oyo State Judiciary.

“His lordship commenced his professional career teaching law and journalism at various institutions; he taught for over eight years at the Polytechnic, Ibadan, and three years at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism in Lagos as a senior lecturer and a part-time lecturer at the Radio Nigeria Training School in Lagos. He immersed himself in legal practice when he registered his firm – Gboye Gbolagunte and Co and distinguished himself as a vibrant legal practitioner for over 10 years until he was recommended for appointment to the Bench as a judge of the High Court in 2005.

“On the fourth day of January 2006, His Lordship was sworn in as a judge of the High Court of Justice, Oyo State, and presided over cases in Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, and Iseyin. Today, we mourn a great jurist but we also delight in the cherished memories we have of his lordship knowing that he will always be remembered for good.

The valedictory session was filled with testimonials by legal practitioners from all levels; the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Ariwoola represented by Hamman Barca, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Abiodun Aikomo, representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at the state and national level and the representatives of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

All the speakers attested to the fact that Justice Gbolagunte died as a jurist with character, benevolence, vision, hard work, great tenacity, humility and is known as a judge who accorded respect to all and sundry especially lawyers who appeared before him without taking for granted the ethical principles of the legal profession to ensure its universal nobility.

In his address, the chairman of the Ibadan Bar of the NBA, Ibrahim Lawal Esq. stated that Justice Gbolagunte “had the skills required of a judge; the delivery expected on the bench, the evaluation of facts before his court was top notch and imbued with the temperament of a seasoned Judex who will never allow emotions or sentiment becloud his reasoning or judgment and thus condescending into the arena of any case that came before his court.

“Until the plague of an overworked and overstretched judicial environment caught up with my Lord resulting in ill health, my Lord sat on the dot of 9.00 am and would go through all his list with brilliant delivery on the bench without being too harsh on any lawyer regardless of the year of call.

“My Lord exemplified and epitomised life of selfless to the bench which duties were discharged with unparalleled respect accorded lawyers regardless of their age at the Bar. My Lord left a legacy of combining character and humility while dispensing justice, which quality is worthy of emulation by both the Bar and the Bench while delivering our onerous functions,” he added.