Prince Bolasodun Adesumbo "Bola" Ajibola, SAN, KBE, CFR (22 March 1934 – 9 April 2023) was a Nigerian jurist, who was the attorney general and the minister of justice of Nigeria from 1985 to 1991 and a judge of the International Court of Justice from 1991 to 1994.^[1] He was president of the Nigerian Bar Association from 1984 to 1985. He was also one of five commissioners on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, organized through the Permanent Court of Arbitration. In 1979, he founded The Nigeria Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb) as the premier arbitration institute in Nigeria and it was duly incorporated in 1988 under the Companies Act as a legal entity Limited by Guarantee.

A prince from Owu, he was born on 22 March 1934,^[2] in Owu, near Abeokuta, Colonial Nigeria, to the Owu royal family of Oba Abdul-Salam Ajibola Gbadela II,^[3] who was the traditional ruler of Owu between 1949 and 1972. Ajibola attended both Owu Baptist Day School and Baptist Boys' High School in Abeokuta between 1942 and 1955. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Law (LL.B.) at the Holborn College of Law, University of London between 1959 and 1962 and was called to the English Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1962.^[4] He returned to Nigeria to practise law, specialising in commercial law and international arbitration.

Prince Bola Ajibola was chairman of the panel set up by the Plateau State government to probe the 2008 Jos riots.^[5][6] He established an Islamic and co-educational institution, Crescent University, in Nigeria in 2005, and he served as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN).

Ajibola was the high commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2002.

Posts and membership of professional associations

• President, Nigerian Bar Association (1984-1985)
• President, The World Association of Judges
• Chairman, Disciplinary Committee of the Bar and General Council of the Bar
• Chairman, Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria
• Founder, Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb)^[7]
• Member, Advisory Judicial Committee
• Member, African Bar Association
• IBA
• Association of World Lawyers
• Commonwealth Law Association
• Vice President, Institute of International Business Law and Practice, Paris
• Vice-Chairman, International Court of Justice, The Hague (1991-1994)
• President, World Bank Administrative Tribunal
• Judge, Constitution Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994-2002)
• Member, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
• Member, Permanent Court of Arbitration
• Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London
• Chairman, Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission
• Arbitrator/Commissioner, Eritrea/Ethiopia Boundary Commission^[8][9]

Bola Ajibola was the editor of Nigeria's Treaties in Force from 1970 to 1990 and All-Nigeria Law Reports from 1961 to 1990. He has authored many books including 'Heavens in View', and various papers and articles on a range of legal subjects.

Personal life and death

Ajibola was married to Olufunmilayo Janet Abeni Ajibola, who died in London on 8 June 2016.^[10] He died on 9 April 2023, at the age of 89.^[11][12][13]