The former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola has been confirmed dead at the age of 90. He reportedly passed away on August 20, 2024.
Following his death, we have digged deep into some of the great accomplishments of the former Chairman of ICPC and other important things you should know about him.
Justice Ayoola was born on the 27th day of October 1933, to the family of Dorcas ‘Longe’ and Emmanuel Ayoola.
Then he later proceeded to study Law at the University of London were he obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree. Then went to Oxford university were he acquired a BA in Jurisprudence.
In the year 1957 he was eventually called to the English Bar (Lincoln’s Inn), and two years later, 1959, he was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme court of Nigeria.
Fast forward to 1974, Ayoola became the Chairman of the then Western Nigeria Housing Corporation. He equally served as a member of the Commonwealth Africa Conference Chief Justices and Judges.
Then in 1976, he got appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Western Nigeria, and then as a judge of the High Court of Oyo State.
As time goes, he continued to climb higher in his career as a legal practitioner, such that he served a Justice of the Gambia Appeal Court between 1980-1983, and later as Chief Justice of the Gambia between 1983-1992.
Same period, precisely in 1991, he served as the vice president of the World Judges Association.
More glorious appointments and positions kept knocking at his door, and he later served as the President of the Court of Appeal of Seychelles, Justice of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, that was between 1992–1998.
And between 1998 and 2003, he equally served as the Justice of the Supreme Court of his country, Nigeria.
Meanwhile, upon his retirement in 2003 following his attainment of the mandatory age of retirement in Nigeria’s civil service, 70, he continued to serve in different capacities in and outside the country.
Immediately after his retirement in 2003, he was appointed the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (NUHRC), and that was between 2003-2005.
Equally, he chaired the then Working Committee on Law Revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
He took up the appointment as the President of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court of Sierra Leone in 2004.
ICPC: Then in 2005, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. And that was between 2005 to 2010.
He equally served as a an active member of the National Judicial Council, NJC, and only bowed out in the first quarter of 2023. Then he was in charge for the editing of the Seychelles Law Digest, the Law Reports of the Gambia, and equally the Nigerian monthly Law Reports.
