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Prince Bola Ajibola: Nigerian Jurist and International Statesman

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Born: March 22, 1934, Owu, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Died: April 8, 2023, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Prince Bola Ajibola was a distinguished Nigerian jurist, diplomat, and educator whose life bridged royal heritage and a deep commitment to law, justice, and nation-building. A proud son of the Owu royal family in Abeokuta, he rose to become Nigeria’s Attorney General and later an influential figure in international law.

Early Life and Education

Born on March 22, 1934, into the Owu royal lineage of Abeokuta, Ajibola began his education at Owu Baptist Day School and Baptist Boys’ High School, both in Abeokuta. His passion for law took him to the United Kingdom, where he studied at Lincoln’s Inn and was called to the English Bar in 1962. This early exposure to British legal traditions shaped the jurisprudence that would define his long career.

National Service: Attorney General and Minister of Justice

Ajibola’s brilliance in legal practice and public service earned him appointment as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991, during the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida.

In that role, he worked to strengthen the rule of law, introduce reforms in arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, and modernize the nation’s legal institutions. His tenure emphasized human rights protections and judicial integrity at a time when Nigeria faced significant political challenges.

International Legal Career

Ajibola’s reputation for integrity and expertise soon extended beyond Nigeria’s borders. In 1991, he became a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where he served until 1994. At the ICJ he participated in landmark decisions that shaped the practice of international law and enhanced Nigeria’s global standing.

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He later served as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, helping to strengthen diplomatic ties, and also contributed to the Constitutional Court of the Commonwealth, where he worked on issues of international arbitration and constitutional interpretation.

Education and Faith-Based Initiatives

A devout Muslim and passionate advocate of education, Ajibola founded Crescent University, Abeokuta, in 2005, a private Islamic institution dedicated to academic excellence and moral leadership. He actively promoted interfaith understanding, working with both Muslim and Christian communities to foster peaceful coexistence.

Family and Personal Life

Prince Bola Ajibola was married and blessed with children, including Olusoji Ajibola, who continues to honor his father’s legacy in law and education. Despite his global engagements, Ajibola maintained close ties to his hometown of Abeokuta and to the Owu royal family throughout his life.

Honors and Legacy

For his decades of service, Ajibola received some of Nigeria’s highest national honors, including Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) and later Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).

His death on April 8, 2023, at the age of 89, was met with tributes from Nigerian leaders, legal practitioners, and international organizations. They hailed him as a man of integrity, faith, and unwavering dedication to justice, whose influence continues through the lawyers he mentored and the institutions he founded.

Sources
Premium Times: “Prince Bola Ajibola, former Nigerian Attorney-General, dies at 89,” April 9, 2023.

Prince Bola Ajibola’s life remains a testament to the power of law and education to shape society. From the courts of Abeokuta to the international bench at The Hague, his legacy endures as a model of principled leadership and lifelong public service.

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Lifestyle

Women Who Love and Listen to Their Pastors More Than Their Husbands Should Be the Pastor’s Second Wife

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This statement may sound funny, provocative, or even offensive, but it raises an important question about priorities in marriage and religion.

A pastor is a spiritual leader, but he is not supposed to replace a woman’s husband. If a married woman consistently values her pastor’s opinions above her husband’s, obeys her pastor while dismissing her husband, or shows greater loyalty and admiration toward her pastor than toward her spouse, then something may be seriously wrong with the balance in that marriage.

Marriage requires communication, mutual respect, trust, and understanding. A pastor can provide spiritual guidance, but that guidance should not become a reason for a husband and wife to lose respect for each other.

At the same time, husbands should not expect their wives to obey them blindly. Both husband and wife should seek God’s wisdom, communicate openly, and make decisions with love and respect.

So perhaps the real question is not whether such a woman should become the pastor’s “second wife,” but why has the pastor become more important in her marriage than her own husband?

Put God first. Respect your spouse. And never allow a spiritual leader to become a substitute for your marriage partner.

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See also  South Africa’s top court rules men can take wives’ surnames
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Why is it only in Africa that we hear so much about “generational curses”?

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This is a question worth asking—not to insult African traditions or dismiss anyone’s beliefs, but to encourage honest reflection.

Across Africa, it is common to hear people explain repeated family problems as a “generational curse.” When poverty, broken relationships, addiction, failure, sickness, family conflict or misfortune appears to repeat from one generation to another, some people immediately conclude that an ancestor, spiritual force or past wrongdoing is responsible.

But is every repeated family problem truly a curse?

If a child grows up in poverty, has limited access to quality education, receives little financial support and then struggles as an adult, is that necessarily a spiritual curse—or could it be the result of circumstances that have been passed from one generation to another?

If children grow up watching violence, substance abuse, unhealthy relationships or constant conflict, they may unknowingly repeat those patterns. That does not necessarily mean they are cursed. Sometimes behaviour is inherited through environment, not through supernatural forces.

And Africa is certainly not the only place where people believe in supernatural explanations for suffering or misfortune. Different societies around the world have their own concepts of inherited wrongdoing, family misfortune, ancestral consequences, fate and spiritual punishment.

So perhaps the more important question is not:

“Who cursed my family?”

But:

“What pattern has been passed down to me, and what can I do to stop passing it to the next generation?”

We should be careful not to use the idea of a curse to discourage people from taking action. A family facing poverty may need education, opportunity and financial planning. A family experiencing repeated conflict may need healthier communication. A person struggling with addiction may need professional support and a strong recovery environment. Communities facing injustice may need better institutions, accountability and opportunity.

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Faith and spirituality are deeply meaningful to many people, and everyone has the right to hold their beliefs. But faith should not prevent us from examining the practical causes of our problems.

We cannot change the past, but we can change what we pass forward.

Instead of teaching our children that they are victims of an unavoidable family curse, let us also teach them knowledge, discipline, emotional strength, financial responsibility, education, healthy relationships and the courage to break destructive patterns.

Maybe the greatest “curse” is not something mysterious placed upon a family.

Maybe sometimes it is simply a problem that nobody stopped long enough to understand and change.

And the greatest inheritance we can give the next generation is not fear of a curse—but the knowledge and courage to build a better future.

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You are very proud to speak big English, but yet you cannot speak your own language?

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There is nothing wrong with speaking English fluently. In fact, being able to communicate confidently in different languages is a valuable skill. But we should ask ourselves a deeper question: while learning to speak the language of another culture, are we slowly losing the language that connects us to our own roots?

Your mother tongue is more than just words. It carries the stories of your ancestors, the wisdom of your grandparents, the jokes that only your people understand, the traditional greetings, the names, the songs, the history and the identity of your community.

Imagine being able to speak perfect English, but struggling to have a simple conversation with your own grandmother because you do not understand the language she grew up speaking. Imagine your children knowing foreign languages but being unable to understand the language of their own heritage.

That should make us pause.

Speaking English does not make you more intelligent, and speaking your indigenous language does not make you less educated. One is a communication skill; the other can be a connection to your heritage. We should not have to choose between being educated and preserving our identity.

Learn English. Speak it confidently. Learn French, Dutch, Spanish or any other language that opens doors for you.

But don’t let the pursuit of foreign languages close the door to your own.

Teach your children your language. Speak it at home. Ask your parents and grandparents to teach you the words you never learned. If you have forgotten it, it is never too late to start again.

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Because when a language disappears from a family, something precious disappears with it.

Be proud of your education. Be proud of your ability to speak English. But also be proud of where you come from.

Your language is not something to be ashamed of. It is a part of your story. Preserve it before the next generation only knows it as something their ancestors once spoke.

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