A former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has hailed legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, for his contributions to the development of his community, state and country at large.
Speaking at the 60th celebration of Babalola’s call to bar in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State on Monday, Obasanjo said the proprietor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), has made things he met in life better than he met them.
“You have met this world at a point, you have met your community at a point, you have met your family at a point and what you have done is that what you have met you have made it better than what you have found,” Obasanjo said.
The former Nigerian leader said that one lesson he learned from Aare Babalola is that he never rested even after many years at the bar, noting that he had at a time he should be resting and relaxing established a university and made it one of the leading universities in the country.
“That is a lesson that we should all learn whatever we are given to do and whatever we agree to do or whatever we make up our mind to do, we should put the best of ourselves into it and make it the best that it can be. You have made this university the best that any university can be in Nigeria, I appreciate that.”
Obasanjo also appreciated Aare Babalola for the cases he helped him to win, including defending his electoral victories, adding that those who have worked with the legal icon know his real worth.
“Those who have worked with you whether as colleagues, as clients and in whatever other area we have worked with you, we know your worth. And for me Aare, I could not have had a lawyer to handle my intricate cases the way you handled them.
“On this occasion, again I thank you for a job well done when elections after elections I have to be taken to court to prove that the decision of the electoral umpire was a fair and right decision.”
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