• Legal icon, COSON boss mourn ex-minister
Legal icon and elder statesman, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), and the National Chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, have relived their warm relationships with the late international jurist, former Attorney General and Justice Minister, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN).
Babalola described the death of Justice Ajibola as shocking, unfortunate and a personal loss that would take some time to forget.
Okoroji recalled how his picketing of the office of the former minister led to a close working relationship.
In a statement he personally signed yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Babalola, who is the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) in Ado-Ekiti, said the demise of the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice had robbed the country of one of her finest jurists and educationists.
“I was shocked beyond description when I received the sad news of the departure of the eminent jurist and educationist, Justice Bola Ajibola (SAN), to eternity at the ripe age of 89,” he said.
The elder statesman noted that the passage of “the international jurist of no mean description and an educationist of the deepest dye, who adorned the Bar with dignity and occupied the Bench with honour and character” was even more painful.
This, he said, was particularly apt when one considered the late Ajibola’s warm disposition and stellar contributions to the Bar and the Bench at the international level before going home to rest in the bosom of Allah.
“I have seen the departed learned justice at close quarters. I have seen him at work and I have also seen him at play.
“I interacted with him in the court and outside the court and found him to be a genial and humble person who is sold to hard work.
“Our departed lordship and compatriot was a multi-talented legal practitioner and internationally-acclaimed jurist, an epitome of decency and a towering model of a quintessential gentleman who has succeeded in all of his endeavours.
“I knew the departed jurist and educationist way back in 1962 in England when our paths crossed each other during the preparation for our Bar examination.
“This was at the time the former Federal Attorney General of the Federation, later Chief Justice of Nigeria and later President of International Court of Justice, the late Justice Teslim Olawale Elias (SAN), was preparing the ground for the establishment of the Nigerian Law School.
“Because we were already pursuing our Bar examination in England then, the Nigerian Law students in England rightfully felt that they would not be part of the bourgeoning Nigerian Law School.
“The Nigerian students in England and Ireland then set up a body to drive our point home.
“I was the Secretary of the students’ body. This was my first time of meeting the departed jurist.
“At some point in the pursuit of our common goal, most of the Yoruba students in our fold back-pedaled, but the bold, courageous and selfless Honourable Justice Bola Ajibola was undeterred,” he said.
Babalola said the late Ajibola later came back to Nigeria, adding that the erstwhile Justice minister had a most successful practice, specialising in Commercial Law and International Arbitration.
Babalola listed some of the virtues he found in the late global jurist, saying: “He was highly cerebral, good natured, committed and an excellent team player who did not find it difficult to achieve peace for himself and accommodation with his environment.
“His altruism could be gleaned from his establishing a faith-based private university, Crescent University, in his homestead, Abeokuta, after retirement, for the educational and spiritual upliftment of Nigerian youths.
“He was a dogged fighter, at least in the hallowed bowels of our courts, as he would stop at nothing to pursue any course he believed in.
“He was honest, diligent and forthright as well as always willing and available to help others grow and flourish.
“What stands this gentleman out is his vaunting patriotism, unbending determination, unalloyed selflessness and his strength of character to use his office and, indeed, his all for the achievement of the good of the majority.”
In his statement yesterday, Okoroji described the late Ajibola as “a superb patriot, a totally committed public servant, a detribalised world citizen and one of the greatest Nigerians that ever lived”.
Okoroji said: “As I made the reform of Nigeria’s copyright system the work of my life, Prince Bola Ajibola and the late Prince Tony Momoh were my principal partners.
“In the building of the copyright system in Nigeria, they were my mentors, my supporters, my backbone, and my advisers.
“After I had organised a major, noisy and historic picketing of his Federal Ministry of Justice office at the Marina in Lagos, in the agitation for copyright reforms in Nigeria, Prince Ajibola did not show any animosity towards me or take any offence.
“He understood that my interest was the progress of the Nigerian nation. We struck a bond of friendship and trust that has lasted many years, every promise he made to me, he kept. He was a man of his words…”