Gani Fawehinmi's Biography

Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a lawyer, an author, a publisher, a philanthropist, a human rights crusader, a social critic, the scourge of irresponsible governments, a thermometer with which the blood pressure of dictators is gauged, the veritable conscience of the nation and the champion of the interests and causes of the masses.

Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi popularly called Gani was born on Friday 22nd of April, 1938, into the Fawehinmi family of Ondo, in Ondo State of Nigeria.

His father, Chief Saheed Tugbobo Fawehinmi, the Seriki Musulumi of Ondo was a successful timber magnate, a great philanthropist, an opponent of excessive taxation of the poor and a deeply religious muslim leader. He was reported to have brought Islam to Ondo Town. Chief Saheed Tugbobo Fawehinmi died on February 5, 1963 at the age of 89 years. He was a polygamist.

Gani’s grand father was the Late Chief Lisa Alujanu Fawehinmi of Ondo, who engaged in several successful battles for and on behalf of the Ondo people in the nineteenth century. Hence, the appellation the 'Alujanun', which means spirit. He died at the age of 92.

Gani’s mother, Alhaja Muniratu Fawehinmi, nee Akinnibosun, is also a devoted muslim. She is the Iya Olori Egbe Adini of Ondo Central Mosque. Gani is her first child and the only son of her six children. Her father was Chief Yesufu Akinnibosun and her mother was Madam Rabiatu Akinnibosun, who died at the age of 96 years. 

Family

Gani is married to Mrs. Ganiat Ibukun Fawehinmi, nee Orebela. Her father, Mr. Isaiah Adebowale Orebela who is deceased, was a native of Ago-Iwoye in Ijebu, whilst her mother, Mrs. Marian S. Orebela is a native of Itori in Egba - both in Ogun State.

She has eight (8) children for him. Gani has another wife, Mrs. Abike Fawehinmi, nee Ikuomuyilo, from Ondo. She has six (6) children for him. 

Education

Gani had his early education at Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Iyemaja - Ondo from 1947 to 1953 and his secondary school education at Victory College Ikare, a Christian School from 1954 to 1958, under the leadership of the Late Rev. Akinrele where he sat for and passed his West African School Certificate Examination in 1958.

On the 8th of December 1958, he was given a letter to his late father by the principal of the college, Rev. Akinrele. In it, the principal advised that Gani must be encouraged to study Law as a profession.

While in college, he was popularly known as “Nation” because of his passionate interest in national, legal and political affairs. He was an avid reader of Daily Times and West African Pilot, the most popular newspapers at that time. 

In January 1959, he headed for Lagos to stay with his uncle, the late Mr. Olu Akinfe at No.39, Abule-Nla Road, Ebute-Metta, Lagos. He got his first job as a Clerk in the High Court, Lagos.

On the 29th of April, 1961, he left the shores of Nigeria by Sea with M. V. Aureol Passenger Ship for the United Kingdom. He arrived Liverpool on the 12th of May, 1961. He travelled by train to London arriving Victoria Station in the evening of that day.

On arrival in England, Gani received the result of his General Certificate of Education (G.C.E) Advanced Level which he took shortly before he left Nigeria. He passed very well. He then enrolled in the Holborn College of Law for the LLB degree of the University of London (External) in September 1961. He was in part II of the three year degree programme when his father died on February 5, 1963 and the source of his finance dried up. All efforts to secure financial help failed. He was forced by financial circumstance to drop out of the Holborn College as a full time student. He took a full time job as a Toilet Cleaner in Russell Square Hotel in Southampton Row, London. He did other cleaning jobs which included working as a sweeper in the old Gatwick Airport between February 1963 and August 1964.

He literally taught himself Law for parts II and III of the LLB degree course and sat for and passed all his examinations. He came back to Nigeria in early September 1964 carrying a small suitcase containing: 2 pairs of trousers, 3 shirts, 1 pair of shoe (apart from the one he was putting on), 2 pants, 2 singlets, 2 pairs of socks and 2 black suits, all of low quality which he bought at rock bottom prices in general sale at Caledonia Road, North London. 

On his arrival in Lagos, he enrolled in the Nigerian Law School at No. 213A, Igbosere Road, Lagos for the compulsory three months course which he successfully completed.

Chief Gani was called to the Nigerian Bar on the 15th of January, 1965. He practised briefly for three months with his elder brother, now Hon. Justice Rasheed Fawehinmi (Retd) at No.103, Herbert Macaulay Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

In April 1965, he established his Chambers at No. 116, Denton Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos. In 1974, he moved the Chambers to his house at No. 28, Sabiu Ajose Crescent, Surulere, Lagos. In 1978, he finally moved the Chambers to its present site at No. 35, Adeniran Ajao Road, Ajao Estate, Anthony Village, Lagos. The Chambers is reputed to be the largest Law Chambers in Nigeria.

The most notable characteristics of the Chambers are: highest sense of responsibility to professional duties, deepest commitment to professional ethics, unsurpassed dedication to research, hardwork, truth, honesty, obedience to the rule of law and due process, protection, defence and advancement of fundamental human rights.

Between 1965 and the year 2002, the Chambers has handled about five thousand, seven hundred (5700) briefs. Gani Fawehinmi has personally practised law and appeared in Courts throughout the length and breath of the country, namely: Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Minna, Gboko, Jos, Bauchi, Lokoja, Warri, Benin, Asaba, Onitsha, Owerri, Enugu, Awka, Aba, Umuahia, Calabar, Uyo,Abak, Ogoja, Port-Harcourt, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oshogbo, Ilesha, Ile-Ife, Ijebu-Ode, Ikare, Akure, Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti, Ondo, Ilorin, Lagos etc.

Gani has an uncontrollable love for the poor, the cheated, the oppressed, the persecuted, the ignored, the students etc.

This passion is responsible for the selfless services he renders without charging any fees, for the protection, defence and advancement of fundamental human rights of the Nigerian people. He has handled more than one thousand, five hundred (1500) briefs free of all charges for members of his self-defined constituency - the poor, the cheated, the ignored, the oppressed and the persecuted. 

Contributions to legap practise
Gani has changed the course of legal practice in Nigeria. Never in the history of the Nigerian legal system has one man done so much to democratise the knowledge of law in Nigeria through its accessibility to all and sundry, particularly to the legal practitioners. He practises law, writes law, and publishes law. His Nigerian Weekly Law Reports, which he started seventeen years ago, a must-read for every Lawyer and Judge, is unprecedented in Africa in innovation, content, style and regularity. Seven Hundred and Eighty (780) parts have been published. Each part is now over 300 (three hundred) pages weekly. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of the Nigerian Weekly Law Reports. Some of his other legal works either as Author or Editor include:

• Digest of the Supreme Court Cases published in 1986 in 10 volumes with over 6,606 (Six thousand, six hundred and six) pages.
• Nigerian Law of Habeas Corpus, published in 1986 with 457 (Four hundred and fifty seven) pages.
• Nigerian Law of the Press under the Constitution and the Criminal Law, published in 1987 with 574 (Five hundred and seventy four) pages.
• Nigerian Law of Libel and the Press, published in 1987 with 953 (Nine hundred and fifty three) pages.
• Law of Contempt in Nigeria, published in 1980 with 292 (Two hundred and ninety two) pages.
• The Bench and the Bar in Nigeria, published in 1987 with 1,028 (One thousand and twenty eight) pages.
• Murder of Dele Giwa: the Right of a Private Prosecutor, published in 1988 with 193 (One hundred and ninety three) pages.
• Courts’ System in Nigeria - A guide, published in 1992 with 713 (Seven hundred and thirteen) pages.
• June 12 crisis - the Illegality of Shonekan’s Government, published in 1993 with 151 (One hundred and fifty one) pages.
• Nigerian Constitutional Law Reports in six volumes with 4,616 (Four thousand six hundred and sixteen) pages.
• Criminal Law Reports, published in 1989 with 390 (Three hundred and ninety) pages.
• Commercial Law Reports, published in 1989 with 224 (Two hundred and twenty four) pages.
• Digest of Western States Court of Appeal Cases, published in 1972 with 124 (One hundred and twenty four) pages.
• High Courts of Nigeria Law Reports, published in 1985 with 1,431 (One thousand four hundred and thirty one) pages.
• Supreme Court of Nigeria Law Reports in 50 volumes (13 volumes published, 42 others in print).
• People’s Right to free education, published in 1974 with 91 (Ninety one) pages.
• Human Rights Law Reports of Africa, published in 1998 with 753 (Seven hundred and fifty-Three) pages.
• Ouster of Courts’ Jurisdiction in Nigeria, (in print).
• The Struggle for Genuine Democracy in Nigeria - Thirty Days of Civil Rule in Nigeria (Post-May 29, 1999) What Hope for Democracy?, published June 29, 1999 with 146 (One hundred and forty-six) pages.
• The Struggle for Genuine Democracy in Nigeria - State of the Nation (After Ninety Days of Civil Rule) and The Dangers Ahead, published in 1999 with 455 (Four hundred and fifty-five) pages.
• Commercial Law Reports Quarterly, Volume 2, published in 2000 with 314 (Three hundred and Fourteen) pages.
• Criminal Law Reports of Nigeria, Volume 2, published in 2000 with 329 (Three hundred and Twenty-Nine) pages.
• Human Rights Law Reports of Africa, Volume 2, published in 2000 with 205 (Two hundred and Five) pages.
• Nigerian Constitutional Law Reports, Volume 7, published in 2000 with 226 (Two hundred and Twenty-Six) pages.
• Petrol Price Increases In Nigeria: The Truth You Must Know, published in 2002 with 130 (One hundred and Thirty) pages.
• Obasanjo: The Absentee President of Nigeria, published in June 2002 with 27 (Twenty-Seven) pages. 

Challenging Government
Apart from organising peaceful rallies, street demonstrations against military dictatorship using his own personal resources, he utilises the due process of the law and the machinery of justice to challenge what he perceives as illegal and unconstitutional policies, activities, and self-serving programmes of several

governments which he considers inimical to the interest of the nation and the people of the country. He has filed more than three hundred of such cases in court. Some examples are as follows:

  Suit No. M/87/88

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Akilu & Anor
  An action to compel the Director of Public Prosecution of Lagos State to charge to Court Col. Halilu Akilu and Lt. Col. A.K. Togun (both top security officers in the government of General Babangida) for conspiracy to murder and the murder of Dele Giwa, the Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch Magazine.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/54/92

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi & Anor. v. N.N.P.C & 4 Ors.
  An action to force General Babangida’s Military Government to render an account of all export earnings realised by Nigeria from the sale of Crude Oil during the Gulf War in 1991.

  Suit No. LD/1092/92

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Babangida & Ors
  An action to challenge the use of public funds by the wife of the Head of State for activities not recognised by law.

  Suit No. CS/53/92

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Central Bank of Nigeria & 4 Ors
  An action challenging the illegal 100% devaluation of Nigerian currency on March 5, 1992.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/67/92

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Gado Nasko & Anor
  An action to compel the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Federal Capital Territory Authority to render account of all public funds received and expended by them between 1975 and 1992 which hitherto they had not rendered.

  Suit No. M/132/93

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
  An action to challenge the illegality, illogicality, uncertainty, absurdity and incongruity contained in a number of decrees made by General Babangida which showed that some decrees had the same number with different dates and different titles.

  Suit No. ID/2619/93

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Shonekan
  An action challenging the Interim National Government of Shonekan and exposing the unconstitutionality of his illegal regime.

  Suit No. M/551/93

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Attorney General of the Federation.
  An action calling the court’s attention to the illegality of General Babangida’s signing a decree into law after he had ceased to be a Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/70/94

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. General Sani Abacha
  An action to challenge the unconstitutional and disproportionate composition of the Provisional Ruling Council by General Sani Abacha substantially excluding the Ibos and the minorities in Eastern Nigeria from the Provisional Ruling Council which was the highest legislative and executive arm of the Federal Government.

  Suit No. FHC/C/CS/458/94

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. General Sani Abacha
  An action to compel General Abacha and all the public officers in his Military Regime to publicly declare their assets to enable the Nigerian people know the extent of corruption in public places.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/84/96.

