Final goodbye to GOK Ajayi

Abiodun Onafuye/ Ijebu-Ode

Ijebu-Ode, the ancestral home of the legal icon, Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole (GOK) Ajayi, stood still for several hours today, as his body was committed to mother earth on the day he would have been 83 years old.

The Cathedral Church of Our Saviours, Italowajoda, Ijasi,Ijebu Ode in Ijebu Ode local government area was filled to the brim as the late legal icon and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, was buried amid pomp and celebration.

At the well attended funeral service, friends,colleagues and associates of the legal icon paid glowing tributes to the legal luminary known as GOK.

In his sermon, the Bishop of Ife Diocese of the Anglican Communion, Rt. Reverend Oluranti Odubogun said the deceased, apart from distinguishing himself in the legal profession, lived a selfless life.

Odubogun said GOK shunned avarice and greed, and followed the path of righteousness.

Describing GOK Ajayi as a perfect gentleman who demonstrated exceptional brilliance in his chosen profession, he also acknowledged that he had time to serve God, and contributed to the development of the church.

He prayed for the wife, Olayinka, children and grandchildren for God to comfort them.

In his remarks, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State said the late Ajayi was an uncommon, intelligent, and one of the greatest lawyers the country had ever produced.

“Papa GOK Ajayi was a professional to the core. He was a progressive minded-being whose passion for the adherence to justice and the rule of law endeared him to many people.Papa fought so many remarkable legal battles for the common man. We can only pray that his soul rest in peace,” the governor added.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Tunji Ayanlaja, in his tribute, said that the many works of the deceased would continued to live in the minds of many generations yet unborn, adding that,he learned under the legal icon.

“He was a consummate lawyer, a good teacher, I mean the best teacher. I passed through him. Am I not a good material? That is GOK Ajayi. He is not dead, he is living with us,” he said.

General Zamani Lekwot (retd) eulogized GOK for his fearless and brilliant advocacy that led to his discharge and the discharge of his kinsmen over the Zango Kataf disturbances in 1990.

Gen. Zamani Lekwot (retd) who also recounted how the legal luminary saved him and others from throes of death over the Zango-Kataf crisis, said “he was a great man, a great asset to the legal profession and a fine human being”.

“He was tenacious. He was a fine human being and a very brilliant man. He was a great asset to the legal profession. May his soul rest in peace. The people of Atyap community will forever be grateful to him”, the former Army General said.

The funeral attracted dignitaries from all walks of life. Among them were the former chairman, Punch Nigeria Limited, and a delegate to the National Conference, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, a former Minister of Industry, who is also a delegate to the National Conference, Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, Chairman, First City Monument Bank Plc, Chief Subomi Balogun and wife, Founder, Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, representative of Ooni of Ile-Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olori Ladun Sijuwade, Mrs. Folake Solanke, and Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

Others are, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor, former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Dr. Sunny Kuku, Emeritus Prof. Theophilus Ogunlesi, former Archbishop of Lagos Province, and Dean of the Church of Nigeria(Anglican Communion), Dr. Adebola Ademowo, eldest daughter of the sage, Reverend (Mrs) Omotola Oyediran and her husband, Professor Oyediran, Barrister Segun Awolowo (Jnr), Dr.Sunny Kuku, Chief Oladipo Jimilehin, Chief Bisi Omidiora, Chief Bode Ogunlana and many lawyers.

The remains of the ‘lawyer of lawyers’ as Chief G.O.K. Ajayi was later interred at his Igbeba residence in Ijebu Ode.