Two prominent Nigerians – Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole, GOK Ajayi, SAN, and Etsu Agaie, Alhaji Muhammadu Kudu Abubakar Ubandoma III – passed on in Lagos and Abuja at the weekend.
Ajayi died on Friday in Lagos, according to a relative, who confirmed that arrangements have started for his burial.
Born on May 29, 1932, Chief Ajayi was called to the Bar at 24 and enrolled a SAN in 1978 along with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Prof, Ben Nwabueze.
He would be remembered for storming out of an Ikeja High Court, in protest against trial Justice Olubunmi Oyewole’s refusal to stay proceedings in the trial of a $242million advance fee fraud (a.k.a. 419 scam).
Called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1955 when he was only 24 years old and to the Nigerian Bar two years later, Ajayi, more popularly known by his initials “G.O.K.” has had a tremendously successful legal practice over the decades and is one of the very few practitioners whose
Earlier in 1981, he had successfully handled the landmark case of AbduRahman Shugaba v Minister of Internal Affairs. This was a curious case in which Shugaba the minority leader in the Borno State House of Assembly was arrested and deported to Chad by the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN, controlled Federal Government on the grounds that he was never a Nigerian citizen.
The Chairman of Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday described the late Ubandoma III as a man of peace and a rare patriot, calling his death a great loss to the people of his domain, Niger State and Nigeria.
A condolence message, signed by Governor Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, the monarch’s 10 years on the throne brought tremendous progress and modernisation to Agaie Emirate.
Governor Aliyu said since 2004 when “Etsu Kudu – a man of peace and a rare patriot, mounted the throne of his forefathers, the monarch has been playing a leading role in ensuring peace, unity and tolerance amongst the diverse tendencies that cohabit in his domain and even beyond.”
He prayed God to grant the soul of the departed Aljannah Firdaus and members of his family and Agaie Emirate Council the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
The monarch died of a kidney related ailment in the early hours of yesterday at a private hospital in Abuja at the age of 52 years.
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