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. General Sani Abacha
  An action challenging the unconstitutional delay in the presentation of the National Budget by Abacha in 1996 as the delay was contrary to the decrees made by him.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/281/96

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. General Sani Abacha
  An action filed by Gani’s wife to compel the Government of Abacha to pay the salaries of the Police that were several months in arrears.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1481/97

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi & Anor. v. Gen. Sani Abacha & 6 ors.
  An action compelling the Head of State, General Sani Abacha, to release all detainees as promised in his broadcast of Monday, November 17, 1997. The action was filed when General Abacha did not fulfil his promise after three months.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/31/98

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Gen. Sani Abacha & 3 ors.
  A declaration that the setting aside of 5% of the Federal Government Revenue allocation to all Local Government Authorities for the maintenance or use of the traditional rulers is unconstitutional.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/322/98

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Col. Mohammed Marwa & 2 ors.
  A declaration that the order of the Lagos State Government restricting the holding of public rallies at three named venues: National Stadium, Tafawa Balewa Square and the Trade Fair Complex was illegal and unconstitutional.

  Suit No. LD/3604/98

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Gen. Abdulsalami, Alhaji Abubakar & 7 ors.
  A declaration that it constituted an abuse of power contrary to Section 15(5) of the 1979 Constitution for the Federal Military Government headed by General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar to increase or allow the increase of fuel price as follows:
  (a) Petrol - from N11 -- per litre to N25.00 per litre;
  (b) Diesel - from N9.00 per litre to N23.00 per litre;
  (c) Kerosine - from N6.00 per litre to N23.00 per litre;
  with effect from Monday, December 21, 1998 while at the same time elevating in military ranks Rear Admiral Michael Okhai Akhighe, Air Vice Marshall Al-Amin Daggash, Major General Ishaya Bamayi, Rear Admiral Jubrilla Ayinla, Air Vice Marshall Nsikak Eduok, Major General Rufus Kupolati who were members of the Provisional Ruling Council and who participated in taking the decision to bring serious economic hardship and pains to the people of Nigeria by the said fuel price increase. While at the same time lining their pockets with backdated elevation into new ranks/offices and appointments that attracted colossal sum of money to their advantage.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/915/98

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi & Ors. v. General Abdulsalam Abubakar & Ors.
  An action compelling General Abdulsalam Abubakar, General Ibrahim Babangida and Alhaji Gidado Idris (Secretary to Military Government of General Sani Abacha from November 17 to June 8, 1998) to render full and detailed accounts to the court of all expenses incurred by both the Federal and State Govermments and their agencies in and out of Nigeria from January 1, 1986 to August 1998 in the several programmes of transition to democracy initiated and embarked upon by the Military Governments of the named Heads of State.
  
  This suit also included an action compelling the Federal Military Government to publish the reports of various commissions of inquiry set up in 1994 and submitted to the Federal Military Government and to institute further probe into the activities of the relevant agencies / parastatals from the time stipulated in the terms of reference of the moribund commissions of inquiry up to August 1998.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/110/99

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Gen. Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo & anor.
  A declaration that the remuneration of former Presidents and Heads of State (and other ancilliary matters) Decree No. 32 of 1999 prescribing outrageous sums as remuneration and allowances and other expensive perquisites of office for former Heads of State or Presidents and Chiefs of General Staff or vice President, their spouses and dependants was illegal and unconstitutional being in conflict with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/78/99

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Head of State and Commander- in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & anor.
  A declaration that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 promulgated into law with effect from 29th of May, 1999 by Decree No. 24 of 1999 i.e. the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Promulgation) Decree 1999 is null and void and cannot be used to govern Nigeria in that it is a product or consequence of the violation of Section 1 subsection 2 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979, in that the military should not benefit from their coup from December 1983, which set aside the 1979 Constitution.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/162/99

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. National Assembly & 3 ors.
  A declaration that the approval by the members of the National Assembly for themselves of the sum of N3.5 million for each senator and the sum of N2.5 million for each member of the House of Representatives as furniture allowance and the requirement that such sum be given to each of them directly constituted an usurpation of the executive functions and duties and the principles of separation of powers and was therefore unconstitutional, null and void.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/78/99

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
  An action compelling Abdulsalami Abubakar as Head of State to publish the reports of all the probe panels set up to look into the fraudulent practices of thirteen (13) government parastatals.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1146/99

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Inspector General of Police & 2 ors. (TINUBU SAGA)
  An action for order of mandamus compelling the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the complaints of false statement on oath and false declaration made under oath by Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor of Lagos State of Nigeria.
  A declaration that no Governor of any State in Nigeria or indeed any other public officer or officers enjoy(s) any immunity under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and other relevant laws in Nigeria, from investigation into any criminal allegation.

  Suit No. FHC/L/CS/352/99

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. General Olusegun Obasanjo & ors.
  An action compelling General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar and the Federal Military Government to disclose who was financially responsible for all the expenses incurred for the global tour of General Olusegun Obasanjo (before he was sworn in as President of Nigeria on May 29, 1999) and for him to submit a detailed account of all the expenses covering his global tours and to disclose the source of the fund.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/170/2002

• Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa & 26 Ors. v. Independent National Electoral Commission & the Attorney-General of the Federation.
  An action instituted in court by Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, National Chairman of National Conscience Party (NCP) together with other 26 political associations challenging the unconstitutionality of the registration guidelines issued by INEC for the registration of political associations seeking to register as political parties. In the action, they also challenged some sections of the Electoral Act, 2001 on registration of political associations as political parties.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/165/2002

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Mallam Adamu Ciroma & Ors.
  An action for a declaration that the appointments of Mallam Adamu Ciroma and Chief Anthony Anenih with effect from Thursday, 25th April 2002 as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively of General Olusegun Obasanjo Campaign Committee for 2003 Presidential Election was contrary to section 148(1) and 15(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and therefore unconstitutional, illegal, null and void in that Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Federal Minister of Finance and Chief Anthony Anenih, Federal Minister of Works and Housing were at the time of the said appointments Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/138/2002

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi & 5 Ors. v. Attorney-General of the Federation & Ors.
  An action for a declaration that the Electoral Act, 2001 was unconstitutional, null and void in that the proviso to section 80(1) of the said Act was not passed by the National Assembly and was not part of the harmonised bill sent to the President on the 5th of December, 2001 and assented to by the President on the 6th of December, 2001.

  Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/206/2002

• Chief Gani Fawehinmi v. Independent National Electoral Commission & the Attorney-General of the Federation.
  An action for a declaration that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decision contained in its letter dated 22nd day of June 2002 refusing to register the National Conscience Party (NCP) as a party on the grounds stated in the said letter was contrary to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and it was therefore unconstitutional, null and void. 

Political Activities

In 1994, he formed the National Conscience organisation as a human rights movement committed to fighting for the economic rights of the down-trodden Nigerian masses. The National Conscience transformed into a political party on 1st October, 1994 in defiance of the military decrees banning political party formation. It should be noted that the act of publicly declaring the existence of a political party in defiance of military decrees was, up till then unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. Similarly, he and many other leaders of the Party have had to suffer untold persecution for the political activities of the Party.

He was arrested on 1st of October, 1994 by the military, detained for some time and then charged to court for forming an illegal party. He was later discharged by the court. After his discharge, he organised several political rallies on the platform of National Conscience Party (NCP) against the military government. He and some other party leaders including the General Secretary (Mr. Femi Aborisade) were charged to court by the military for organising unlawful rallies.

The National Conscience Party was formed with two main objectives:

1. To rally nation-wide support for the actualisation of June 12 as a basis for termination of military rule and a first step for the introduction of genuine democracy in Nigeria.
2. To provide a platform for genuine change-seeking elements in Nigeria for the emancipation of the masses from political, economic and socio-cultural enslavement. The motto of the Party is: Abolition of Poverty.

Several thousands of Nigerians, including the haves and the have-nots, but mainly the have-nots, have taken up membership of the Party. Within a short period of its existence, the Party has, through series of its mass activities, been recognised by millions of the Nigerian society as a source of hope for the liberation of Nigeria.

The Party unequivocally rejected the Abacha Transition Programme as the Abacha dictatorship and the Transition Programme were products of the illegal, unconstitutional, immoral and obscene annulment of the electoral wishes of the Nigerian people as declared in the Presidential Election of Saturday, June 12, 1993 clearly won by Chief M. K. O. Abiola who died on July 7, 1998 in an illegal detention occasioned by the autocratic governments of Late General Sani Abacha and General Abdulsalami Abubakar. 

As stated earlier, Chief Gani Fawehinmi was arrested and detained immediately after declaring the National Conscience Party (NCP) a full-fledged party on Saturday, October 1, 1994.

He was equally charged to court for forming an illegal party in Charge No. A/717/94. Immediately after he was discharged and acquitted by the court on 24th October, 1994, he and other members of the party organised a massive street procession, starting from the court premises. 

His declaration as a presidential aspirant on the platform of the National Conscience Party (NCP) on his 64th birthday on 22nd of April 2002 jolted the ruling parties. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo seeing Chief Fawehinmi as a contender for power had to write a letter to Gani congratulating him on his birthday. President Obasanjo had never written him before. The President’s letter is hereby reproduced:

It should be noted that it was the same President Olusegun Obasanjo who as Military Head of State, detained Gani in 1978 at the Inter Centre detention camp, Ikoyi for defending the students during the Ali Mongo crisis of 1978 over the resistance of Nigerian students to increase in school fees payable by University students.

Gani has equally been the major critic of the present government since it came to power on May 29, 1999.

He has written three (3) major books on the state of the nation under the current government. Series of interviews and press statements in local and international newspapers and magazines have also been published, in which he accused the President of ineptitude, incompetence and abandonment of his duties as the President of Nigeria. The three major books on President Obasanjo's administration are:-

1. The Struggle for Genuine Democracy in Nigeria - Thirty Days of Civil Rule in Nigeria (Post-May 29, 1999) What Hope for Democracy? (June 29, 1999).
2. The Struggle for Genuine Democracy in Nigeria - State of the Nation (After Ninety Days of Civil Rule) and the Dangers Ahead. (1999)
3. Obasanjo: The Absentee President of Nigeria. (June 2002). 

Arrests
Gani is not everything to everybody. You either like him passionately or you hate him intensely. This is because of his boundless and sometimes suicidal energy with which he tenaciously and uncompromisingly pursues and crusades his beliefs, principles and ideals for the untrammelled rule of law, undiluted democracy, all embracing and expansive social justice, protection of fundamental human rights and respect for the hopes and aspirations of the masses who are victims of misgovernance of the affairs of the Nation.

As a result of his activities along these lines, he was arrested, detained, charged to court several times. His international passport was seized on many occasions. His residence and Chambers were crudely searched several times. He was beaten up many times and was deported from one part of the country to another to prevent him from being listened to by the masses. Some of his books which the Federal Military Government did not like were confiscated and one of his houses at Surulere where the books were kept was about to be set ablaze when the would be perpetrators were caught and apprehended by neighbours. Even his Chambers at Anthony Village, Lagos State, was violently attacked and invaded by persons suspected to be government security men on 26 of August, 1994 and they shot at the Chambers guard, seriously wounding two of them.

Consequent upon his crusades for the rule of law, the hopes and aspirations of the poor and the oppressed, he fought many battles against the military dictatorship as a result of which he had been arrested several times by the military governments and its numerous security agents. He had been dumped in many police cells and detained in several prisons between 1969 and 1996.

Detention

Gani had been locked up in the following police and security cells between 1969 and 1996:

• Police Headquarters, Kaduna , 1969.
• Jos Police Station, 1969
• Ilorin Police Station, 1969
• Police Headquarters, Lagos, 1969
• Police Headquarters, Lagos 1972 (twice)
• C. I. D. Alagbon, Lagos, 1978
• Inter-Centre Detention Outpost, Lagos, 1978
• Ikoyi Police Station,1978
• Panti Police Station, Lagos, 1987
• Panti Police Station, Lagos, 1988 (three times)
• Police Station Ikeja, 1988
• Panti Police Station, Lagos, 1989 (twice)
• Ikoyi Police Station, 1989
• State Security Services (SSS) Cell Maiduguri, 1989
• State Security Services (SSS) Cell Awolowo Road, Ikoyi 1991
• C. I. D. Police Station Ikoyi, 1992
• Police Station Wuse Abuja, 1992
• Inter-Centre Cell, Lagos 1993
• State Security Services (SSS) Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, 1993
• C. I. D. Police Station Ikoyi, 1993
• Police Station Wuse Abuja, 1993
• Police Headquarters, Abuja, 1993
• Panti Police Station, Lagos, 1994
• F. I. I. B. Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos 1994 (Once)
• Panti Police Station, Lagos, 1995 (Twice)
• State Security Services Shangisha Cell Lagos, 1995 (Once)
• State Security Service Shangisha Cell Lagos, 1996 (Once)

In all these arrests and detentions, he was treated sometimes cruelly, sometimes crudely and sometimes with some civility.

