By Abiola Olawale
A former chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission(ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, has passed away.
The former ICPC boss was said to have died on Tuesday 20th August 2024, at the age of 90 years.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the deceased family on Wednesday.
The statement reads in part: “With heartfelt gratitude to the Lord Almighty, for a life beautifully lived, we announce the passing away of our beloved Dad, granddad, great-granddad, brother, uncle, benefactor, and friend, Hon. Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola (JSC, rtd; CON).”
The New Diplomat reports that Ayoola was born on October 27, 1933, in Ilesha, Osun State and attended Temidire Model School from 1939 to 1943 for his primary education and Ilesha Grammar School from 1944 to 1950 for his secondary education. He studied as an external student at the University of London and was a full-time undergraduate at Oxford University London from 1957 to 1959.
He obtained a Bachelor of Law degree, LLB, from the University of London in 1957 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford with Honours in Jurisprudence. In May 1957 he passed the Bar Final Examination of the Council of Legal Education, London and was called to the English Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn, London, on 25th November 1958.
He was appointed a judge of the High Court of Western Nigeria in 1976, and soon after he became a judge of the High Court of Oyo State.
He served as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of the Gambia (1980–1983) and was Chief Justice of the Gambia (1983–1992). He was Vice President of the World Judges Association in 1991.
He was President of the Court of Appeals of Seychelles, and Justice of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria (1992–1998), Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (1998–2003), retiring in October 2003 at the mandatory age of 70.
