Guest Column

   

NigerianNews

Nurudeen Ogbara
 a Legal Practitioner, is former Executive Secretary, National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADL), immediate past Chairman, NBA Ikorodu Branch, Council Member & Treasurer of SPIDEL & Director, Citizens Assistance Centre (CITIZENScentre).
Lagos, Nigeria
 

Adieu Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi (SAM), (SAN), foremost author, outstanding publisher, unusual philanthropist,  rare social critic, foremost human and civil rights lawyer, uncommon benefactor, remarkable principal in chambers, dignified mentor and selfless patriot. Gani, worthy mentor, accomplished publicist and professional father, sun re o!

GANI FOUGHT FOR NOBLE CAUSES, MADE ME A LAWYER – A TRIBUTE
by Nurudeen Ogbara

We are nothing on earth if we are not, first of all, slaves of a cause, the cause of the people, the cause of justice, the cause of liberty. -- Frantz Fanon

Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM), a rare social reformer, unusual fore-sighted social scientist, the undisputed Leader of the Nigerian civil society, the human rights community and indeed the pro-democracy group in Nigeria has transformed on Saturday the 5th day of September  2009 into immortality after attaining the enviable age of seventy one (71) years after countless and ceaseless persecution, deprivations and denials, mostly by an irresponsible State and a virulent, if not myopic and inept ruling class.

This write up was initially meant to wish Gani a very happy, resonant 70th Birthday in 2008 despite untold hardships on many flanks. But today, the tribute is being retouched to bid Gani -- my professional Father, Mentor, Principal in Chambers, Leader and Benefactor – farewell as the Grandfather of public interest litigation, pro bono legal services, access to justice, human rights, social justice, politically conscious citizenry and good governance departs and is being committed to mother earth in a blaze of unprecedented celebrations and glories.

I recall with nostalgia an event involving me as a victim and the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi as the benefactor and saviour. The then Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife in the then Old Oyo State, Prof Niyi Oshuntogun and his cohorts had decided to dismiss virtually all students’ leaders in the University apparently because they could no longer stomach their “impudence”, uncompromising opposition to commercialisation of education in any form, firm promotion and popularisation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) ACAREF and also to enable the varsity curry certain favours from the then dictatorial military government of General  Babangida. Thus, 60 members of the students’ union comprising the central executive council, the students’ representative council and some known activists were identified, marked out for punishment and purportedly dismissed by the authority, relying as they usually purported to do, on the infamous and obnoxious Students Union Regulations Decree No. 49 of 1989.

The first Nigerian to react and publicly condemn the action of the university authority, in no uncertain words, was no less a person than Chief Gani Fawehinmi. He understood the politics of the purported termination and the persecutory basis of the punitive measure. He took up the authority by drawing attention to some salient and crucial points including the facts that the authority denied fair hearing to virtually all the students concerned including our colleagues who were either in government detention following illegal and clandestine detention (like Mr. Bamidele Francis Aturu), those who had earlier graduated long before the victimisation (like Mr. Owoseni Ajayi) and those who had not been on campus for a while for known reason or the other but whose names were include in the dismissal list which was conclusive of the fact that the authority was actually being vindictive and evidently on a vendetta mission.

Characteristically, the authority alleged sundry criminalities against us such as rape, arson, murder, stealing, criminal assault, et cetera but never subjected any of us to the rule of law and due process as required by law and even common sense, if not decency. The intention was to stigmatize all of us and deny us societal sympathy and solidarity.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi and several other patriots were not hoodwinked in any way by the criminalization shenanigans deployed by the university authority against harmless and defenceless Nigerian students ; they saw beyond the blackmails of the university administration and were able to link the action to the propensity of the state to “... stigmatize the Nigerian student who is on his way to contributing useful service to the fatherland...” forgetting the admonition of the Nigerian Supreme Court through the immortal dictum of the Andrew Otutu Obaseki J.S.C (as he then was) in Garba & Ors. V. University of Maiduguri that the Nigerian student should not be jaundiced or unduly labelled with the guilt of offence until and unless he was subjected to the due process and accordingly found liable and culpable.

Incidentally, the landmark judicial authority referred to above had been facilitated by no less a legal giant than Chief Gani Fawehinmi himself a few years back after some epochal legal fireworks. Hence to the Court we headed courtesy of Chief Fawehinmi in Suit No. HIF/MISC.44/91 - ADEWALE SADIKU & 35 ORS Vs. OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY & ANOR.  On Monday September 30, 1991, we were granted leave to enforce our fundamental rights with same operating as a stay of all actions pertaining to our complaints and ultimately on Monday December 2 of the same year, the Honourable Justice Kayode Ibidapo-Obe (May God continuously bless and honour him) granted all our reliefs and reinstated us as undergraduates.