He had also been detained in the following federal prisons by various Military Governments from 1969 to 1996:

• Kaduna Prison, 1969
• Gombe Prison, 1969 - 1970
• Ikoyi Prison, 1978
• Gashua Prison, 1989
• Nigerian Prison Ikoyi, 1990
• Nigerian Prison Kuje, 1992
• Nigerian Prison Kuje, 1993 and
• Nigerian Prison, Bauchi 1996

Assalt

There have been six (6) major assaults against the person of Gani.
They are:

1. When he was arrested in 1969 and taken to the North Central Police Headquarters in Kaduna. He was severely beaten up by more than thirteen (13) security men. His pair of prescribed glasses was smashed into smithereens and he had blood-shot eyes before he was locked up.
2. On Thursday, May 18, 1978 consequent upon students' crises, he was arrested at exactly one minute past midnight. He was severely beaten. He was bayoneted in the neck and the mark is still on his neck till today. He was later locked up in an underground cell at Inter Centre, Ikoyi.
3. On Sunday, August 16, 1987 along Airport Road, Ikeja - Lagos (now Bank Anthony Way). He was flushed out of his car and beaten up by naval officials because he did not, according to them, sufficiently get off the road for a senior Naval officer who was trying to beat the heavily congested traffic with a siren-blowing car.
4. On Wednesday, June 29, 1988 at the Ikeja High Court premises in the full view of the Court officials.
   The security men pounced on him and beat him up before he was taken away and locked up at the Ikeja police station.
5. On Saturday, October 1, 1994 after launching the National Conscience Party (NCP) contrary to the wishes of the Federal Military Government. He was arrested along Ojota Road, Lagos after the army had shot at his car and he was hit with the butt of what looked like an AK 47 machine gun before he was arrested and taken to Panti Police Station and finally dumped at the Force C. I. D Alagbon, Lagos.
6. On Wednesday, October 20, 1999 at the Federal High Court premises, Lagos he was attacked by a crowd of fierce looking people armed with all sorts of weapons and his Mitsubishi Pajero Jeep was pelted with stones and the left sidescreen of the rear measuring 36 x 24 inches was smashed into smitherens. The attack was as a result of the case he instituted at the court to compell the Inspector General of Police to investigate the certificate forgeries and false declaration made by Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu of Lagos State.

VIOLENT ATTACK AND INVASION OF HIS CHAMBERS

On Friday, the 26th of August, 1994, six (6) men armed with automatic weapons and in military uniform and boot invaded the Chambers, shot at the Chambers Security Guards, seriously wounded 2 of them, the arm of one of those injured was amputated while the second had more than 67 pellets lodged in his body. The premises of the Chambers was in pool of blood. The correspondent of the CNN i. e. Cable News Network Bob Coen, who was to film the premises after the dastardly event was summarily declared persona-non-grata and deported from Nigeria.

SEIZURES OF PASSPORT

His International Passport had been seized, returned and seized at various times by the security agents of successive governments, as stated below:

• 1969
• 1971
• 1972
• 1975
• 1978
• 1987
• 1988
• 1990
• 1992
• 1995

The latest seizure, which took place on Monday, June 26, 1995, is currently a subject of litigation at the High Court of Lagos State as part of Suit No. M/725/91 - Chief Gani Fawehinmi vs. S. S. S. & Ors.

SEARCHES OF HIS HOUSES AND OFFICE (Sixteen times)

His Chambers and his residence have been searched by government security agents on several occasions:

• 1969 (Twice)
• 1978 (Twice)
• 1986 (Once)
• 1988 (Twice)
• 1989 (Thrice)
• 1992 (Once)
• 1993 (Once)
• 1994 (Once)
• 1995 (Once)
• 1996 (Once)
• 1998 (Once)

CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST HIM IN COURTS

The Federal Government and its agents had at various times preffered several criminal charges against Gani in some Courts among them are:

1. May 1978 - Igbosere Magistrate Court. Consequent upon the students’ demonstration for free education in 1978, Gani championed the cause of the students and converted his Chambers in Surulere, Lagos to the National headquarters of the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) after it was banned in 1978 by the General Obasanjo military regime. Gani was arrested and charged with various criminal offences which were tried by Chief Magistrate Moni Fafiade, now Justice Moni Fafiade of the High Court (retd). Gani was defended by one hundred and seventeen (117) Lawyers led by Chief Frank Akinrele, SAN and E. A. Molajo, SAN (now deceased). Gani was discharged and acquitted on all counts by Chief Magistrate Moni Fafiade.
2. Charged before Chief Magistrate Court, Ikeja for Assault and Obstruction against government agents on Thursday, May 18, 1987.
3. Charged with Mr. Nojeem Jimoh (The then Punch Editor) & ors before Chief Magistrate Kelani sitting at Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court for Criminal Defamation against government on March 17, 1988.
4. Charged with Mr. Nduka Irabor (then Editor African Guardian) & 4 ors. for Criminal Defamation against government before Hon. Justice Obadina sitting at Ikeja High Court on Wednesday, April 20, 1988.
5. Charged before Justice Obadina sitting at Ikeja High Court for Criminal Defamation against government on April 22, 1988 (On this day, Gani turned 50 years of age - What a birthday present in the dock!)
6. Charged before Magistrate Mrs. Adebajo sitting at Magistrate Court, Ikeja for Breach of the Peace in 1988.
7. Charged before Justice Anyaegbunam sitting at the Transition to Civil Rule Anti-sabotage Tribunal, Lagos in 1989 for sabotaging the Babangida transition programme.
8. Charged and imprisoned by Hon. Justice Ayorinde (now Late) sitting at the Lagos High Court in 1990 for Contempt of Court. The Court of Appeal, Lagos set aside the judgment of the High Court.
9. Charged before Chief Magistrate Balami sitting at Gwagwalada Magistrate Court, Abuja on the 15th of June, 1992 for Treason against government.
10. Charged again on Monday 12 July, 1993 before Chief Magistrate Hajiya Aishatu Abdullahi sitting at Magistrate Court, Wuse - Abuja for Sedition against government.
11. Charged before Chief Magistrate Lufadeju sitting at Chief Magistrate Court, Ikeja for Unlawful Assembly against government and forming illegal political party on October 18, 1994. Case now dismissed.
12. Charged before Yaba Chief Magistrate Court 1 in Charge No. A/300/95 for Unlawful Assembly and for conducting a political rally without permission in 1995.
13. Charged again before Yaba Magistrate Court 2 in Charge No. A/336/95 for holding a political rally against government without permission in 1995.

CONFESSION IN COURT BY ABACHA’S SECURITY AGENTS ON ATTEMPT TO MURDER HIM

The late Head of State, dictator General Sani Abacha set up a Killer Squad, which assassinated pro-democracy activists and made attempts to murder others, including Chief Gani Fawehinmi. A member of the Killer Squad (Mohammed Abdul, a.k.a. Katako, who was a personal driver to Mohammed Abacha, the son of Sani Abacha) made a self-confession to this effect while testifying before a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Bode-Rhodes Vivour on Wednesday, 22 May 2002.

Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a. Katako) was testifying in the trial of some members of the squad, Aminu Mohammed and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan on the role, which the duo played in the assassination attempt on Pa Adesanya. Under cross-examination by Mr. Frank Ezekweche who was Shofolahan’s counsel, Mohammed Abdul revealed that Alhaji Shofolahan led members of the Strike-Force to Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers in Adeniran Ajao Road, Anthony Village, Lagos with a view to eliminating him. As The Guardian (Thursday, 23 May 2002:4) put it, ‘providence may have saved Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), from the assassination machine of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, a Lagos High Court heard yesterday’.

While testifying before the court, Katako stated that he drove Sgt. Barnabas Jabila, a.k.a. Rogers and the Strike-Force on June 4, 1996 to Coca-Cola Junction, Alausa, Ikeja, the day Kudirat Abiola was shot dead, and to Kingsway Road, Ikoyi where The Guardian publisher, Mr. Alex Ibru was shot on 2 February 1996.

He was also the driver who drove the Killer Squad on the day Senator Abraham Adesanya’s car was shot on January 14, 1997 on Simpson Street, near Sura Market, Lagos Island.

Excerpts from cross-examination conducted by Shofolahan’s counsel, Mr. Frank Ezekweche, as reported by The Anchor (Thursday, 23 May 2002: 3) follows:

“Ezekweche: The second accused person (Shofolahan) took you and the team (Strike Force) to a number of places in Lagos because you did not know the road?
Katako: I don’t think so because I know Lagos roads very well.
Ezekweche: When you accompanied Rogers (Sergeant Barnabas Msheila) to see him (Shofolahan), did you go inside his house?
Katako: No.
Ezekweche: You did not know whether he was in or not?
Katako: No.
Ezekweche: That also followed that you were not privy to their discussion?
Katako: I have never been present when they were discussing.
Ezekweche: Do you know the road to Gani’s Chambers?
Katako: Yes, it’s in Anthony Village.
Ezekweche: Did the second accused (Shofolahan) take you to the chambers?
Katako: Yes. We went to the office and at the bend, we parked and he and O/C MOPOL Rabo Lawal got out of the vehicle and walked back to the building.
Ezekweche: Was it by accident that you passed through the chamber?
Katako: No, it was not. He took them there on purpose.”

Other newspapers that reported the cross-examination in the court included Daily Times (Thursday, 23 May 2002: back page), The Monitor (Thursday, 23 May 2002:1), The Comet (Thursday, 23 May 2002:3), The Post Express (Thursday, 23 May 2002:40), The Punch (Thursday, 23 May 2002:1 & 9) and Nigerian Tribune (Thursday, 23 May 2002:1). 

Property Confiscation

On June 10, 1988 in the course of the search conducted by the Federal Government Security agents in his house at No. 28, Sabiu Ajose Crescent, Surulere - Lagos Four hundred and ninety six (496) copies of a book titled “Murder of Dele Giwa: Right of a Private Prosecutor” were seized by the security agents and confiscated. Gani challenged the seizure in court.

Justice Ope-Agbe of the Lagos High Court on the 14th of October, 1988 decided the case in favour of Gani. The Government was ordered to return the books and pay damages for the illegal seizure. Up till now the books have not been returned and the damages have not been paid. 

Deportation
On 26th August, 1995 Gani was arrested by the Federal Government Security agents of Abacha’s regime at the Port-Harcourt Airport on his arrival by air from Lagos and immediately deported back to Lagos through the same plane that brought him from Lagos to Port-Harcourt. The leader of the security men who arrested Gani at the Airport said and we quote “we have orders not to allow you to enter Port-Harcourt and to put you on the same plane that brought you from Lagos.”

He was to address a rally in Port-Harcourt in the afternoon of that day. He challenged the deportation in the Federal High Court, Lagos. That event was about the first occasion when a Nigerian citizen would be deported from one part of Nigeria to another. In 1980, Shugaba Abdulrahaman Darman was deported to Chad on the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs under Shagari’s regime, but Gani was deported from one part of Nigeria to another.

All the arrests, detentions, criminal charges, seizures and confiscation of books, seizures of passport, assaults, deportation, attack and invasion were all occasioned by the dogged, unflinching, unflagging and uncompromising commitment of Gani to the cause of truth, social justice, rule of law, democracy, protection of fundamental human rights of the oppressed, the persecuted, the cheated, the disadvantaged who are the masses and indeed the victims of the misgovernance of our country. 

