NANS TRIBUTE TO GANI

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS (ZONE D: LAGOS, OGUN, OYO, OSUN, ONDO AND EKITI STATES)

“For those who know him, no word is necessary; for those who do not know him, no word is sufficient” W.T. Horngren (An American Author). For people who know Chief Gani Fawehinmi, no word is necessary, for those who do not know him, no word is sufficient enough to describe him.

It can be said of Gani that he was a blessing unto the country of his birth and even additionally that he was a gift to the legal profession, to Nigerian politics and to us the Nigerian students and the Nigerian people. Not too many great men enjoy the pleasure of being celebrated in their lifetimes. Gani lived to witness the appreciation of his contributions to the making of Nigeria and his special contributions to the promotion of human rights and justice. It was public knowledge that he had been ill for a while: battling with cancer, but even Gani’s illness was a lesson for us all. He bore adversity with great equanimity. From his sick bed, he continued to issue statements on national issues. When his death was announced on 5th of Sept. 2009, it was like grief foretold and the confirmation of our worst fears. But we can still proudly say after the poet, that ‘Death shouldn’t be Proud.’ The graveyard is full of many bones, but it is not all bones that disappear into the bowels of the earth, forgotten, unmourned. Gani deserves to be mourned, deeply and widely; and in the very bones of his remains lies all the relevant ways in which he has enriched our space. So he is dead but he lives with us and we should be thankful for his life and its many riches and fruits.