The following is taken from my tribute to Gani Fawehinmi only a year ago – BRIDGING THE REGENERATION GAP - on the occasion of his 70th birthday. It expresses what we owe ourselves and his memory, as we bid him farewell.
“Those who devote their lives to the regeneration of society do, in the process, re-invent, rejuvenate and thus regenerate themselves. Most people are under the impression that Gani’s passion is Law. Law as an instrument of resistance, of combat, of restitution to the deprived. Of course this is true. Anyone who has seen Gani in action will testify that this is one performer whose stage is the law court. His vitality, when launched within that space, is never in question, most especially when he rises to argue a case against the excesses of power, calling leaders and other custodians of power and authority to account, cutting ogres down to size and restoring to a people those rights that are inherently theirs – indeed establishing for society just what those rights are.
Yet there is a secret passion nurtured by this celebrant, one that does not entail the familiar flamboyant gestures or bravura performances – a much quieter, yet crucial aspect of revitalizing society and raising it to its full potential. His weapon for this is of course – education. Nurturing minds, ensuring that the less privileged but talented do not lack for the means of their intellectual advancement, to whatever extent his means can provide – hence the real impetus for the title of this address - education as the surest basis for the regeneration of human potential and thus, societal self-realization. Where the state has created a gap through neglect and indifference, Gani Fawehinmi has stepped in to bridge the gap. It goes beyond his annual scholarships to young pupils however, extends beyond absorbing a large number of fledgling lawyers annually into his chambers for mentoring – enter Gani’s law library and you encounter dozens of trainees poring through files and thick volumes of law publications, taking notes. At the basis of it all is the compulsive need to impart knowledge and develop minds, which provides an insight into the essence of the man, a clue to what lies at the heart of all his undertaking, including his unending pro bono litigations.
Litigation itself, on public issues, is a process that educates society on its rights and responsibilities, pulling the complacent or indifferent up by the straps and saying to them – within your own fields of competence, go and do thou likewise. Do not permit yourselves to drown in moans of impotence. Only through challenges to wrong-doing, anomalies and abuse can society protect its rights and thus justify its very existence, its collective dignity and, in that process, reinvigorate its productive capabilities.”
This, in essence, is the Gani Fawehinmi that will endure in the hearts of millions.
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