ALMIGHTY Allah declares in SuratI-Jathiyat, 45:24-26, “And they say:’What is There but our life In this world? We shall die and we live, And nothing but Time Can destroy us’. But Of that they have no Knowledge: they merely conjecture: And when Our Clear Signs are rehearsed to them, Their argument is nothing But this: they say, ‘Bring (Back) our forefathers, if What ye say is true!’ Say:
‘It is God Who Gives you life, then Gives you death; then He will gather you together For the Day of Judgment About which there is No doubt’: but most Men do not understand.” The death of Justice Bola Ajibola, SAN, KBE, CFR on April 8, 2023 at the age of 89 remains shocking, devastating and confusing. I am just recovering to put pen on paper on his demise. But we have solace in the fact that he lived a fulfilled life and achieved his set objectives to excel in the law profession and serve humanity through the establishment of Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA) in 1996 and Crescent University in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, in 2005.
Justice Ajibola’s death becomes more painful because I visited Nigeria between March and April 2022 after 10 years of sojourn in United Kingdom for my PhD research in Communications and Media; before moving to settle in the United States in 2014. Justice Bolasodun Adesumbo Ajibola was said to be indisposed, so I couldn’t see him with my new American wife.
Almighty Allah says in Suratul Imran,
3:185, on the inevitability of death, that
“Every soul shall have a taste of death: and only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the fire and admitted to the garden will have attained the object (of life): for the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception.”
Justice Ajibola died at night in Abeokuta in his home. By the time I woke early in the morning, my telephone had been filled with over 100 messages informing me of his death. I was far away in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. I quickly said my prayers and set to work as he gave me as-signment, as far back as 2001 on his way from the World Court, Hague, Netherlands, as regards the spot at the IMA Research Centre where he wanted to be buried. He said he would not inform any member of his family about it.
Immediately, I put a call and a text through to Barrister Ma’ruf Adesegun Ajibola, SAN, his first son, to inform him about the spot between the fence of the IMA Hospital and the IMA Mosque where his father preferred to be buried. Within two minutes, he replied my text: “Allahu Akbar…This is a timely mes-sage…Since 2001? This is the most factual message.
Most grateful.” And I prayed for him for God to guide him to steer the ship as the heir, and for Justice Abdul-Jabbar Bola Ajibola to be granted Aljanna Firdous, Ameen. The eighth-day Fidau prayer was held for him at the Crescent University in Abeokuta on April 16, 2023 which was beamed to the world through Zoom. The video was sent to me by Barrister Adesegun Ajibola, SAN.
There is no doubt that God Almighty elevated Justice Bola Ajibola, SAN (March 22, 1934 – April 8, 2023) to the pinnacle of the law profession. He served the nation as the Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice from 1985 to 1991, and a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from 1991 to 1994. He was the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) from 1984 to 1985. He was also one of the five commissioners on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission organised through the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
In 1979, he founded the Nigeria Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb) as the premier arbitration institute in Nigeria and it was incorporated in 1988 under the Companies Act as a legal entity limited by guarantee.
A prince from Owu, he was born on March 22, 1934 in Owu, near Abeokuta, Colonial Nigeria, to the Owu royal family of Oba Ab-dul-Salam Ajibola Gbadela Il, who was the traditional ruler of Owu between 1949 and 1972.
Ajibola 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.) from Hol-born College of Law, University of London between 1959 and 1962 and was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1962. He returned to Nigeria to practise law, specialising in Commercial Law and International Arbitra-tion.
Prince Bola Ajibola was chairman of the panel set up by the Plateau State government to probe the 2008 Jos riots.
He established the Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA) in 1996 and Crescent University, Abeokuta, in 2005, and he served as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN). Ajibola was the High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2002.
His other posts include President, Nigerian Bar Association (1984-1985); President, the World Association of Judges; Chairman, Disciplinary Committee of the Bar and General Council of the Bar; Chairman, Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria; Founder, Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb); Mem-ber, Advisory Judicial Committee; Member, African Bar Association; International Bar Association (IBA); Association of World Lawyers; Commonwealth Law Association; Vice Presi-dent, Institute of International Business Law and Practice, Paris.
Others are Vice-Chairman, International Court of Justice, The Hague (1991-1994);
President, World Bank Administrative Tribu-nal, USA; Judge, Constitution Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994-2002); Member, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID); Member, Permanent Court of Arbitration; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London; Chairman, Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission; Arbitrator/ Commissioner, Eritrea/Ethiopia Boundary Commission.
Bola Ajibola was the editor of Nigeria’s Treaties in Force from 1970 to 1990 and All-Nige-ria Law Reports from 1961 to 1990. He has authored many books, including ‘Heavens in View’, and written various papers and articles on a range of legal subjects.
and then