Awards

He has won many national and international awards and he has been honoured by many clubs and associations. Amongst his honours and awards are the following:

• Made a member of the Ghandi Foundation in 1971.
• Honourary member of NUJ, in Nigeria 1972.
• Life member of the University of Benin Students' Union in 1977.
• Senior Advocate of the Masses OAU on August 27, 1988.
• Life member, University of Ibadan Student Union, in 1988
• NANS life membership in 1990.
• Bruno Kriesky Award for his contributions to the defence of Human Rights on June 11, 1993.
• American Bar Association Award for Human Rights in 1996.
• Naming of the Victory College Ikare Library, his alma-mater, after him after 50 years of its establishment.
• Prestigious Bernard Simons Memorial Award by the International Bar Association (IBA) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the rule of law in Nigeria in 1998.
• Times Patriot Award by Daily Times Nigeria Plc. on 1st of June, 2001.
• Best Humanitarian Award by City People on 25th March, 2001.
• Worthy Contributions to the Development of Education in Nigeria by Hon. Dr. Willie Ogbeide Scholarship - Trust Fund Merit Award on 2nd December, 2001.
• Principles of Human Rights Merit Award in his honour for his worthy contributions to the protection of human rights and Fundamental freedoms by Barrister Richard Dubor Books Launching Communitee on 9th December, 2000.
• Excellence Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the maintenance of law and order, provision of security, crime prevention and control in Nigeria by the Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria on 22nd December, 1999.
• Merit Award on him at Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Creation of Ondo State by the Ondo State Government on the 16th June, 2001.
• Award on him for his relentless service and commitment to the Rule of Law in Nigeria by the Nigerian Bar Association (Ikeja Branch) on 15th of June, 2001.

  MAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS

• Named Man of the Year 1988 by African Concord Magazine.
• Voted Quality Magazine Man of the Year 1988
• In 1989, the Weekend Concord named him Man of the Year amongst others.
• Named lawyer of the Year 1988 by the African Guardian Magazine of January 2, 1989.
• In 1993, the Weekend Concord named him Man of the Year 1992 amongst others.
• Named Man of the Year 1996 by Newswatch Magazine.
• Voted Man of the Year 1996 amongst others by the Nigerian Tribune Newspapers of December 28, 1996.
• On December 20, 1997 Punch Newspaper named him Man of the Year, 1997.
• In December 1999, Nigerian Tribune named him Man of the Year amongst others.
• On December 26, 1999, Hallmark Newspaper named him Man of the Year 1999.
• On January 8, 2000 Weekend Triumph named him Man of the Year 1999.
• On January 9, 2000, he was named Man of the Year 1999 by National Times.
• Named Man of the Year 2000 by the Weekly Trust Newspaper of January 12-18, 2001.

  MAN OF THE CENTURY AWARD

• Named Man of the Century by Weekend Concord on Saturday, December 25, 1999.

  CONTROVERSIAL LAWYER OF THE MILLENNIUM AWARD

• On January 3, 2000, the Post Express named him the Controversial Lawyer of the Millennium.

  SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA (SAN) AWARD

• On July 25, 2001, he was nominated for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) and was sworn-in on September 10, 2001.

What People say about Gani around the world while alive

Joseph Contrears of Newsweek magazine, a leading magazine in the United States in an interview with Fawehinmi in the October 10, 1994 edition at page 56 of the magazine titled “No Freedom without a fight” said of him:

“Gani Fawehinmi is Nigeria’s best-known human-rights attorney. He is also a leader of the pro-democracy movement that is currently protesting the de facto state of emergency imposed by the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha.”

Also, Catriona Rogan writing in the Washington Times of Thursday, November 23, 1995 titled “Nigeria Outsider who will be Insider” wrote of Gani as follows under the caption “Fawehinmi challenges military in the street.”

“Nigeria’s “Steve Biko”, Chief Fawehinmi is a larger-than-life politician and lawyer with a track record of defending human rights activities, including the ethnic Ogoni, who have fought Shell oil which drills in their home land near the Niger River delta over environment issues”

James Brooke writing for the New York Times of Friday, October 28, 1988 under the heading “A Gleeful David to Face the Goliath that is Nigeria” describes Gani thus:

“Fawehinmi is taking a different strategy to hasten the return of democracy to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. This year, he has emerged as a one-man movement battling Nigeria’s Military Government for more civil freedoms now.”

Stephen Buckley of Washington Post on October 1, 1995 in an article titled"After 35 years, Nigeria Still Stumbling on Road to Democracy" wrote:

"Brash and Passionate, Fawehinmi, 57, has been arrested so many times for opposing military regimes that he keeps a bag packed in case he is unexpectedly hauled off to jail. Last year, being the only one who dares defies, he defied Abacha by forming the National Conscience Party, which has been harassed regularly when it holds public rallies -illegal during Abacha's reign. Last month, after Fawehinmi flew into a southern city for a party rally, state security forces refused to let him attend. They tossed him back into the plane. Yet, at some meetings or rallies, security forces applaud his speeches. He remains the only Nigerian who can not be intimidated."

Dr. Walter Carrington, former American Ambassador to Nigeria, was reported in the Guardian on Wednesday, October 18, 2000 to have made the following statement under the title: “Nigeria will rise again” at page 8 of the newspaper:

“I have been inspired by Gani. So, it is a great honour for me to be in this place. I would say this is the ‘Shrine of Democracy and the Rule of Law’. And Gani has done so much to inspire not only people of this country but people around the world. If there were a Nobel Prize for Human Rights, it would have been given to Gani. Not so many people are known by one name. (But) just say ‘Gani’ and everyone knows to whom you are referring.

Gani is the kind of man I had always wanted to be from childhood - somebody who would not be afraid to put his life on the line. That great courage inspired me.”

GANI FAWEHINMI IN THE EYES OF THE INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION (IBA)

On 13 September 1998, the International Bar Association (IBA) conferred on Chief Gani Fawehinmi the prestigious award of Bernard Simons Memorial Award.

The International Bar Association's Bernard Simons Memorial Award was introduced in June 1995. The Bernard Simons Memorial Award honours the memory, endeavours and achievements of the late London solicitor, Bernard Simons.

The prize is awarded biennially in recognition of personal endeavours in the practice of criminal law which make a substantial contribution to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights of all or any group of people, particularly their right to live in a fair and just society under the rule of law.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN was the 3rd recipient and the first Black African to be awarded the prize. The first award was given to the London based Human Rights Legal Executive, Saul Lehrfreund while the second recipient was Lucy Banda Sichone, an advocate of the High Court of Zambia.

The IBA was formed in 1947 and as at 1998 when the award was given to Chief Gani Fawehinmi, it had a membership of over 2.5 million lawyers across the world. The aim of the Association include defence of the rule of law and lawyer's right to practice without interference and provision of an international forum for legal developments.

Below are excerpts from the 'Media Release' issued by the International Bar Association (IBA) on 13 September 1998 (the day of the award) on its awardee, Chief Gani Fawehinmi:

"Nigerian Human Rights leader receives International Award

"I know of no living lawyer who has gone through as much travails as he has in his pursuit of the rule of law and rights of the individual and yet stays on there undaunted and with renewed vigour after each travail." Prince Olateru-Olagbegi, Lagos, Feb. 1998"

Nigerian Human Rights Lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, today received the recognition of over 2.5 million of his peers when he was awarded the International Bar Association's Bernard Simons Memorial Award at the Opening Ceremony of the International Bar Association's Conference in Vancouver.

The biennial award which honours the achievements of the late London solicitor, Bernard Simons, recognises a criminal lawyer's personal endeavour in contributing to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights.

Described by his contemporaries as the 'Nigerian legal system's colossus', during his thirty years at the Nigerian Bar, Chief Fawehinmi has experienced 27 detentions in 13 prisons, 8 police stations and 5 detention camps, 15 'politically motivated' criminal charges, 13 searches of his Chambers and home, 16 passport seizures, and the mortal wounding of his guards.

Despite the dangers, Chief Fawehinmi continues his crusade of upholding the rule of law and the democratic rights of Nigerians.

"I wish to ensure that my fellow man and woman live a full, useful, decent and contented life, free from scorching hunger, free from illiteracy, free from homelessness, free from debasement and insecurity. I want Nigeria to be free from disease and political repression into which it is continually thrown," he said.

On congratulating Chief Fawehinmi, IBA President Mr. Desmond Fernando PC, said he hoped the recognition of his peers would further the Chief's crusade.

'Chief Fawehinmi's story is an inspirational one for all lawyers and citizens of all nations.' Mr. Fernando said.

'It reveals the fundamental role of lawyers in protecting the individual's interest against the will of government. We today honour his determination in protecting the legal rights of Nigerians'.

Since joining the Nigerian Bar in 1965. Chief Fawehinmi has filed over 200 cases which challenge what he perceived to be illegal and unconstitutional policies, activities and self-serving programmes of several Nigerian governments...

Chief Fawehinmi's crusade extends to making the law accessible to all in Nigeria. In 1983 he founded and since has edited the Nigerian Weekly Law Reports. The weekly reports are said to be unprecedented in Africa for their innovation, content and regularity. Chief Fawehinmi has also edited over eighteen other legal publications.

As a champion of education, Chief Fawehinmi has awarded over 800 scholarships to needy students. He has also supported Nigerian students against university fees and abuse of power by University authorities.

Time and money has been dedicated to the cause. Many of the peaceful rallies and street demonstrations organised by Chief Fawehinmi against military dictatorship have been funded using his own personal finances. His Chambers have also been set up as the headquarters for his human rights campaigns...

For further information contact:

Sue Jackson
IBA Press Office
+44 (0) 171 491 4480 direct line
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.ibanet.org" 

What People say about Gani while alive – In Nigeria

Hardly a day passes by that Nigerians do not say something about this man. Nowadays, virtually in every newspaper and magazine, Nigerians say something about this man. We can only give you samples of how Nigerians see this man.

Dagogo Josiah, quoting Prof. Eskor Toyo in an article titled the “Ascent of Chaos” in Daily Sunray , Wednesday, August 17, 1994 wrote:
“.... the greatest politician of present day Nigeria is Gani Fawehinmi, the Lagos Lawyer... that gentleman is the only politician in Nigeria whose interests transcend the narrowness of creed, ethnicity and the selfish. He is a crusader for justice, for the education of the people and subsequently their economic empowerment. There is necessarily No East, West or North in his world view and in his issue - based politics, he has permanently sided with the people”.

Also Dan Agbese of the Newswatch Magazine on April 29, 1985 in an article titled “Without Blood” wrote:

“Fawehinmi is tough. And Fawehinmi is courageous. He has the toughness of personal conviction; and he has the courage to speak his mind. When others are afraid to speak up, he dusts his Oxford Dictionary, gathers the press, turns his mouth into a rapier and promptly disembowels silence born of fear.

And Fawehinmi was once described as a controversial man. He thrives on controversy the same way a fish thrives on water. Take him out of the rough seas of controversy and see if you have the stomach to watch a fish survive out of water.
Fawehinmi is the greatest and the most erudite enemy of cant and hypocrisy this nation had ever had. There was none like him before him; there is none like him now and I fear, there may be none like him post him.”

Uthman Sodipe in an article titled “Fawehinmi :virtues of a lion” in Guardian, Tuesday, October, 7, 1997 wrote:
“there is a legendary summative hugeness about this symbol of truth, this sworn seeker of the light; cudgelled, abused, vilified for his conscionable nobility. Savaged in Kirikiri, Gasua, and hundreds of other gulags, Fawehinmi remains in the unique, undaunted for bearance of the deathless, still mocking the primitive prompting of despotism. Even today, he is already etched in historical sacredness, far beyond the venom of the truncheon or the tarnishing abruptness of the grave. He reposes in eternal reference, a girdle to the weak, a scourge to the wicked.”

During the turbulent period of Babangida’s regime when most radicals fizzled out, Chief Gani Fawehinmi remained unbowed and the following words were used to describe him by Itse Elijah Wilkie Sr. in the Observer of Tuesday, June 8, 1993 in an article titled Let’s Honour Gani:

“Chief Gani Fawehinmi has chosen not to be an ordinary average Nigerian. He has his ideals and with a relentless zeal, he pursues them. Loved and hated, he marches on in his crusade for a better Nigeria. He has completely sold out to his convictions. He walks majestically on “sacred grounds” where angels fear to tread. He is a Nigerian who is not a coward.
His training in law has revived in him the native African stubbornness against injustice. To him, the law is not what it is but a dynamic social engineering mechanism - a means towards achieving a free and democratic society.
He is a man of many parts. He is into any aspect of law. He writes, reports, publishes, edits and practices the law. Above all, he is also a philanthropist. He has a scholarship scheme for the less privileged in the society.
He has contributed more to the development of the law than any other publisher of the law. His law reports are found in all law chambers worth their salt. Even if you hate his guts, you cannot but admire his reports....... Nay, purchase them for your law library for keeps. He sues and has been sued, arrested, detained, convicted, imprisoned, discharged and acquitted. As a result of his legal activities, laws have had to be abrogated and re-enacted. He has been blacklisted by government and his professional colleagues, yet he is resilient in his determination to pursue his goal to a logical and legal conclusion. I wonder if he will ever be satisfied until the day he takes his final breath.

