FAWEHINMIISM...: FAWEHINMI WAS A SUCCESS STORY IN EVERYTHING-Gadzama (SAN)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

FAWEHINMI WAS A SUCCESS STORY IN EVERYTHING-Gadzama (SAN)

CHIEF Gani Fawehinmi, the legendary septuagenarian, legal icon was a man of many parts. He was a success story in almost every thing he did. The Nigerian Weekly Law Reports series has no match. The various law books on diverse areas of the law are a must-buy or a must -read for all legal practitioners in the country. The degree of audacity and courage he exhibited in his war against human rights' abuses and military despotism/tyranny/cruelty was unprecedented. He was upright, principled, and philosophical about man's existence on the planet earth. His antecedents on the path of the struggle to uplift our moral standards, the crusade against corruption and fight against the exploitation of the poor/oppressed by the rich or the elites in Nigeria and above all, his consistent opposition dogged stance on national/tropical issues against government and his colleagues are all unforgettable. The indelible marks of his giant strides on the sands of time will forever remain in our memories. He endeared lawyers and non-lawyers alike to his style of doing things. We loved him but God Almighty loves him more. We pray for those he mentored to give us some other Ganis and other Fawehinmis to immortalise him. Adieu Chief! May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN

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RIBADU, EMEAGWALI, OTHERS TO HONOUR FAWEHINMI IN U.S.

National Conscience Party (NCP), United States of America branch, has slated October 9 and 10, 2009, to celebrate the life of the late legal icon and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), who passed on September 5, this year.
The two-day event which takes place in Maryland, USA, according to a statement signed by NCP gubernatorial candidate in Ogun State in 2003 and 2007, Ogbeni Lanre Banjo, important dignitaries that will be attending include former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Professor Segun Gbadegesin and Mr. Phillip Emeagwali.
Others are former spokesperson for immediate past President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mallam Uba Sani, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Walter C. Carrington, Dr. Iheanacho Emeruwa, OBGY, Riverside, California, Alhaji Ademola Anwoola, Finance Director, City of Ellensburg, Washington State, and Chairman, Exploratory Committee to elect Lanre Banjo for Governor of Ogun state.

GOVT NAMES CENTRE AFTER FAWEHINMI

Ogun State government said it plans to name the Diagnostic and Trauma Centre under construction at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, after the late legal icon and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
Governor Gbenga Daniel made the announcement when he paid a condolence visit to Fawehinmi’s family in Lagos. According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo. Daniel, who recalled meeting Fawehinmi before he died, said: “The Senior Advocate of Nigeria lamented the inability of doctors to properly diagnose his ailment, a factor which aggravated the disease.”
The governor said Fawehinmi encouraged him to build a medical centre of excellence, where ailments of all kinds could be easily diagnosed for proper treatment. He said having made a solemn promise to the deceased, his administration had started developing the centre, with site clearing, designs and other preliminary works already done. On completion, the Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic and Trauma Centre will be a centre of medical excellence, with state of the art equipment and first rate

Gani would have been canonized

A prominent Jos based lawyer, Mr. Akuzamus Anakwe, has said that the late legal icon, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, would have been canonized a patron saint of human rights activism if he were a Catholic. Anakwe, in a tribute to the late legal luminary in Jos, said that Gani said that law should be used as a tool for social engineering, adding that lawyers were a special breed that should use their profession to advance the cause of the society.

“Gani is one of the few Nigerians who used the public arena to advance the cause of humanity. He really loved Nigeria and wished he had a magic to transform it.” Anakwe said. He said that he first met Gani when he was rounding up his national youth service in 1984. he said he had gone to purchase the Volume 10 of the Supreme Court Digest published by Gani’s law firm. “We should not weep for Gani, but celebrate him, because he was a matador of justice, the measurer of Nigerian law and its due process.”

FELA RESURRECTS AT GANI’S FUNERAL
The late radical musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, figuratively resurrected at the farewell ceremony held in honour of the late Gani Fawehinmi in Akure, Ondo State capital.
His protest music was the popular choice played at the event, where King Sunny Ade, Yemi Saz, Sir Cliff Sama, Olu Maintain, Lord of Ajasa and other local musicians performed.
Fela wasFawehinmi’s ideological soul mate and the legal icon’s favourite musician and comrade in the fight against oppression and injustice.

