If there was anything Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi, (22 April 1938 - 05 September 2009) never lacked in his natural time, it was the admiration of the people. He was such a lovable champion of the masses whose admiration could not be resisted by even those who love to hate him and who were incarcerating him. This was confirmed by Alhaji Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
They secretly loved and admired him. Save for his uncompromising stand, they could have courted him. He was magnetic. Fancied by most people who had contacts with him, loved for his natural being and more importantly for his altruistic services to mankind. He was gallant and chivalrously selfless; and he graciously epitomized self-denying. The appreciation and outpouring he received from people was immense but could not in anyway compare to what was given when he had gone.
Chief Gani was my hero, my love for him was beyond limit. I held him in high esteem such that he could never go wrong in my sight. I wasn’t just a fan of his, I was almost a fanatic. I’d always wished I could join him in his war against the oppressors and how much I’d craved to be a courageous fighter like him.
After his death, it wasn’t unnatural of me to write sweet things about this Senior Advocate of the Masses (the one and only SAM), the best Nobel peace prize laureate the world never had, the man who would live long in the hearts of the hoi polloi as the People’s President. I signed every available condolence register created for him by anybody on Facebook and other social networking sites and I even created one. I wrote sweet words every here and there about him and I personally sent a mail to his law firm. I also mailed the condolence register with 91 signatures to his family in commemorating with them.
After all these, I realised that in the 44 years that we co-existed together as inhabitants of this world, not once did I express my appreciation to him. Not once!
Yes, I know we never met but I could have sent him an email or an SMS or a letter but I never did. I have visited his website many times, his contacts were on the site. Unlike our government sites, his contacts were not conspicuously hidden. Why must I wait for him to die before I wrote all those sweet things about him? Why couldn’t I just mail him a letter through NIPOST to show my solidarity anytime he left the prison? Why couldn’t I just drop a congratulatory message on his voicemail on his birthday? Why couldn’t I just write an article about him that he could read and grant him an insight into posterity to ‘preview’ what people would say about him when he would not be anymore? Why didn’t I allow him to appreciate that there is someone in my corner of the world who cares so much about him? Why didn’t I realise that I would be responsible not only for what I said but also for what I didn’t say when I could have said something, good or bad?
Of what good were the sweet things I wrote if the he couldn’t read, of what values were the sweet words I said if he couldn’t hear and of what values were the emails and the attached register if he couldn’t browse.
The power to undo the past I know, I lack but the present is within my reach. I have vowed that I will not cease to express myself any longer when and where necessary. Now is the only accepted time to tell the loved ones how much I love them, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today and not some future day or future year that may never come. I will not wait any longer to allow Profs. Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka and Albert Chinụalụmọgụ “Chinua” Achebe know I much I appreciate their literary works and their contributions to the society. I want to help them peep into posterity to have an insight of what it holds for them.
I don’t want to wait till anytime later, not till Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Babatunde Raji Fashola are no more in their State houses before I allow them a peep into posterity. I’ll write about the good jobs they are doing in their respective States.
I don’t want to wait till anytime later before I show my dissatisfaction to those who have turned government offices to goldmine. No! I can’t wait any longer. I want to tell those who have are extremely busy doing nothing in government houses how I feel about them. And I want to tell those with eyes wide shut to the plight of the masses they are (s)elected to govern how dissatisfied I am . Never again would I be recklessly silent when I can speak. Never again would I allow myself to be buried in the world of the dumb with mute indifference.
I can’t wait to tell everyone who has affected my being how I feel toward them. I can’t wait to tell the good that he is good, the bad that he can be good and the ugly to be beautiful. Who knows, may be if allow them an insight through a peephole of posterity, the good may be encouraged to better, the bad and the ugly may ‘rebrand’ to redeem their images.
This thought has inspired the creation ‘Posterity Peephole' - http://transparencyng.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=39&Itemid=96. It’s a step forward in Citizens’ reporting where you can express your opinion about Public Characters and anyone in positions affecting your lives to enable them have a peep into what people will say when they are no more.
God bless Nigeria!
Nigeria go better!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya ([email protected]) is the founder of Nigeria Think Tank a Facebook discussion forum created to confront problems confronting us as a people and Transparency in Nigeria a site built to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in our policies, polities and politics.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });