How former Attorney General Bola Ajibola rejected bribes from foreign entrepreneur, lead lawyer - Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo revealed how a foreign entrepreneur and a Nigerian lawyer (name withheld) attempted to bribe a former International Criminal Court judge, Bola Ajibola.

Mr. Ajibola, also a former attorney general of the Federation and minister of justice, had appointed Mr. Osinbajo as a special adviser when he was 30 years old.

The Vice President made the revelation in Abeokuta, Ogun State at the Baptist Boys' High School (BBHS) Centennial Conference on Thursday.

Mr. Osinbajo, who spoke on the theme "Values: the difference between success and failure", said an ethical revolution is needed to accelerate Nigeria's development.

Praising the values ​​of BBHS products, he cited the late Western Region's first prime minister, Obafemi Awolowo, former president Olusegun Obasanjo and the presumptive winner of the 1993 presidential election, Moshood Abiola, as as great exponents of the good values ​​they imbibed at school.

Talking about one of his examples of great values ​​which are also products of the BBHS, Mr. Osinbajo also extolled the values ​​of his former boss, Mr. Ajibola.

He said his first experience of working with Mr. Ajibola was with "a foreign contractor who had won a very lucrative contract from the federal government and went to give to the son of Prince Ajibola who was at the university in England, a brand new Golf Car. His son then contacted his father and it made Prince Ajibola so angry that I had to physically calm him down.

"Not only was the gift returned, but the conduct of the man was reported to the government of his country and that government issued a special apology to our own government and to Prince Bola Ajibola. I also recall that the man in question also came to the ministry to apologize to the Attorney General.

“The second incident was the case of a commercial plane stopped in Nigeria for transporting drugs. The Attorney General's office was, of course, in charge of securing the arrest. mentioning the name pretended to act as an intermediary for an interested party somehow related to the plane and they came to Prince Bola Ajibola to offer him a bribe in hard currency. When I remember how Prince Ajibola yelled at the lead attorney and ordered him out of his office, I still remember the shame and fear on the man's face.

"These are just two examples out of many that show that public service is public service and that bribes or 'thanks' are totally unacceptable."

Speaking of his other examples of good values, Mr. Osinbajo added: "Chief Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR, of the 1928 set of BBHS, the first Prime Minister of the Western Region, was described in death as the best president Nigeria ever had. During his reign, he invested 41% in education alone. He built the first television station not only in Africa but in many parts of Europe. At one time given, he built the tallest building in Ibadan. Wrongfully imprisoned but remained resolute and did not yield his position until released by the then government of General Yakubu Gowon. We leave Chief Awolowo over there.

"Next is Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR of the 1957 set of BBHS, a military president who set a standard of honor (according to a promise made by his administration) when he handed over power to a civilian government and he went on to become an elected two-term president.Of course, we all know that Obasanjo also ended up unjustly and unjustly in prison, but he refused to compromise his position until he was released by a later government.

"The third is Chief MKO Abiola GCFR, from the whole of 1956. For good reason, you know that the GCFR was awarded posthumously. He won the 1993 elections and some say it is one of the freest and fairest elections in our history.