Diplomacy & Public Service
Landmark
Bola Ajibola
1934 – 2023
Judge of the International Court of Justice
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Nigeria Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Attorney-General of Nigeria through the years of military rule, then a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, and afterwards the founder of a university.
Prince Bola Adesumbo Ajibola qualified as a barrister in London, built a large commercial practice in Lagos, and served as president of the Nigerian Bar Association.
He was Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991, under a military government, and was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 1991 — one of a small number of Nigerians to sit on the world court. He served there until 1994 and afterwards sat as an ad hoc judge, including in the genocide case brought by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro, and in the Cameroon–Nigeria boundary case over the Bakassi peninsula, which Nigeria lost and accepted.
He was later Nigeria's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and used his own money to found Crescent University at Abeokuta. He died in 2023.
He was Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991, under a military government, and was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 1991 — one of a small number of Nigerians to sit on the world court. He served there until 1994 and afterwards sat as an ad hoc judge, including in the genocide case brought by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro, and in the Cameroon–Nigeria boundary case over the Bakassi peninsula, which Nigeria lost and accepted.
He was later Nigeria's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and used his own money to found Crescent University at Abeokuta. He died in 2023.
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