For most part of their lifetimes, both men were scourges in successive corrupt tyrannical governments in the country and were both jailed on several occasions by different regimes.
At the ceremony, many of Fela’s hits dominated the celebration and were even played as interlude to evocative speeches by dignitaries.
Specifically, some of his satirical works including “Beast of No Nation (BONN) and “Army Arrangement” forcefully blarred through the giant loudspeakers invoking memories of the human struggles, as well as the fight against electoral fraud and bad governance in which the two freedom fighters were frontliners.
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Rotimi Akeredolu, told the mammoth crowd that Gani so liked Fela’s music that he used to wake up to enjoy it before leaving for work “When Gani wakes up in the morning, he wakes up to Fela’s music, the NBA boss said, adding that you can’t be revolutionary like Gani and notlove Fela’s music.” Also commenting against the background tempo of “Beast of No Nation,” another human rights activist, Femi Falana charged Nigerians to insist as Fela did, “that human rights na our property.”

RIBADU, OTHERS FOR GANI’S POSTHUMOUS HONOUR IN US

Nigerians resident in the United States have concluded plans to hold a post humous honour for the late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who died recently after a prolonged battle with cancer.
This event is under the auspices of a group called The Nigeria Democratic Liberty Forum, in collaboration with two other organizations..
Some high profile Nigerians to speak on the life and times of the famous lawyer include the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Ribadu, whose visit to the Ikeja residence of the late human rights activist to pay his condolence to the family is still generating ripples, would speak alongside other eminent persons drawn from different walks of life to pay tribute to Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
The event, tagged A Night of Remembrance, is slated for Saturday, September 26 in the United States.
Confirming the event, the executive Director of NDLF, Mr. Bukola Oreofe said it would hold at the New York Laguardia Marriott Hotel, 102-5 Ditmars Boulevard, East Elmhurst, NewYork, by 4.00 p.m.
He said the occasion was designed to enable the teeming admirers ,a ssociates and friends of the deceased who resided in the US to pay tributes to him.

MEGA PARTY HONOURS GANI

Another post-humous honour has come the way of Chief Gani Fawehinmi, as the Mega Summit Movement (MSM) has dedicated its private bill on electoral reform to him.
The leaders of the movement, comprising Chief Anthony Enahoro, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Chief Olu Falae, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Professor Pat Utomi and Mr. Femi Falana, adopted the position.
The summit said it was also dedicating its forthcoming two-day national summit on democracy, scheduled for Abuja, to the late activist.

GANI MUST BE IMMORTALISED – NLC

The Kwara State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Emmanuel Ayeoribe, has said that the greatest tribute Nigerians can pay to appease the soul of late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN is to immortalize his ideals.
According to him, the late Fawehinmi was an epitome ofreal and committed nationalist, voice of the voiceless, defender of the defenceless and leader of leaders who lost his life that the ordinary man might not suffer undeservedly.
He opined that naming institutions or monuments to immortalize Chief Gani was not less important a prize, but the greatest prize the government can pay as retribution to appease his soul would be to uphold the ideals he laboured and died for.
He also called on the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the other civil organizations to produce other Ganis that would take up the mantle from where he left the battle to ensure that the labour of this great hero of our time was not in vain.

JOS YOUTHS TO SWEEP AWAY BOKO HARAM IN HONOUR OF GANI

A group of Islamic Youths in some parts of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State have resolved to honour thelate legal icon, Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN by organizing the Ramadan Environmental Sanitation tagged “Sweep Away Boko Haram Haram Adherents Campaign” in his honour. According to a press statement signed by Mallam Shuaibu Mohammed Baba, the Public Relations Officer of the group, the sanitation exercise, which comes up on September 18, 2009, has been dedicated to the memory of Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to nation building.” The statement further said that the late human rights campaigner had fought against corruption, illiteracy, poverty, injustice, exploitation of the masses and election rigging, hence the need to honour him even in death.

