28042019 - No delaying minimum wage, go ahead and pay, FG tells MDAs, states, others

PAGE 30— SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 28, 2019
By Bashir Adefaka
A flashback into the little beginning of the
Olori Omo Oba Owu of Owu Kingdom,
Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prince Bola Ajibola,
became necessary when he was celebrated
on his 85th birthday in a prayer session held
at his Olusegun Obasanjo Hilltop GRA,
Abeokuta home.
The occasion was attended by many
dignitaries including the Registrar/Chief
Executive of the Joint Admission and
Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq
Oloyede.
The celebration continued at the Crescent
University Abeokuta (CUAB)’s Bola Ajibola
College of Law (BACOLAW) Auditorium
where the 13th Founder’s Day Lecture of the
university and award of excellence were held
in honour of the retired Judge of the
International Court of Justice (IJC) at The
Hague, Netherlands.
Founder’s Day at Crescent University
Abeokuta had been dedicated by the
university’s Senate and Governing Council
as a yearly event to mark the birthday of the
institution’s proprietor, who is the longest
serving Minister of Justice and Attorney-
General of the Federation.
Apart from his involvement in philanthropy
in the course of which he has produced many
university graduates and chartered
professionals, the Bola Ajibola Community
Award was instituted in 2018 to recognize and
reward excellence.
The first edition of the award was dedicated
to recognizing community policing and the
awards went to the immediate past Ogun State
Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, and
some of his officers.
It is, therefore, the reason a tribute,
published by The DEFENDER in celebration
of the man of exceptional integrity at 84, last
year, said: “The name Bola Ajibola can no
longer need an introduction. So, I do not have
to start my tribute with an introduction of who
the former Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice is.
“What needs continuous mention about the
man who, despite the campaigns of calumny
by his own people at home and in the
community of lawyers where he belonged,
emerged in a globally participated election
at the United Nations (UN) as a Judge of the
International Court of Justice (IJC) at The
Hague, however, is the story of his ‘Golden
Nights’ and how he had survived death four
times just because he had to brush aside his
royalty status to struggle to have a handshake
with a successful future that is being talked
about today.”
That tribute, which attracted wide
commendations, was apt, particularly in the
area of the ‘Golden Nights’. What one has
found out is that the life story of Ajibola will
not be complete without the mention of the
‘Golden Nights’ of sleeplessness when,
according to him, working in the day and
reading with candle lights in the night was
the norm.
One could imagine the stress, therefore, that
the prince of Oba Abdul-Salam Adewunmi
Ajibola, Gbadela II, the Olowu of Owu
Kingdom, Abeokuta, between 1949 and 1972,
must have passed through.
It is no wonder that the heir of the Bola
Ajibola dynasty, Muhammad Mahruf
Adesegun Bola Ajibola (SAN), said: “Baba
had made sure that all the sufferings of his
children he has had. However, he never
allowed our upbringing to be devoid of one
which makes us forget where we are coming
from and where we are going. He is a
religious, God-fearing man and he has
•Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) left, presenting an
award of excellence to a recipient of Bola Ajibola
Community Service Award during the 13th
Founder’s Day organised to mark his 85th birthday
at Bola Ajibola College of Law Auditorium,
Crescent University Abeokuta.
BOLA AJIBOLA AT 85:
A judge must be
free of iniquity
• The man who escaped death four times, worked
as Minister for six years without collecting salary,
sold all he had to establish his dream varsity
brought us up along that line.”
Four experiences
History has it that Ajibola’s
father was a recipient of
Queen Elizabeth’s British
Award of Excellence, having
been noticeably active as a
police inspector playing the
role of a crack detective for 13
years before he retired for the
reason of ascension to the
throne in 1949. Of note also
is that Oba Ajibola’s core-life
story has been captured in ‘A
Life of Excellent Service” coauthored
by his son, Bola, and
Chief Oladipo Yemitan.
In a tribute on his 84th
birthday, a writer had said:
“Do I need to mention when
he had actually wanted to
pass on and he let on his gas
cylinder to let loose its content
while sleeping in a locked up
room? That was precisely
one of the four experiences he
had with death. But why
would Abdul-Jabbar
Bolasodun Adesumbo
Ajibola (SAN) want to be
taken away by the content of
a gas cylinder? That is a story
for another day. But the reality
of all of those experiences, from the era of
‘Golden Nights’ to those other ones, boil down
to the fact that achieving greatness in life is
not an easy task.”
The tribute continued: “If I was not lucky to
be alive to see him in his days of the ‘Golden
Nights’ and others because I was not born at
Ajibola, under
whom Vice
President Yemi
Osinbajo served as
Special Assistant
when he (Ajibola)
was Attorney-
General and
Minister of Justice,
did the only law
reform Nigeria has
ever had
that time – only arrived on September 3, 1972
– I was alive, alert to recognising happenings
around me when he became the Attorney-
General of the Federation and I saw Prince
Bola Ajibola as pragmatic person, who went
into government at no cost to government but
at a huge sacrifice and denial of personal
comfort. That was because for the six years,
six months, six weeks, three days and one and
a half hours that he was in office as Minister
of Justice, he earned no kobo from the treasury
of government.
“Rather, he spent his own hard earned
money to take care of his personal needs
required of him to serve his father land. That
is exactly what he did that General
Babangida saw and still sees him as truly an
enigma.”
How best is it then to celebrate a man who
has seen it from his immediate environment
to the global community other than to make
his birthday worthwhile?
This year’s weeklong programme of
events, however, did not just happen the
way of the past.
It happened with reminiscences on
Ajibola as a student to his great
achievements as the first President of the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) from
where his activities got the attention of
President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
(GCFR) (1985 – 1993) who appointed him
as the Attorney-General of the Federation.
From a humble beginning as a student
of Baptist Boys’ High School Abeokuta,
Ajibola became a World Court Judge, the
President, Arbitration Panel of the World
Bank, the Chairman, International
Boundaries between Nigeria and
Cameroon, Nigerian High
Commissioner to the United Kingdom
and emerged one of 500 most influential
Muslim leaders in the world.
No to ‘brilliant beasts’
He sold all that he had acquired only
for him to invest it in an educational
project to give Nigeria and entire Africa
a brilliant example of well managed
university.
Ajibola has for, close to a decade, been
producing graduates, not as ‘brilliant beasts’
but proudly nurtured in moral and academic
excellence. That is what Crescent University
Abeokuta, considered to be “the peak of my
life achievements”, according to Bola Ajibola,
has done in its 14 years of existence as a
Nigeria’s leading private university.
Speaking at this year’s event of the
Founder’s Day, Ajibola, quoting the late Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, stressed that “recognition
of greatness in others is in itself greatness”,
adding that the recipients of awards deserved
them.
Ajibola, as a statesman, contributes to
national discourse anytime he finds it
desirable. For instance, he showed his
displeasure over the rot in the Nigerian
judiciary against the backdrop of the false
assets declaration charges levelled against
former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter
Onnoghen, saying it was high time all hands
were on deck in support of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s crusade against
corruption. He warned that the nation may
be “stepping on dangerous ground” should
the Federal Government fail to handle the
Onnoghe saga as required.
He said: “It is a very delicate matter. The
moment a judge is to take a decision on
himself, his own proprietary and being found
wanting on issues of which he is supposed to
be a judge, the nation would be stepping on a
very dangerous ground if special care is not
taken in addressing the matter, and that care
should be one in which a judge is free from
any iniquity.
“He should not be found wanting, he should
not be suspected of anything at all. “In other
words, he should not be
corruptible. As a result,
once the CJN is tainted, it
becomes a terrible situation
for the judiciary and the
judiciary must handle the
case with care and
trepidation. He should not
become a judge unto
himself. “But having said
that, such allegations must
be carefully looked into,
they must be carefully
checked. He should be
given the opportunity of
being heard.”
Ajibola, under whom Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo
served as Special Assistant
when he (Ajibola) was
Attorney-General and
Minister of Justice, did the
only law reform Nigeria has
ever had. He once advised
Buhari to stay firm as the
anti-corruption fight he had
engaged in since May 29,
2015 was not going to be an
easy one because people
with complex romance with
corruption, impunity and spirit of not-doing
things properly will hold onto any criminality
in sight to frustrate him.
He cited his own experience fighting
corruption as Minister of Justice, concluding,
however, on an optimistic tone that all will be
well with Nigeria.