OBITUARY: Bola Ajibola, the globally-acclaimed jurist who mentored Osinbajo and 'never took salary as minister'

THE CABLE

In the early hours of Sunday, Nigeria lost Bola Ajibola, one of the most selfless individuals to ever take its public office. 

Ajibola was a prolific writer, renowned administrator, a jurist of global acclaim and a man whose magnanimity in the corridors of power mirrors the teachings of his Islamic religion. It is only fitting that God beckoned on him during the holy month of Ramadan.

He was an impeccable example for public servants. Ajibola was said to have donated every penny of his salary as the attorney-general and minister of justice with a precise sharing formula that returns the money to the government and other charitable courses.

His effort attracted international accolades, from a Knight of the Order of British Empire (KBE) award by the late Queen Elizabeth to becoming a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

However, there probably would not have been the erudite, well-celebrated Ajibola of today had he not suffered a rude awakening during his wayward childhood.

EARLY LIFE

Bolasodun “Bola” Ajibola was born on March 22, 1934, into the royal family of the Owu Kingdom in Ogun state. His mother was the third wife of his father, who was a police officer.

Being the only son of one of the numerous wives in a polygamous home, Ajibola was pampered and soon worsened into a boy that he would later describe as “very rascally and always playing a lot of pranks.”

He attended Owu Baptist Day School, Ago Owu, for primary school education before advancing to Baptist Boys High School (BHHS), Abeokuta, for secondary school.

This stage was when Ajibola’s life took a positive swivel, and he sloughed the asininity of childhood, leading to the emergence of an embryo that matured into the over-achiever he grew up to be.

His mother dealt him a reality check when she angrily registered her rejection of his waywardness and threatened to pull her care and support from his life.

The threat jerked him from his slumber and kept him focused on what apparently would be the rest of his life.

“I was in school at Baptist Day Primary School. But she noticed that I was not performing as expected and she called me and said: You have now turned to become a bad boy. I am no longer worried because your sister is now doing very well,” he said in an interview with Vanguard.

“And what you can do, your sister will do something better for me. So you can go away, you can do whatever you like, and you are condemned! And you will be ignored!

“And it was perhaps the most important challenge in my life. It was from that moment that I stopped to be absent from school, and I started being very serious, studying, not only during the day but also at night.”