TRIBUTE TO GANI

IGOMIGODO’S TRIBUTE TO GANI
NO NO NO. Let somebody tell me this is a huge joke. I am in tears. The grand initiation of Chief Gani Fawehinmi has since brought me emotional laceration and thrown me into a state of utter catalepsy. This was a man who inured himself in the aqua of self-abnegation and immolation just to give justice to the down-trodden. Can there be another GANI in Nigeria’s legal firmament? I dare say I have my doubts. Chief Gani Fawehinmi was simply inimitable, puritanically committed, inscrutably remonstrative, ideologically transcendental, quixotically cosmopolitan and a ready conveyor-belt of legal tomahawks, which he intrepidly deployed in his cascading fulminations against our philistine military and political class. His transition is not just the fall of an Iroko but indeed the grand initiation of an iconic legal salamander.
We can only hope that we didactically learn herefrom that it is not so much our sybaritic lifestyles that matter more than the quality of service we render whilst we sojourn on this earth plane.
Patrick Obahiagbon, Member, House of Reps.

IBA MOURNS GANI

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) was saddened to learn this week of the death of Nigerian lawyer and prominent human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN. After a long battle with lung cancer, he passed away at the age of 71 on 5 September 2009.

Chief Fawehinmi was awarded the 1998 Bernard Simmons Memorial Award, the IBA’s human rights award. He was the third recipient of the award, which recognized his commitment to upholding the rule of law and the democratic rights of Nigerians.
A long time member of the Nigerian bar, Chief Fawehinmi filed over 200 cases which challenged what he perceived to be illegal and unconstitutional policies and activities. He was a leading voice against the military dictatorship, organizing demonstrations and peaceful rallies.
Among his achievements, Chief Fawehinmi founded the Nigerian Weekly Law Reports in an attempt to make law accessible to all, as well as editing a number of publications. In addition to awarding over 800 scholarships, he supported Nigerian students against university fees and the abuse of power by University authorities.
‘I greatly admired Chief Fawehinmi’s unerring commitment to the rule of law,’ said Justice Richard Goldstone, Co-Chair of the IBAHRI. ‘During his 30 years at the Nigerian Bar, it’s said that he experienced 27 detentions in 13 prisons, eight police stations and five detention camps, 15 ‘politically motivated’ criminal charges, 13 searches of his Chambers and home, 16 passport seizures, and the mortal wounding of his guards, yet his commitment to democracy and human rights never wavered. He will be very much missed.

MOSOP'S 50-MAN DELEGATIN PAYS TRIBUTE TO GANI

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People was fully represented at the burial of Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), who the minority group described as one of the greatest Nigerians who ever lived.
The MOSOP President, Mr. Ledum Mitee, who is also a lawyer, had said on Monday at the lying-in-state in Akure, the Ondo State capital, that Gani was a detribalised Nigerian who did not relate with anybody based on his colour, religion or ethnic background.
Mitee led 50 members of MOSOP to pay tribute to Gani and was also present at the lying-in-state and the burial in Ondo.
One of the members of the group, Mr. Friday Koo, said that he was happy to be selected as part of the delegation to represent the Ogoni people.
Koo, who is the MOSOP leader in Gokhana, said, “ Gani was a very great man. He had come on many occasions to Bori, which is our headquarters, to deliver lectures, especially whenever we were remembering the late Ken Saro-Wiwa.
“Just like Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed by Abacha’s government, the military killed Gani; but they have only succeeded in killing one Gani, there are many Ganis who will continue the struggle for a better society.”
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation has said that Gani died at the time Nigerians needed him most. The group said that bad policies of successive governments killed the late human rights lawyer.
According to the group, “It was the irresponsible anti-people policies of these tyrants, as well as the sub-human conditions they subjected Gani to at various points which worked together to reduce his life.”

