INSIDE THE HILLTOP: My father was deep, passionate about Nigeria, religious to a fault – Segun Ajibola

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

Muhammed Mahruf Adesegun Ajibola (SAN) is son of the former Judge of International Court of Justice at The Haque, Netherlands, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN), who had his last breathe on mother earth in the early hours of Sunday April 9, 2023.

For a long time that he ascended to public figure status as an internationally trained brilliant lawyer heading the law firm of his father as Principal Partner, Bola Ajibola and Co in Lagos, Segun Ajibola had refused to blow while his father did.

That, he specifically and consciously, too, said to this reporter in his Vanguard Newspapers days when he said, “Bashiru”, as he calls the name, “just go on with my dad. I will not like to be in the public while my father is still around”.

But yesterday, Sunday April 9, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria had no further way of escape as the heavy responsibility of the big shoe of his father fell on him to wear.

The grandson of late Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Gbadela Ajibola (1949-1972), Adesegun Ajibola (SAN), had naturally assumed the responsibility to lead his other siblings in the task ahead, left behind by their indisputably globally exposed father, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN).

That was what happened when, at the family’s Olusegun Obasanjo Hilltop GRA, Abeokuta, Ogun State residence, he said to the world that their prayers were now needed ,What saying, “What we ask for is that all those who wish us well will keep us in their prayers this day and the days ahead”.

Announcing the passing away of his father he said, “Judge Ajibola will always be remembered as an icon of Law and Judicature, an embodiment of both the Bar and the Bench.

“Ajibola not only served nationally and internationally, he is warmly loved in his homestead of Abeokuta, where he held the traditional title of Oluomo of Egbaland and Olori Omo Oba of Owu Kingdom.”

Addressing the press as the body of his father was being prepared for final rites, Segun Ajibola further said, “As you can see, we are making all arrangements possible to lay him down for God Almighty to take charge of him this afternoon. So, that is why we are all here making several efforts.

“We want to thank all those who have called us to confirm, right from World Court, across the country, from the North, from the East, all over, friends, families and a lot of people who our father had worked with over the years, internationally. They all heard about it and they have been calling us and sending us their best wishes,” he said.

He added, “What we ask for is that all those who wish us well will keep us in their prayers this day and the days ahead as we continue with all the efforts to give him a befitting burial.”

Adesegun will miss his loving father, according to him, for many reasons as he said, “My dad was a very personate person, very deep and highly religious in terms of a lot of the efforts he has made in establishing a university, which has an Islamic flavour, in terms of the Islamic Centre he had set up and the way he had conducted himself and his life within the tenets of the religion as much he could possibly.

“For us, as a father he meant so many things. He was very loving, caring but he was a STRICT disciplinarian. He was a VERY strict disciplinarian, very firm and VERY TOUGH personality. And he would never allowed us to get out of hand any way he could help it. And we would remember him for him very high level of humour.

“My dad was an extremely humorous person and generous to a fault. We are all beneficiaries of his love and his affection and his wisdom and his discipline. We would miss him dearly. No doubt about that,” he said.

The late Bola Ajibola (SAN) was pioneer 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; Member, Advisory Judicial Committee; Member, African Bar Association (ABA), International Bar Association (IBA), Association of World Lawyers, Commonwealth Law Association; Vice President, Institute of International Business Law and Practice, Paris; Vice-Chairman, International Court of Justice, The Hague (1991-1994); President, World Bank Administrative Tribunal; 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; and Arbitrator/Commissioner, Eritrea/Ethiopia Boundary Commission.

It is May prayer of all that Allah cleans up the widely loved personality, Judge Abdul-Jabbar Adesumbo Bolashodun Ajibola, forgive him his sins, accept his good deeds that he did while alive, public and private, and repose his soul in Al-Jannah Firdaus in the hereafter.