Nigeria's foremost human rights attorney, Gani Fawehinmi is dead at 71.
GANI FAWEHINMI: DEATH OF AN ICON STATEMENT BY
KAYODE OLADELE
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I experienced a moment of grief this morning when I heard the news that Chief Gani Fawehinmi had died after a prolonged battle with man’s number one mortal enemy, cancer.
Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s sudden death is a national disaster which is being greeted everywhere with sadness, disbelief, astonishment, incredulity and great expression about the impact of his loss and socio-political significance of this great lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to Nigeria.
It is a big loss to the nation which he served as a social crusader, constitutional lawyer, publisher, political thinker and human rights leader. He was a force in the socio-political history of Nigeria for several decades. No doubt, he was the greatest and dogged fighter of our time whose accomplishments in the struggle for the emancipation of the working and toiling people of Nigeria cannot be easily equaled. He was also crucial to those who abhor corruption and could easily be described as the Nigerian pillar of mankind’s oldest struggle - just and egalitarian society. But at least, he has left behind, an enviable and great legacy of honesty, hard work, patriotism, equal rights and justice which were the cause of his life.
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We will remember him as the champion of the oppressed, a social crusader, a voice for the voiceless and the soul and spirit of democracy and human rights in Nigeria. His death will surely be missed not only by his immediate family, but by implication, an extended family that will most probably include the whole of Nigeria and the international community.
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Tribute to chief Gani Fawehinmi by the democratic alternative (DA)
5 September, 2009
The inevitable has happened. Chief Gani Fawehinmi has gone the way of all true patriots of this land Nigeria and this world. All members of the Democratic Alternative join other authentic true patriots of our land to salute this unique man of honour, this man of courage, this man of the people, this man who truly loved his neighbour as himself.
He was a valorous man who singularly, in his own confident manner and singular dedication added value to the concept and methodology of making the world a better place in his own time. Gani was a friend of the Democratic Alternative and cherished the necessity for the party he worked very hard to build National Conscience Party NCP to work closely and in harmony with the Democratic Alternative DA. He appreciated and expressed his admiration for the work being done in the DA. In the same mind, he was a true friend of the exploited masses of the country. No wonder, the youths and students made him the Senior Advocate of the Masses SAM when the exploiter wielders of the Nigerian state power, to their own shame and self denigration denied him the professional honour of Senior Advocate of Nigeria that he had uniquely and richly deserved by sheer limitless contribution to the development of the law, a profession that he deftly used to pass irrefutable judgement on the exploiters of our land and people.
Whilst members of the Democratic Alternative call on all the workers, farmers, youths , students, women and the unemployed to rise up in truth for the development of our land as Gani would want it, we equally warn the people to beware of his tormentors who will now shed crocodile tears by paying insincere tribute to this great man, this great Nigerian whom they tormented in his life time. Gani whom they jailed for speaking out on behalf of the people; Gani whom they sent violent men to attack in his home when they had sleepless nights as a consequence of his popular crusade; Gani whom they hated because he stood for truth, justice and fairness in the management of the immense resources of our land. Yes, they will come out with fake condolences. Beware of them.
The workers, farmers, youths, students, women and the unemployed can only truly celebrate this man of the people by coming together to build a mass political party with a programme for the rapid economic development of Nigeria to retrieve our people from the morass of poverty and deprivation to which the right wing politicians have sentenced them in sixty years of exploitation and cheating. Let us remove the exploiters from power. Let us come together and build a socialist economy from which the working people will derive a quality of life that is commensurate with the best that is available anywhere in the world. That is the objective we pursue in the Democratic Alternative and Gani loved it. Capitalism, in particular nurture capitalism that the right wing rulers are imposing on the country will only enrich a few and foreigners to the continuing detriment of the masses.
All members of the DA commiserate with the family of a mentor, Gani Fawehinmi. We know that Allah has accepted him into Al Janah, the paradise of love where Gani truly belongs. May his good soul rest in perfect peace.
For Democracy and Liberation
Dr Abayomi Ferreira
President
Democratic Alternative
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Gani, the unforgettable humanist: Adieu Bamidele Aturu Esq
Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, irrepressible friend of the subjected, rejected, dejected, suppressed, repressed, oppressed and dehumanized underclass everywhere in the world is gone. Born in 1938 into doubtless aristocracy (his father was a successful timber merchant), he shunned and fought privileges with an unparalleled zeal. In spite of his considerable wealth derived from his brilliant and painstaking professional practice, Gani’s real friends were the dispossessed of the earth, the physically challenged, indeed the proletariat of the world. His advocacy for the underprivileged was not restricted to the courtroom where in his inimitable fiery advocacy he won for them notable and significant victories. He advocated for the poor at the barricades- once, in a rare and yet unexampled display of sacrificial commitment to principles, he lay on the road daring the armoured tank of the military to crush him at Yaba during a protest against one of the military governments; he fought for them in the mass media; he defended their cause in all the organizations he has been privileged to be a member or to found. His struggles were complex and multi-dimensional. This was not surprising given the fact that the events that impelled him to become a social crusader and those which he helped shape are equally varied and complex. We do not require a prophet to know that long after Gani must have departed from this world his works and times would continually inspire scholarly and revolutionary writings. Understandably, he provoked extremes of passion in people depending on their perspectives or their positions in the economy. Whether Gani is seen as a gadfly, an irritant, conscience of the nation or a social crusader, even his most uncharitable critic would admit that he is a militant with a cause and a militant that is at once irresistible and unforgettable. In the practice of law his footprints are indelible. He democratized the practice of law by commencing in 1985 the publication of his authoritative Nigerian Weekly Law Reports. Hitherto, judgments of the superior courts, particularly those of the Supreme Court, were treated as an exclusive property of one or two influential lawyers. As litigant or as counsel, he fought and won many landmark cases thus helping to advance the country’s jurisprudence. Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, the lion of Nigerian law, an indisputable colossus of humanism may be gone but his deeds and contributions to the struggle against oppression and for the emancipation of the masses are indelible. Gani lived, fought and died for the people. He was a fearless and tireless tormentor of those who imposed themselves as rulers on the hapless people of Nigeria. He was God’s gift to Nigeria. We must resist the temptation to mourn Gani. His was a fulfilled life richly and fully lived in accordance with his philosophy and love for the oppressed. His achievements in his chosen field are monumental, his impact as the conscience of the nation undeniable, his legacy for posterity unforgettable. He has left a void that will be difficult to fill in our collective struggle for a better country. Our hearts are with his wives and children, both biological and otherwise. Pretenders to power who dot our government houses must learn from Gani the virtues of selflessness, honesty and commitment to principles. For those of us in the broad pro-democracy movement necessity is laid upon us to carry on from where he stopped. The struggle sure continues.
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