GANI LIVED AND DIED WELL

Kayode Sule, Akure, Ondo State:
You lived and died for your beloved country. You fought against tyranny, oppression and corruption. You trod where others dreaded. You were always willing to lay down your life for the emancipation of your country men. You suffered deprivations, imprisonments, torture and molestation while tenaciously pursuing the fulfillment of your dream for a truly egalitarian Nigerian society. We will tell the generations to come what you did for us as a people. Thank you very much for coming. You will forever remain in our hearts. Adieu, AbduGaniyu Oyesola Fawehinmi.

IMBIBE FAWEHINMI’S VIRTUES, POLITICIANS TOLD

The Chairman of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Delta State, Honourable Taju Sunmonu Isichei, said that Fawehinmi deserved the kind of burial accorded to kings.
The politician, who paid glowing tributes to the late Fawehinmi, urged politicians to imbibe his good virtues by identifying with the needs of the less privileged in the country. He added that if political leaders could emulate the ideals of the late human rights crusader, the country would be a better place to live in.
“There is no need for us to want to acquire billions of naira when our people are suffering. Late Fawehinmi made his money through hard work and spent more of his wealth helping the needy. That is why he deserved the king’s burial he got. I think our political leaders should learn from his life,” he added.
The PPA chairman called on the Federal Government to name one the law schools in the country after Chief Fawehinmi in appreciation of his contribution to the development of the legal profession in the country.
He also advised the authority of the university in his home state to name the Faculty of Law after the late legal icon, adding that “late Fawehinmi deserves to be remembered in so many ways. Ondo State government should also name a road in the state capital to immortalize him..”

AN ELEGY FOR GANI FAWEHINMI -Chris Akiri

Chief Abdulganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM), was a great man. He lived more for others than for himself. He was inimitably altruistic, large-hearted, public-spirited and imbued with a philanthropic bent of the mind.
Although he was by no means a poor man, he subjected himself to untold physical hardships in the interest of justice, fair-play and equity for the common man. He doggedly and relentlessly strove to enthrone good governance in the body politic.
In pursuance of this, Chief Gani Fawehinmi was harassed, detained and incarcerated on countless occasions by successive federal military governments. The excruciating physical and mental pains that he suffered from the brutal, mental, physical and psychological attacks on him by the powers-that-be naturally took a heavy toll on his health. The result was a cancer of the lungs to which he has now succumbed.
He used the discipline of Law to fight for others. I believe that the greatest test of a person’s humanity and renown and, therefore, the greatest legacy a person can bequeath to humankind is the number of people who remember, long after he has been translated into eternity, how humanistic and philanthropic he was, when he lived.
Gani’s abiding love and unremitting struggles for the proletariat, for the wretched of the earth, will remain green in their collective memory, forever and a day. The masses, including students, the oppressed and the down-trodden for whom he lived, fought and died, will remember him forever and cast his name in letters of gold. That is the failsafe test of greatness.
Gani Fawehinmi (GF) will, for good measure, also be sorely missed by all those fine lawyers who passed through him, and by the legal profession for his monumental and incomparable contributions to the Nigerian Law and Jurisprudence, and for his peerless Nigerian Weekly Law Reports, which are indispensable and of immense value to both the Bar and the Bench in Nigeria.
Gani, the great philanthropist, the very personification of courage, the quintessential Roman Gaius Fimbria (GF), the Lomofe of Ondo Town, the formidable advocate, whose searching, scathing and lacerating cross-examinations in courts infected many a defence lawyer with mortal fear, the orator, who kissed the proverbial Blarney Stone and endowed with the gift of the gab, may your great soul rest in perfect peace. Goodnight.

BENUE AG EULOGISES GANI

As the remains of late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN, were laid to rest in his home town, Ondo, Ondo State, Benue State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Barrister Chive Kaave, has posited that the vacuum created by the death of the legal icon will be difficult to fill.
He made the remark while paying tribute to the legal luminary whose contributions to law, he said, cannot be matched in the country.
The Attorney-General disclosed that the masses particularly the poor, would miss Gani, adding that there would be no other Nigerian who would play the roles the human rights activist played during his life time.
“We cannot have another Gani. We do not expect that any one can step into the shoes he left behind,” Barrister Kaave retorted.