Gani had vindicated us and he never left us. He was with us then and at even at every stage of our continued studentship; release of results, compliance with court orders and at the Law School. From the beginning to the end, he never had cause to request for a kobo. He took delight and satisfaction in offering pro bono legal services, motivation and mentorship to all of us. He even opened his expansive chambers to us for reading and other educational purposes. He provided breakfast, lunch and transportation empowerment for us to be able to go to court in Ile-Ife and come back to Lagos on any day the case came up. He rescued me and my other colleagues. Similar cases of several other victimized students, persecuted lecturers, oppressed workers, cheated peasants, repressed market men and women as well as journalists abound.

I am aware of several other public interest/strategic impact litigations filed and undertaken by Gani to promote access to justice, rule of law, due process, social justice, democracy and good governance in Nigeria. Gani therefore remains unarguably the Number One Lawyer in Nigeria for this and other allied purposes. That Gani is second to none in the area of public interest is therefore neither hyperbolic nor deniable. So also is in the area of law and law development, law reporting, mentorship, legal and law reforms as well as public advocacy.

Gani - the irrepressible nationalist, outstanding patriot, uncommon humanist, a very revered legal luminary, principled publicist, accomplished author and publisher, a rare gem and a towering role model - had exceptional ability, vision, mission and grace! He was one individual who discovered his vision and mission, interestingly not out of obscurity or accident, and frontally confronted and accomplished both. For Gani, courage was not the absence of fear; it was moving on in spite of the evident fear. Gani was a patriot and social critic with imperturbable characteristic courage and an unassuming reformer, if not a revolutionary.

Like Rosa Luxemburg, Gani believed, and this is without any equivocation, that freedom was always the freedom of those who choose to differ and like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the learned Chief, understood that strength did not come from winning, that one’s struggles develop one’s strengths, and that when you go through hardships or depravations and yet you resolve not to surrender, that is strength.

As Francesco Petrarca, the Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanists, opined some years back, events appear sad, pleasant or painful, not because they are so in reality, but because we believe them to be so and the light in which we look at them depend upon our own judgment. Gani’s death is evidently an irreplaceable loss to the immediate and extended families yet coming at the ripe age, it calls for celebration. It is in the context of this that Gani’s transition is in the final analysis not a loss but a celebration of values, of integrity, of courage, of patriotism, of selflessness, of excellence and of professionalism. This makes his transition celebrative rather punitive. Mourn him not, ladies and gentlemen. Celebrate him now and forever more, all yee who believe in those values Gani espoused all his life.

Gani engaged not only in democratisation of legal knowledge and judicial empowerment through law documentation, reporting, dissemination and publication, he equally invested heavily in reproduction of like-minds and human resource or human capital development; an area to which little or no attention is usually paid by many. The implication of this rare investment is that perhaps, Gani has succeeded in producing many other Ganis albeit they may not be exactly like him but having one trait or the other that is peculiarly or unmistakeably Ganistic!

Psalm 82: 2-4 asks and requires thus: “How long will you keep judging unfairly and favouring evil people? Be fair to the poor and to orphans. Defend the helpless and everyone in need. Rescue the weak and homeless from the powerful hands of heartless people.” Gani hearken and responded to this injunction. Job 8:7 says though my beginning may be small, my latter end shall be great and prosperous.”  Gani no doubt fits the cap and satisfies the requirements.

The Holy Quran, Chapter 16, verse 53 enjoins us thus: Khairun nas man yanfa’un nas (meaning that the best among mankind is one who benefits humanity). Gani has benefitted humanity in many respects. He slaved for me, for every Nigerian voluntarily. He slaved for many noble and great causes; he slaved for the cause of the people, the cause of justice, the cause of liberty, the cause of good governance and economic prosperity. I pray Allah (SWT) to grant him Aljirnah firdaus. Ameen!

As the celebrations and outpouring of tributes herald the final commitment of Gani, I commiserate with Mrs. Ganiat Ibukun Fawehinmi (Nee Orebela) and Alhaja Sadiat Abike Fawehinmi (Nee Ikuomuyilo), my learned friend and brother; Muhammad, Saheed, Mubaraq, Kudirat, idiat, Basirat, Afusat, Aminat and their younger siblings. I condone with all Nigerians particularly all progressive-minded patriots from all parts of the federation and world-wide. May God Almighty continue to give you and us the equanimity with which to bear the painful and irreplaceable transformation to higher glory of our common banner and heritage.

Adieu Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi (SAM), (SAN), foremost author, outstanding publisher, unusual philanthropist,  rare social critic, foremost human and civil rights lawyer, uncommon benefactor, remarkable principal in chambers, dignified mentor and selfless patriot. Gani, worthy mentor, accomplished publicist and professional father, sun re o!