The only honour he has received within his country where he has been espousing the truth so restlessly is from his militant admirers - the students of OAU. They conferred on him the honour of SAM (Senior Advocate of the Masses). However, outside of his country he has admirers in far away Austria, who conferred on him the Dr. Bruno Kreisky Foundation Award for his unrelentless defence of human rights in Nigeria.”

Even the man who calls himself the ‘Evil Genius’, former Head of State and self-imposed military ‘President’, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in one of his numerous interviews with Tell Magazine of July 24, 1995 at pages 9 - 20 titled: “I am the Evil Genius”, said:
“If there is one man I respect, it is Gani, it sounds strange. I appreciate you that you have a strong conviction and fight for it consistently. This is the context in which I see Gani. I was a consistent ‘evil’ and he was ... a dogged fighter and I respect him for this. Infact there are three of them I respect like that. They are Gani, late (Professor) Awojobi and Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman. None of them says anything without doing his homework first.”

In the Guardian of Saturday November 29, 1997 in an article titled “The search for presidential candidates: candidates of dreams?” the following words were used to describe his political consistency:
“Chief Gani Fawehinmi, lawyer, human rights activist and social crusader is undoubtedly the most consistent friend of the Nigerian masses but often seen by successive Nigerian military administration as a thorn in its flesh. For this, he has been in jail without trial 27 times in 29 years and in the process, has earned for himself titles such as “Senior Advocate of the People”, “the Conscience of the People” and a “Prisoner of Conscience”.
However, the turbulence that has characterised his life has not dampened his spirit. Close to 60 years, he still remains his usual self: militant, candid and intrepid”.
He was also described by Dare Babarinsa in Tell Magazine, August 26, 1996 in an article titled "The Cross of Fawehinmi”, thus :
“If there is a Nigerian who deserves the Nobel Prize for Peace, he is Gani Fawehinmi, the great human rights campaigner and leading opponent of successive military juntas. Fawehinmi is a first class intellectual, humanist and indomitable fighter for freedom. Like William Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Albert Lithuli, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jnr., he cares passionately for his fellow men. He believes that troubled and sick as Nigeria may be, it can be cured by pacific social engineering. He is ready, willing and able to put his broad shoulders to the plough. Now he is wasting away in Bauchi Prison, a hostage to Nigeria's latest dictator.

It could be said that Fawehinmi patterned his life struggle along the career of Thomas Jefferson, also a lawyer, who drafted that universal charter of freedom, the American Declaration of Independence. That document has a ringing truth about Nigeria today as it did for the United States when that country declared its independence from the British colonial masters in 1776.
Like Jefferson, Fawehinmi believes that a legitimate government must derive its power from the people. Even the hated apartheid regime of old South Africa was a product of popular suffrage, though one limited to a white electorate alone. But in Nigeria's case, it cannot even be said that the ruling junta represents the military or that if every soldier is allowed to vote, the situation would still be one and the same thing. This has been the cross of Fawehinmi's life. It is in the pursuit of this truth that has now led the great lawyer to Golgotha, away from his family, his loved ones, his magnificent mother, his books and his vocation of the law.
In the pursuit of his goal, he has chosen to be as trustful of the law as Obafemi Awolowo and as pacific as Mahatma Gandhi. In and out of jail for the cause of democracy and the rule of law, he has never abandoned the straight and narrow path. Unlike Lenin and Fidel Castro, two other great lawyers, he has never abandoned the belief that the law can be an instrument of revolutionary changes. Grateful Nigerian youths have bestowed on him, in recognition of his historic struggle, the title of Senior Advocate of the Masses, SAM.
Fawehinmi has always offered his advice to the military on how it can save itself from the corrosive effect of power.
Fawehinmi had represented Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Ogoni compatriots in court. He had addressed rallies on the platform of his National Conscience Party, NCP. He has remained unrelenting and relentless in his pursuit of truth and justice. It is this steadfast alliance with the truth that is the strength of Gani Fawehinmi. That is why the dictator is afraid of him." 

Lewis Obi the Editor-in-Chief of African Concord magazine on February 12, 1990 in an article titled “A patriot in Prison” said: “There must be something abnormal about a system that would put a man of Gani Fawehinmi’s credentials in prison. It just does not add up. Gani Fawehinmi’s imprisonment is a national embarrassment because most Nigerians think he is an innocent man just being harassed and persecuted by government. Yet if a Gani Fawehinmi did not exist, the country, any country, ought to invent him if the country must move forward.”

Dr. G.G. Darah in a Citation read on the occasion of the conferment on Chief Gani Fawehinmi of life membership of the Students' Union of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on August 27, 1988 titled "Gani: A thorn in whose flesh?" said:
"..... Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a fearless antagonist of irresponsible governments and lawlessness, a terror to corrupt magistrates and judges, a brilliant legal practitioner, a controversialist, a radical and intransigent moral reformer, an encyclopaedia of the legal profession, a benefactor of the needy and dispossessed, a first class journalist and publicist, a valiant crusader for fundamental rights and liberties, a pathfinder researcher and publisher, an incorruptible patriot, a revolutionary guerrilla for justice and democracy".

Even if Gani were to undergo the metamorphosis of "dis-appearance" which is common in the reign of tyrants, his name will endure for ever because of his un-exampled contribution to the development of the legal profession in Nigeria. In every capitalist society the LAW is notorious ass with which the state protects robbers of public wealth and resources. Since the pre-Lugard phase of capitalism in Nigeria, every government has lawlessly used LAW to vandalise and immeserise the populace. But Gani, along with other revolutionary barristers, has borne the burden of rescuing the LAW from its diseased state.

Gani has walked on the sun-flooded lane of the legacy of revolutionary lawyers. Among his great predecessors are V. I. Lenin of the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Like Gani these universal lawyers and barristers of justice were branded with demonic images: subversive extremist, anarchist, terrorist. But these heroic figures attained their universality and relevance by committing class suicide and identifying openly with the political movements that are the vanguard of change. Nigeria needs such legal luminaries today to join the popular vanguard for revolutionary transformation.’’

Bona Noga in the article titled "Travails of the loner" in Classique, January 29, 1990, wrote:
"He is the quintessential rebel with a giant cause - fighting injustice wherever and whenever it manifests itself. And in a country like Nigeria, that is a suicidal flirtation with the crushing powers of the state, and possibly, even death. He evokes passionate admiration, and passionate dislike in people. But Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the Lagos lawyer and radical social activist, is a loner who is basically propelled by the power of his convictions and in the face of extreme adversity, remains his usual defiant self, thumbing his nose at his tormentors, who he is determined to strip of their Orwellian garb."

Chike Akabogu in an article titled"Gani and the Rest of Us" in National Concord, Tuesday, February 6, 1990 wrote:
"In the midst of this moral quicksand, there are still some reference points, some uncomfortable standards by which we may yet judge ourselves. In the midst of this ethical turbulence, Gani Fawehinmi has stood unshaken and unmoved unshaken by the permissioning of the times, and unmoved either by the betrayal of erstwhile colleagues or by the moral flabbiness of his sworn enemies.
Gani Fawehinmi evokes strong sentiments in all of us, either of admiration or of disgust. People have given many reasons for hating him; he likes publicity too much; he is a dramatist, playing up to the gallery; he goes too far; he refuses to compromise; he is not selective in his choice of battles; fighting all; he has ulterior political motives the list is perhaps endless.

There are many reasons for disliking Gani, but there is really only one reason to admire him; the man stands on principle, and nothing else. We know where this man stands, he will not say one thing in the morning and deny it in the evening, when the men in uniform are around, dangling their carrots.
There are many people who are looking for a short cut to fame and glory, who wish to have their cake and eat our own. They scream their heads off, attacking every policy of every government, waiting and hoping to be offered a lucrative post, to be co-opted into the gravy train, to be invited in from the outside. Gani, we now know, is different; he will not go cap in hand, looking for cheap political appointments; he will not beg for money to start one fraudulent magazine or the other. He will ask for no favour, by day or by night. Even his enemies, one suspects, respect this man.

At a time when most of us seek refuge in publicity, wealth in double-talk and fame through sycophancy, we must pause, and give honour to whom it is due. If Gani is motivated by his appetite for publicity, then he is paying a heavy price for it. If his actions are informed by hidden political ambitions, can you think of a better choice. And if occasionally he goes too far, at least he goes too far in the right direction.
Many of us have no awards to give, no citations to read, no presentations to make. Yet, when historians and other chroniclers of our time tell their story, it is the awards, the citations and the presentations which will occupy the headlines. The motives, noble or ugly, and the victims, long dead, will all have been forgotten.
History, the president correctly says, is the final judge, and it judges everybody, neither harshly nor with mercy, but in all fairness, extending to you only that which you have earned. But even as we wait for the judgment of history, we, the people, may yet speak up, and pass our own verdict, no matter how tentative and premature.
Gani Fawehinmi is not an enemy of the state, properly understood, much less of the people. On many issues, he in fact stood firmly on the side of the majority. At a time when that majority was intimidated into silence, he was their only voice, crying in the wilderness. At a time when the moral landscape of the nation was thickly populated with small men with large egos and even larger pockets, the prison remained the only haven for men of honour. And he was more than this much more. But the rest, we can confidently leave to history."

Bishop Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi, an Anglican Bishop, commenting on Gani’s consistency and sincerity said in the Weekend Concord of Saturday, January 31, 1998 in his assessment of the Nigerian Traditional Rulers thus:
“So, you can see the Obas. They have sold their honour. They have forfeited everything. That’s why a person like my good friend in Lagos, Gani Fawehinmi said never again would he bow his head to any Oba in this country.
And I know that man, he means every word. I don’t think I have met him physically but I have a lot of respect for him.
If there is referendum in this country and the people are asked to nominate a candidate for president, that is my candidate. I know if Gani Fawehinmi becomes president of Nigeria, he would not steal money. He would spend the money to provide basic necessity for everybody, particularly education, from primary to university level. He would do everything to make sure that people not only have education, but they have work to do.”

Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, in an interview with Tell Magazine of July 12, 1999 at page 17 said:
“Sorry to hear that he is sick. I wish him quick recovery. A man like Gani will always be a shinning example to the society. I hope the Federal Government will choose to use somebody like Gani. Not only the Federal Government because I know Gani is always cautious about dealing with government.
He is a natural rebel like me. Gani has played a vital role in the fight for human rights, right from the ‘60's’ or so to this time. I am sure he will not rest. He will still be keeping current with events as it pertains to human rights. I have just read that he has gone to court on the issue of salaries for ex-presidents. I am with him. He is a detribalised and very honest Nigerian.” 

Colonel Buba Marwa, Governor of Lagos State in an interview with Weekend Concord of May 22, 1999 at page 3 said:
“... he is a great Nigerian. There is no question about it ... the most important thing that strikes one about Gani, honestly is his non-violent disposition in problem-solving. Once he is offended, he goes to court, rather than encourage violence."
” Based on his consistency, uprightness, accountability to the people, upholding the rule of law and defence of the democratic principles, Paul Nwabikwu in an article titled: “Gani is back” in the Guardian of Wednesday, June 28, 2000 at page 61 said:
“It has been said that Gani "invented" activism when he started his pro-people advocacy in the late sixties. He was fighting for human rights long before "human rights" became a global buzzword. Gani was already punching away in the ring when Falana was in his nappies. He is the ultimate activist. He also invented the activist style. Those who came after him have, with a few exceptions, adopted the style wholesale or borrowed elements of it. This is especially true of the speech patterns and mannerisms of younger activists. The repetitive high decibel delivery, the passionate intensity, the penchant for bullying are all hallmarks of the Gani tradition. Many activists sound like they went to the same school. In a sense, they did. They all studied at the feet of the master, Gani Fawehinmi.

Gani is thorough. He always has his facts at his finger-tips. You can fault his logic, but not his facts. For instance, while holding forth on the subject of the recent fuel strike, he revealed that the Babangida government increased the price of fuel five times. He also recalled the sharing formula of the Abacha hike between the PTF, NNPC and fuel marketers to the last kobo. Actually, I have a personal experience of Gani's awesome memory and the devastating way in which he deploys it.
Truth is Gani's weapon. Integrity is his shield. You can say everything about him, but you cannot accuse him of seeking undue personal advantage or feathering his own nest.”

The same Paul Nwabikwu in another article titled “living a Lie” in the Guardian of Wednesday, October 13, 1999 at page 49 wrote:
“In a lifetime of human rights activism, Gani Fawehinmi has felt the burning lash of the anger of the state many times. He had been hosted by more prisons and detention centres than some of us have years. He has been roused at dawn by grim-faced security agents and spirited away even as members of his family looked on helplessly. His house has been broken into at midnight by people wielding the power of the state. He has even been beaten up in public glare within the premises of a court of law. When it comes to persecution, Gani has seen it all. But what the Senior Advocate of the Masses is currently going through is a completely new experience. He is being assaulted left and right, assaulted and pelted by a different set of adversaries. This time, his persecutors are not from the State Security Services, the Directorate of Military Intelligence, the National Squad, the Mobile Police, or any of the other arms of the security agencies who have, from time to time, made Gani’s business their business. They are not armed with batons, truncheons or search warrants. In place of raw muscle and fire power, Gani’s assailants are armed with allegations, innuendoes and rumours. These persons are not agents of the state. They are Gani’s own friends and colleagues and comrades in the human rights community.”

In the Comet Newspaper of 17th October, 1999 at page 12 Gbolabo Ogunsanwo in his column and article titled “Comrades at War”, wrote:
“..... apparently Beko and the other ‘wives’ of Gani did not totally know their husband. The man is a fantastic record keeper. The point that seems to have escaped Beko and a good many people is that people like Awolowo and Gani are very difficult to take on. These are people who had made up their minds very early in life what their mission in life was going to be, what price they possibly are going to be called to pay and has steeled themselves to pay those price. There was a time in Gani’s life that if you simply addressed a letter to Mr. Gani Fawehinmi to Nigeria prison, he would surely receive it. The point was that Gani was either in jail, just out of jail or heading for jail. If you ever win a contract for the renovation of Nigeria prisons, you should see Gani. He is the only person who could tell you what part of the roof of Bauchi prisons needed replacement and whether or not you needed to clear the septic tank in Gashua jail house. He is the Nigeria warders’ favourite customer. It is only Gani and Chief Awolowo that I know of who if they had been alive in Jesus time would have been bold enough to cast a stone at the woman caught in adultery. I am sure that Beko, Richard Akinola, Femi Falana or his client Bola Tinubu would have had enough temerity to even throw a piece of cotton wool at the beautiful adulterer. The point about Gani and Awo is that they are everything many of us want to be but which through weakness of the flesh we are not able to be. We feel very uncomfortable in their presence because through them we are able to measure the depth of our weakness. That basically is the issue at stake between Gani, Beko, Falana, Akinnola, the human rights community and most Nigerians"”

Maje T. Sanusi in his opinion titled "Gani’s Scholarship Award And The North" published in Triumph, Tuesday, August 8, 2000 at page 3 in his profound appreciation of award of scholarship to indigent students from the north wrote:
"IT was with profound appreciation one received the news of recent offer of scholarship to 300 students of northern origin by a Lagos-based human rights activists and legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi from 60 different institutions of higher learning
According to media reports of the 300 students that applied for the award, 25 have already satisfied the requirement of the interviewers and were since granted the scholarship with N20,000 each.
By this action, Chief Gani has gone further to show the need to end unnecessary ethnic and sectional sentiments that have for years retarded the progress of Nigeria as a strong united nation. We must stress the fact that, Chief Fawehinmi is a Yoruba man that out of humanitarian gesture decided to cross-over to the North to render activities that will by and large revive and develop education in the area. This is although without the usual sentimental utterances.
The Lagos-based lawyer must be commended only for showing Nigerians the need to throw away sectionalism, ethnicism, and the need to embrace unity in order to forge ahead as a nation, but also for his ability to champion the cause of the nation’s less privileged youths.

By sponsoring northern indigent students, Chief Gani has similarly proved to Nigerians and the world at large that Nigerians could come together in many respects.
Any Nigerian from which ever section or tribe who has the means can now support fellow Nigerian no matter what his social background. Chief Fawehinmi has therefore scored a point.

As for the critics who claimed that Gani’s scholarship award has put to shame the Northern elite, I must say that this case has not even arisen. The North has its own methods of attaining its problems peculiar to the other sections. For instance, while various governments in the North have been making giant efforts aimed at resuscitating standard of education in the states, individuals have also at different occasions been contributing to these developments through associations such as the Parents Teachers Associations (PTA) and Old Boys among others.

In recent years, Gwale Secondary School Old Boys Association (GOBA) was able to raise a total of three million Naira through which classrooms structures in the school were renovated including the administrative block and the staff room, which science laboratories, and school library were renovated and furnished with facilities, computers and other audio visual equipment to create an enabling environment for successful learning.

Similarly, Parents Teachers Associations, particularly those of Government Girls Secondary School, Gezawa, WTC Kano and Government Girls Arabic Secondary School Goron Dutse, etc have persistently assisted in furnishing classrooms, libraries of their schools, including feeding and the provision of logistic facilities to ease learning in the schools.

Other philanthropists also have been contributing immensely towards the development of education at their own individual capacities. These include Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Hajiya Mariya Sunusi, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim Mai Celular, Sheikh Isma’ila Abe as well as, host of others. These philanthropists have been making donations to uplift standard of education, particularly, Islamic education, including sponsorship of students to study in Islamic institutions in various Arab countries.
I must however consider it pertinent to appeal to our Northern leaders and elders to unite and co-operate with one another to protect and project the interest of the North. I must also say that it is because of our negligence and inability to hold one another as our brothers keepers that we fall easy prey to our enemies. Our enemies are able to see through us because of our self-centredness. The wrong notion of only me and my close relations should acquire certain education, or accumulate wealth or rather occupy certain position in government shall be discouraged. We must love one another, we must also support one another, especially the under privileged among us.
It is rather very sad to see the teeming number of our children parading streets in the name of hawkers, beggars or petrol hoarders. Most of them have failed their final examinations because of poor parental care and because of the negligence on the part of our society. In other words it is the society that ought to take care of them. In this case, we should not after all blame our youths if they decide to take revenge on the society by resorting to gangsterism, hooliganism, armed robbery, rape and other forms of social vices. We should remember that, they also have feelings, desires, needs and ambition. They feel the pain and develop grudges when they see the sons of our privileged ones run in flashy cars and wearing gorgeous clothing.”

Mr. Uba Sani in the Thisday of February 7, 2001, in an article titled “Between Gani and IBB said of him:
“...... it is on record that Gani has contributed so much to the growth of the legal profession in this country and even beyond. Infact the history of legal practice in Nigeria may not be complete without citing Gani. Gani is definitely not from the North but with his token years scholarship awards to some students of Northern Origin, there is no doubt he has touched the lives of many families.

As the co-ordinator of Gani Scholarship Scheme in the North, let me quote here, a remark of one of the beneficiaries, Mr. Gana Gabriel a student at the Federal University of Technology, said last year in the course of screening for the Scholarship that “in Minna, you see schools which the likes of IBB built, where they collect about N200,000.00 per term, while those of us whose parents are poor, sit at home”

Gani has done so many things which have touched positively on the lives of the ordinary man. It takes a man with robust intelligence and the fear of God, like Gani, to engage in such ventures. Gani had refused all financial entreaties of the defunct IBB regime.
“While Babangida was busy scheming to annual the June, 12, 1993 presidential election, which he did, Gani was in far away Austria where he was honoured with the Bruno Kriesky award in recognition of his contributions to the human rights community in Nigeria. Has Babangida ever won any awards in his life?”

In the Monitor of Thursday, June 21, 2001 at page 9, Adekanmbi Mayowa said:
“Chief Gani Fawehinmi is a man I admire most. By my own assessment, Chief Gani Fawehinmi share certain things in common with Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa.
One peculiar nature of Nigerians is that they forget too soon. It is not uncommon to see many of them calling Gani an extremist. They have deliberately forgotten the dark days of Nigeria. I mean the 15 years of military government.
By the time General Abacha was poised to succeed himself through the purported transmission to civil rule programme popularly known as ‘Five figures of a leprous land, it was this same Gani who organised a counter-5 million match in Lagos. When Ken Saro Wiwa with his Ogoni members was gruesomely killed, who dared organised a public rally except Gani?.

With the advent of democracy, Gani is now the black sheep. One thing remains very clear, without the exit of the military junta, there couldn’t have been a nascent democracy. Therefore, Gani deserves a crown instead of the cross. Where were the political opportunists who portray themselves as democrats nowadays during the dark days, of Nigeria?”
On Gani’s sincerity of purpose and tenacity Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti in an interview with the Weekly Trust Newspaper October 22-28, 1999 at page 9 on the issue of funding of NGOS by foreign countries said:

“Gani does not take funding from any body since he’s very rich ...”

Also in the Weekly Trust of January 12-18, 2001 at page 4 in an interview titled: Gani is incorruptible”, Dr. Beko Ransom-Kuti was quoted to have said in an answer to a question put to him on whether Chief Gani Fawehinmi is a true fighter for the masses or he is just using the crusade to enhance his status in the law profession?

Kuti: No. I don’t think so. You see, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has gone past that level. I think Gani just takes whatever he believes in very seriously and tries to respond to each occasion the way he sees it best.
WT: Recently at the Oputa Panel sitting in Lagos, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha described Chief Gani Fawehinmi as the only incorruptible human rights crusader in the country today. Do you share this view?
Kuti: Well, having examined him, you discover that he has made a lot of money through hardwork, i.e. writing his law books and making good money from them. It would certainly be difficult for someone to try to corrupt him. In fact, I don’t see what you will use as bait to trap him.

Former Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, in an article titled “The Sharia Question” in the Post Express of Sunday, July 23, 2000 at page 25 said:
“... the ‘Patriots’ are not patriotic enough to invite Chief Gani Fawehinmi for their meeting. As far as I am concerned and I believe many Nigerians also share the same views with me, Chief Gani Fawehinmi is the No. 1 patriotic citizen of Nigeria. He has fought and is still fighting for human rights in Nigeria but also in Africa at large. He has gone to detention many times on his stand on human rght and application of justice. He has helped and is still helping many people who are neither his brothers nor sisters.”

Recently, on issues concerning the struggle for the actualisation of June 12, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in an interview with the Source magazine of September 18, 2000 at page 11 titled: “Abiola wanted me to remain in power” said:
“As far as I know there are two people who are very consistent on June 12. I respect them for their consistency. In the whole of this country today only two (persons) are genuine. And I will mention their names. One is a young boy by name Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar... The second is a man of my generation, an elder person called Chief Gani Fawehinmi. These are the genuine defenders of June 12 that I can vouch for and believe it or not, these two are the only genuine ones out of the lot. These are the type of Nigerians that we need, who have conviction. You see if we have two of them, we can change the Nigerian society.
Still on June 12 annulment, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service interview reported by about six newspapers in the country under different headlines as follows:

Punch, Tuesday, October 24, 2000, pages 1 & 2:
Title: “Only Fawehinmi, Umar are true June 12 fighters” “... only two of his critics Chief Gani Fawehinmi and retired Colonel Abubakar Umar geunuinely lamented the annulment. I truly believe that they were and are still disturbed about the action. ”
The Comet, Tuesday, October 24, 2000, backpage:

Title: “Babangida replies critics of June 12”
“There are only two principled fighters for June 12 in Nigeria. They are Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar. Others are mere sycophants who had fed fat on June 12. ”

The Guardian, Tuesday, October 24, 2000, backpage:
Title: “June 12 agitators are sycophants...”
“... only activist lawyer Gani Fawehinmi and Kaduna State Military Governor Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd) doggedly fought for revalidation of the polls. Other June 12 agitators... were mere sycophants who have fed fat on June 12. ”

Thisday, Tuesday, October 24, 2000, pages 1 & 4:
Title: “June 12 Advocates are Hypocrites”
“There are two dogged fighters of June 12 in Nigeria. They are Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Colonel Dangiwa Umar ... The others are mere hypocrites who have fed fat on June 12. ”

The Vanguard, Tuesday, October 24, 2000, pages 1 & 2:
Title: “IBB Justifies annulment of June 12 elections”
“There are only two dogged fighters for June 12 in Nigeria. They are Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Colonel Dangiwa Umar ... others are mere sycophants who have fed fat on June 12. ”

The Post Express, Tuesday, October 24, 2000, pages 1 & 2:
Title: “God will decide my political future”
“There are only two dogged fighters of June 12 in Nigeria. They are Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Colonel Dangiwa Umar ... Others are mere sycophants who have fed fat on June 12. ”

On the versatility of his crusade, a bi-monthly Christian magazine called Church Growth in an edition published in September 2001, Vol. 1, No. 009 on pages 6 and 4 in an article titled “Gani: A Challenge to Christians” wrote as follows:
“…we here state our interest in this man as follows: a fundamentalist, a crusader against injustice, oppression and human rights abuses and a philanthropist of exceptional class. If you read the 7th Edition of our magazine with lead story “The Jesus Revolution”. You might discover that the advocacy for the masses and down-trodden as championed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has a resemblance of what Gani is out for. The only unfortunate thing about him is that he has not surrendered his life to Christ. But if a non-Christian can sell himself all out for the welfare of the poor masses, what about Christians in their wealth and positions? That is the main thrust of this message.

