Dateline was 29th October, 1969, His Excellency, Prince Bola Ajibola had booked a flight from the United Kingdom to Nigeria. A friend then appealed to him to assist him with an assignment in Scotland, promising to refund Ajibola all his expenses and the cost of inconveniences. Prince Ajibola was not pleased because he had to appear in a law court in Nigeria. Eventually, he jettisoned the journey to Nigeria for the friend’s crucial assignment in Scotland while the scheduled plane had eventually crashed with no survivors.
His family members had gone to the airport in Nigeria to welcome him back home .They were so devastated at the news of the crash because Prince Ajibola’s name was still on the manifest of the crashed plane that year. By providence and destiny of assignments in life, he escaped the death.
In another year, Prince Ajibola was travelling with two other judges, Judge Francois Rigaux and Judge Fikr El-Kani, of the world court, to Bosnia Herzegovina in a military plane. He himself was also a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the only Nigerian after Judge Taslim Elias to achieve that feat. Hardly had the plane taken off than the pilot announced to all passengers on board that the plane which left earlier before them had been bombed because it was the time of war. Dateline was early 90’s.
The three judges, Ajibola, El-Kani and Rigaux, panicked greatly in the aircraft. Rigaux and El-Kani wondered why the three of them should perish together in one swoop, under the same circumstance. So, two others decided that the three judges be photographed to chronicle their last moments in the plane for the next generations.
As an optimist, Prince Ajibola at this point assured two other judges that the Almighty God was with them. That the end had not come upon them. That they would live then and thereafter. He assured them that since they were in the plane together with him, all of them would not perish as his mission in life according to the Creator’s design had not been accomplished yet. While the clock continued to tick, their heart-beats were pounding heavily. It was an encounter with death face to face.
After long moments of unfruitful torrential missile attacks on their aircraft on air, with fear and hope, they landed safely at Bosnia. But the military attacks continued till all passengers disembarked and crawling on their chests to safety. To Judge Ajibola and two other judges, it was a moment of providence indeed.
That the citadel of academic and moral excellence–Crescent University, Abeokuta–can now attain almost two decades is a long anticipated miracle to its founder, Judge Bola Ajibola, given the fact that his friends and foes alike had predicted an untimely death of the university even before birth.
Judge Ajibola got pieces of advice from those who had toyed with the idea earlier that it was practically impossible for someone like him who was neither a politician nor government contractor to successfully own a university and sustain it. In fact, these personalities were not without their own sincere reasons as they understood the costs of running a successful university.
Another conventional wisdom applied by these pundits to discourage the founder is that Judge Ajibola had already clocked the age of 70 when the inspiration came. They were pessimistic that starting an academic institution at that age was like fathering a new child at three scores and ten. What were they insinuating?
Despite all odds, our retired judge of the ICJ soldiered on as he understood that tough roads lead to smooth destinations. He was convinced that the Almighty would sustain his life to witness the fruits of his vision. The Almighty Allah fulfilled His promise to Judge Ajibola as he abundantly reaped the fruits of his labour. His handwriting will endure on the wall of history.
Adieu, our Prince Noble !
*Culled from “A Day with Judge Bola Ajibola” by Idris Katib
Post script: Judge Charles Dadi Onyeama, father of the current Foreign Affairs Minister, was the first Nigerian to be a judge at ICJ.