…How many Christians believe the gospel to the extent Gani believes in his philosophy of ‘Help For the Masses’ which he calls ‘his religion’? How many Christians can sacrifice money, time, pleasure and if possible life to the extent Gani has fanatically gone about what he believes to be his God-given assignment? How many of us Christians can invest in other people’s future through purposeful education? Gani has a spirit and the fervour of a revolutionary. Whether you like it or not, he is making an indelible mark on the sands of time. Jesus Christ and Paul did likewise. Be sure you do not die loafing about all your years.”

In the Punch of Friday, July 27, 2001 page 28, Onoshe Nwabuikwu in her Column Airtime and titled “No One Like Gani” wrote:
“…there’s the indefatigable Gani Fawehinmi. Only his doggedness seems to have kept Dele Giwa’s memory alive. Say what you will, the man has got heart. Even though people like IBB would not wish it, we need a few more people like him. The question Gani has not let Nigerians forget is: who killed Dele Giwa.”

To sum it up, Dr. Edwin Madunagu, in the Guardian Newspaper of Thursday, November 30, 2000, page 61, in an article titled: “For Fawehinmi and Umar” said:
“Even in captivity I was afraid for Gani. When eventually we were released after the overthrow of Gowon, Gani, at his expense, organised a welcome party for us at his Surulere home and chambers. He did not attempt to recruit me for his “cause”. He could not recruit me not because I was not recruitable but because his cause was universal liberation which defied political, ideological and organisational boundaries. Gani Fawehinmi has remained essentially the same, except for changes in tactics demanded by changes in circumstances. In the struggle for democracy, human rights and freedom, Gani Fawehinmi is an exceptional being. He is in a class of his own. In political history he could be called a revolutionary democrat. In the history of philosophy, he could be called a humanist or an existentialist, or perhaps both. Fidel Castro once remarked that if Che Guevara, his late comrade-in-arms, had been a Catholic, he would have been made a saint. I would say the same of Gani Fawehinmi - only that saints are made after their death.” 

What People say about Gani while alive – Print media

SOME OF THE CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES AND ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES ON HIS ELEVATION TO THE RANK OF SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA, SAN

Chief Olusegun Okeowo – 1977/78 NUNS National President wrote in the Nigerian Tribune of Monday, 29th October 2001 at page 11 in an article titled “Gani and SAN award” said as follows:

“The recent conferment of the highest national legal status, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on Chief Gani Fawehinmi has awakened many aching Nigerian souls from the decadent slumber of hopelessness. Indeed, the conferment is a symbolic demystification of a high systematic cultist institution: Nay, the conferment is a gladdening victory for the continuing struggle for the society as the greatest measure of all genuine intellectual pursuits… Gani Fawehinmi reflected progressive sunshine on the darkness of Nigerian national SANship. In another language, it is not the SAN that makes Gani famous or popular, it is Gani that has made the SAN both famous and popular. But for Gani, the conferment would have remained the customary famous obscurity in the usual cocoon of ignoble popularity. Gani had long been awarded Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) before the present SAN.

Candidly speaking, the real beneficiary of the Gani SAN conferment is not Gani but the Nigerian judicial system and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) both of which we congratulate. As for Gani, we simply salute him for this gibraltaic consistency in the faces of the several tyrannies. Gani is able, Gani is capable, Gani is available and Gani is reliable despite his several baptisms of deprivations in several Nigerian prisons and detention camps”

Olusegun Adeniyi in his column: The Verdict in the Thisday of Thursday, September 13, 2001 back page wrote in an article titled “Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, SAN” as follows:
“…Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi or Gani as we all know him is actually genuine whenever he says the struggle to make Nigeria a better place is one for which he is prepared to lay down his life. Because he was prepared to lay his life that day...
On Monday, Gani officially became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, an honour that is actually long overdue but that it happened is a big plus to the Bar and the Bench in Nigeria and nobody deserves greater commendation than the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Uwais, who negotiated the deal that saw Gani’s acceptance to apply once again for SAN which he had been denied in the past not on the ground that he did not merit it but on account of his stance. Almost every Nigerian had known for more than a decade now that Gani was more than qualified for the silk robe but then it had become a political matter until Justice Uwais broke the ice. But then as I have stated, it is one honour that is long overdue because whenever we talk about the profession of law in Nigeria today, Gani stands tall. With his weekly law reports, his library, his legal support for the indigent and the displaced and then his judicial activism, Gani has become an icon, a role model, defender of the voiceless and a terror to all despots.

What distinguishes Gani from many other great lawyers in Nigeria today, however, is his belief that the law must serve the common good and that the law could be used for social advocacy, to right the wrongs of the society. Of course in pursuing this stance, he has suffered many forms of indignities, deprivations, physical and psychological torture. He has, as it were, paid the price.

What indeed marks Gani out is the fact that he early in life chose the course he would chart and he has pursued his dream notwithstanding all the odds on the way. That is why many now salute his courage. You may not agree with his method, you may hate his guts, but you cannot fault the fact that he is genuine, he is honest and he truly loves the people.

Incidentally, as a student of Ife in 1987, I was part of the process that led to Gani’s enthronement as Senior Advocate of the Masses. It was not only unanimous it was one of the most democratic decisions ever taken at any institutional level in Nigeria. I recall the endless debates at the Students Representatives Council level, the Students Congress at Awolowo Hall and the several meetings of the Association of Campus Journalists. All in the process to ensure the military authority did not scuttle it. The moving force then were President Owoseni Ajayi, Kehinde Bamigbetan, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika not to forget ‘outsiders’ like Lanre Arogundade and Opeyemi Bamidele who even when they had graduated still influenced our union from outside.

With a Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wande Abimbola, who was not as lily livered as the ones now running the campuses, we defied the General Ibrahim Babangida regime and the heavy downpour of that day to give Gani an honour he can never forget. I doubt if anything can be compared to that day when our campus stood still for Gani as we made him the Senior Advocate of the Masses. Not being a lawyer, I don’t know what SAN can add to Gani (I know what it can add to many other lawyers) but whatever it is Gani’s place in history was already assured before the ceremony of Monday in Abuja. I wish him many more years of selfless service to Nigeria”

The Catholic Church of Nigeria in their congratulatory letter titled "Catholic Church Congratulates Gani" published in many newspapers particularly the Punch of Saturday, July 28, 2001, page 17 wrote:

“The Lagos Archdiocese the Catholic Church on Friday congratulated Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the fiery Lagos based lawyer, for his elevation to the rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)… the Director of Social Communication of the church, Rev. Gabriel Osu said: ‘Although well deserved and merited, it (SAN) has been unduly delayed and overdue, but there is time for everything, it has come’ You (Fawehinmi) have used your profession and talents to challenge unjust policies and structures and defended human and people’s rights even to the point of losing your life for the sake of the masses. I rejoice with you on this attainment and extend my warm felicitation to you on this joyous occasion.”

See also, The Comet, Saturday, July 28, 2001, p. 4
The Monitor, Saturday, July 28, 2001, p. 2
The Monitor, Sunday, July 29, 2001, p. A3

Ayo Akinyemi in an article titled: “If men were God” published in The Monitor on Sunday, July 29, 2001, page A7 said:

“As I was summing up my thoughts came the news of Gani Fawehinmi’s ascension to the honourable platform of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The effant terrible of the bar now has combined honours of SAM and SAN. What a graduation! What a combination? Senior Advocate of the Masses plus Senior Advocate of Nigeria. What a change in the tide of time, in the life of man, as dictated by the Most High from His exalted throne. No man has control over the direction of the tide of time, and the life of the other man.

What God’s ordained time for a happening in the life of man is ripe, no jupiter can stop it.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in its congratulatory message signed by its President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to Chief Gani Fawehinmi on the award of SAN published in the Daily Champion of Monday, August 6, 2001 page 24 wrote:

“That the title is a well-deserved reward for integrity, hard work and professional excellence is merely saying the obvious. However for us in the trade union movement and civil society, the progressive and people centred trust of your advocacy had marked you out over the years as an authentic Senior Advocate despite the judgment of the legal establishment.

Therefore the real issue is that your admission into the inner bar has in fact bestowed greater credibility on the institution and given real meaning to the title.”

Eric Osagie in his column, the Flipside in the National Interest of Saturday, July 28, 2001, page 9 and in an article titled “Triumph of the Gadfly” wrote as follows:

“Roll the drums. Sound the trumpet. Pop the champagne. Let’s celebrate. Let’s toast to the triumph of the gadfly. Let’s salute a great Nigerian. A unique Nigerian. A one-in-a-million guy. A humanist and a crusader. A guy with fire in his bones. I know you know who I am talking about: Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, a man I am proud to call my friend, and who happens to share the same birthday, April 28 with me. A man who has just been honoured with the prestigious award of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. I am filled with excitement for this man who, to me, is one of the greatest living legal practitioners in the country today.

A man who would count among the 10 most brilliant, most accomplished lawyers ever produced in Nigeria. It doesn’t matter whether you love or hate his guts; and I am not saying it because he is my friend or because he has just won an award. Gani is indeed a gift to the legal profession and to Nigerians. The sadness of it all is that it took 35 long years for Gani to be given what he eminently deserves. It has indeed been a long walk to SAN(ship).

Gani has sometimes wondered why some Nigerians delighted in stalling the dues of others, for no other reason than envy and pettiness? Why did those who knew he was more than qualified for SAN keep withholding the award from him?

Why did those who have been using his fabulously rich weekly law reports and other publications and had benefited from his immense wealth of experience continuously keep the honour from him, all for the flimpsy reason that he has never applied for it? And why must he apply to be recognised?

For a very long time, Gani’s non-award of SAN was a painful embarrassment to the Legal Practitioners Privilege Committee and indeed lawyers in the country. It had become a veritable symbol of injustice and vindictiveness against one man. Anytime names of new SANs are announced, the question usually asked is why was Gani not given? There is usually no answer other than he hasn’t applied.

…perseverance finally paid off for him. Doggedness, resilience, commitment to principle was finally acknowledged.

…if I know Gani well enough, this latest award will fire him up the more in the struggle to lift up the people from the morass of dejection and hopelessness. If I know Gani well enough, the award would make him more determined in the fight against all forms of injustices in the land and a commitment to bring to book some bad guys who during their days in power had done terrible things. I am one man who knows that his determination to make IBB and others answer for the murder of Dele Giwa, the front-line journalist, is no fluke or play-acting.

He had once told me that even if it means death for him, he would ensure Babangida is prosecuted. He had in the course of chasing Giwa’s killers being hounded. He admitted that state powers deployed against one man could be awesome and intimidating. He has faced death in the course of tracking Giwa’s killers. But he has remained undaunted. Gani never gives up once he embarks on a crusade, a battle.

One quality I admire most in this guy, is his cerebral power, his intelligence, his sheer brilliance. Wake him up in the dead of the night on any issue, he delves straight into it, without much ado. Issues of law and politics come naturally to him”

Tope Adeboboye in an article in the National Interest of Saturday, July 28, 2001 page 26 titled “Gani: SAN at Last” wrote:

“The news instantly struck an incredulous chord in the ears of everyone. ‘Gani now a SAN?’ That question continually reverberated from the mouths of many pleasantly surprised people. But it was true. Last Wednesday, Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, radical lawyer and irrepressible human rights and pro democracy campaigner was conferred with the prestigious title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria…

Many people were both surprised and excited by the award of SAN to Chief Gani Fawehinmi. It is not that the radical lawyer is not qualified for the award. In fact, for many years, millions of Nigerians have waited in vain for Gani’s name to appear in the list of new members of the nation’s Inner Bar. The popular belief has always been that his name was left out because of Gani’s unrelenting battles with successive military governments…

With the award, the brilliance of the Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) has, at last, now been recognised at the appropriate quarters.

‘The award has been long overdue, but it is better late than never’ says Rotimi Adelowo, an Ikeja based lawyer. ‘Chief Gani Fawehinmi is obviously one of the most brilliant lawyers in this country. His publications are sources of research materials for every lawyer, and he has handled many important cases. The truth is that he couldn’t have been made a SAN during military rule because of his battles with the military. Chief Fawehinmi is indeed qualified for this award, and I’m happy for him. With this he has won another battle’.

…He has for long shown himself as a man within whom the milk of human kindness consistently flows. Every year, he awards scholarships to hundreds of indigent Nigerian students from the 36 states and the federal capital. Till date, several thousands have benefited from his scheme. Only last year, 300 indigent students of northern origin benefited from the Chief’s large heart with each receiving N20,000 cash for their educational pursuits. ‘Chief Gani Fawehinmi is an acknowledged national patriot, using his private resources for the development of education, especially for the under-privileged and his patriotism and commitment is now being extended to the northern part of the country. This is a natural and logical development in the personal character of a true patriot as Chief Gani Fawehinmi has great courage, foresight, commitment, moderate material resources and national outlook’ said Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former governor of Kaduna State, last year.” 

Gbade Ogunwale in the Sunday Punch of July 29, 2001, page 17 titled “A toast to Gani Fawehinmi (SAN)” wrote;

“At last, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has joined the league of the prestigious Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN). At last the prophet has been honoured in his own backyard. Alhamdullilai! Although coming decades behind time. Gani’s deserved but delayed honour still calls for celebration from those of us who believe in the cause the radical lawyer has dedicated his life to. It does not matter that our Gani was subjected to humiliation by successive military juntas he confronted for a better part of his adult life. The victory here is that in spite of all the persecution, in spite of all the trauma, the physical and emotional torture, our Gani has triumphed at last. Halleluyah!

But, come to think of it. Who bears the shame for all the dirt thrown at Gani by the jackboots, who reduced the rest of us to sub-human standards for decades? Has Gani not outshined them at long last? Forget the fact that candidate Gani has just bagged a primary school leaving certificate at the age of 30, not because he never qualified for it, but simply because our erstwhile captors never liked the stench of his politics. Yes, that is what the oppressors have succeeded in doing to a man who has vowed to call a spade by its name, come what may. If Gani had opted for the sordid, greasy and the warped path of the collaborators, he would have bagged his SAN more than two decades ago. Gani’s yoke has been his manner of politics. He is a die-hard adherent of the face me, I face you approach. No euphemisms, no proverbs and no roundabout way putt in his message across…

…Point a gun to his head, he will say his piece and encourage you to pull the trigger. The prison? Forget it. That is his second home. Eliminate him? You are wasting your time, ‘Settle’ him? Go and ask the ‘settlement’ General in Minna and he will tell you to see a psychiatrist. So how do they solve problem called Gani? To those whose apples are full of maggots, Gani is a problem that defies solution.

Are you wondering why he has few friends among those who have been charting the course of our collective destiny? His friends are the oppressed, the downtrodden, the hungry and the enslaved. No matter what his adversaries say about him, Gani stands a shoulder taller than most of his peers. His life is struggle and his conscience, his God. Humanity is his politics and mankind, his constituency. Gani has endured pain and anguish in his fight against oppression, victimisation, military dictatorship and all forms of man’s inhumanity to man. A modern day Moses, whose mission is yet to be accomplished, courtesy of a sheer accident of history that lumped him with a society where ‘successful’ rogues and knaves are worshipped like gods.

Yes, Gani is stubborn, but not irrational. He is a rebel, yes, but he is focussed. He is heady alright, but never in pursuit of selfish interests. He throws tantrums, but with patriotic intentions. He is not a saint, he has his human foibles. But one thing nobody can take away from him is his outstanding integrity, consistency and his crystal clear vision of the ideal society of his mind. Gani the devil, Gani the saint. Yes, he is both, depending on which side of the divide you find yourself. Search your heart and pick where Gani belongs. It’s a judgment that requires a great deal of soul searching. The verdict is yours anyway.”

Mr. Tai Oguntayo in his article titled: “Lion of Justice becomes SAN” in the Nigeria Tribune, Thursday, September 20, 2001, page 12 stated as follows:

“Today, Gani Fawehinmi, the lion of justice and the hope of the hopeless, is now living to see the downfall of his detractors, who time without number, deprived him his freedom through various dehumanisation and deprivations. Thank God, gone are those days when heroes were exalted after their death. That Gani is now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria is worth celebration even though it is long over due.

The enigma which Gani Fawehinmi is refused to bow to the military caprices despite all forms of harassment, detention, castigation and dehumanisation of his personality. Gani fought tirelessly and relentlessly in the face of tyranny, believing that somewhere, somehow, his reward awaits him, not only in heaven but on this earth. He holds on steadfastly to the Islamic injunction in Surat 3 Ayat 148 that ‘Allah gave them a reward in this world and the excellent reward of the hereafter. For Allah loveth those who do good’. The reward of the legal luminary has started coming with the award of the SAN, which is just the beginning of good things yet to come.

…He does not belong to the human rights activists who only fight and run away so as to fight another time but he fights and stays in the battle front to ensure that none of his combatants is held a captive. As a result, a journey of ten years of good legal achievements cost him 36 years.

Olisa Agbakoba, SAN in his congratulatory interview in the Thisday newspaper of Saturday, July 28, 2001 page 15 titled: “It is a Well Deserved Award” said:

“…He is probably 36 years in the Bar and that is a long time to be in any profession. Longevity alone shows that he is more than qualified. I think his being made SAN adds credibility to the profession because people have always asked why is he not a SAN. So I am happy now that he is. So he completes the process. It’s been a bit political when he was denied it in 1985 those reasons have been given already in the newspapers. I think everybody will be happy that his qualification as Senior Advocate of the Masses is now officially recognised.

…He is the way you see him. You know Gani is a man who when committed to a cause, he fights it to the end. He doesn’t look back, tenacious, quite principled.” 

Tony Iyare in the National Interest newspaper of August 5, 2001 page 5 titled: “Garland for the People’s Advocate” said:

“Although the recognition may have come almost more than two decades late, but for fiery Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi and hordes of pro-democracy activists, the recent conferment of the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is an occasion to pop champagne and make merry. The stormy petrel of the bar certainly deserves all the accolades. Many would agree that in the dogged defence of the rights of the citizenry in the last three decades in the country, the name of Gani has featured more prominently. He towers like the rock of Gilbraltar. Among his peers in the legal profession, he stands like a Colossus whose unflinching commitment to fighting the infractions on the rights particularly of the downtrodden cannot be surpassed. On the west coast of Africa, perhaps, only Ghana’s Akuto Ampaw shares almost similar traits. Just like Ampaw, whenever there is an abridgement of fundamental rights of his country men and women especially workers, students and the oppressed, there will you see Gani holding brief. In spite of his immense contribution to the legal profession through advocacy and writing, the legal establishment prefer to look beyond his shoulders to appoint Lilliputians as members of the inner bar. Like a prophet chastised and rejected in his own country, the judicial authorities preferred to play ostrich while members of the international community fell over each other in the anxiety to honour this outstanding legal luminary. Even when Gani applied for the title way back in the 80s, the Legal Practitioners and Privileges Committee opted to look elsewhere. Since then he resolved he would never crave after the title. In sympathy students of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile Ife in the early eighties gave him the prestigious award of Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM). Greatly overwhelmed by the demonstration of support and solidarity from the students, the radical lawyer had contended that the SAM title was far more important to him than any other.

For his fervent resolve to carry the can of the oppressed, Gani has been detained, harassed and brutalised many more times than any of his ilk but he remains steadfast…

For the judicial authorities, it had become an embarrassment that one of their most outstanding members was not a member of the inner most bar. They appear to have begun making some amends when two prominent members of the pro-democracy group, Professor Itse Sagay and Mr. Olisa Agbakoba were elevated to SANs recently.

As we toast to Gani’s well deserved SAN award, it is not too heart warming to note that the series of detentions has had excruciating effects on the radical lawyer whose health has begun to wane very fast lately.”

Mobolaji Sanusi in the Vanguard newspaper of Friday, September 14, 2001 page 12 titled: “Gani’s Flight to SAN” said:

“The gadfly called Gani Fawehinmi had stood firm on the cradle of justice and morality both during military regimes and civilian administration ensuring that the mace of justice and morality was/is not partially or totally broken.

Gani Fawehinmi has so many caps that roundly fit his head. The berret of a comrade, the wig of a lawyer, the cap of philanthropist and the traditional cap of his Lomofe chieftaincy title from his home town in Ondo State. All these caps, he won by dint of hardwork, perseverance and endurance. While people may castigate his extremism in fighting the noble cause of justice and morality as reflected on his stand in one out of many cases in the Tinubu certificate forgery scandal, they cannot take away his dogged consistency in fighting for aggrieved masses, upliftment or morality in our public lives and, the permanence of his enviable place in the history of this great country.

Ever since Gani’s call to bar in January 1965, the conflagrating legal activism in him started to make oppressive public office holders uncomfortable…

Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s contributions to the legal profession stands out like a diamond in the sky…

The unpredictability of man makes his admonition of mine imperative. Now that Gani Fawehinmi has joined the elders caucus of the legal profession, I, only, hope that he will not allow himself to be hypnotised by the conservative leanings of the elders. He should alongside masses-minded SANs like Olisa Agbakoba and others employ possible means to rekindle the diminishing glow of the legal profession. The radicals having been privileged to be SANs owe generations to come this lofty obligation.

The SAN recognition extended to Chief Gani Fawehinmi has shown to all that everything has its own reward, moreso, if assiduously pursued. People that have dilly-dallying principle-wise because of one set back or the other on the part of their struggle can have a re-think from the Gani Fawehinmi example. Patience indeed, can melt a stone when cooked.

On behalf of all forward looking people, progressives, students, focussed radicals, journalists, academics, lawyers and all those who believed in the rebirth of justice-oriented Nigeria including those conservatives who for fear of being ostracised by their oligarchic group could not openly commend Gani, congratulate the unbowed king of the due process of law and justice.”

Eze Anaba in his article titled: “For Gani, ‘trouble pays” in the Vanguard, Tuesday, September 11, 2001, page 5 stated as follows:

“In local parlance, it is common to hear people say that ‘trouble does not pay’ but for Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, ‘trouble pays’.

The conferment of the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on him yesterday is a triumph of sorts after a protracted battle with members of the Inner Bar and the Privileges Committee (both responsible for the conferment of the SAN title)…

To Chief Fawehinmi, law is the only weapon against injustice, tyranny and dictatorship. You cannot see Chief Fawehinmi in a gathering where they are discussing arms struggle or violent dissent.

He believes it is the duty of the lawyer to be involved in the way we are governed. To be involved in the way the Nigerian people are treated. It is not just going to court to plead a cause for legal justice. Nigerian people need social justice. So, any agitation that is outside the instrumentality of law does not attract Chief Fawehinmi.

In the course of his crusade either against military dictatorship or injustice he claimed the members of the Inner Bar meted out to him, he attracted various sobriquet like the gadfly, enfant terrible, stormy petrel, human rights crusader, indefatigable human rights activist, irrepressible lawyer et al. All of these were given to him as a mark of respect and to distinguish between him and those that just want to be heard…

For a man that has been in and out of detention centres since 1969, it is logical that he should ice his years of struggle for the betterment of the society with the highest award the legal profession, which he believes in, can confer. And he deserves it.

Beside making erstwhile military rulers uncomfortable, Chief Fawehinmi has developed the law through many cases he handled. And they are many.”

Chief Saifudeen Ademola Edu in his congratulatory advertisement in the Thisday newspaper of Monday, September 10, 2001 described him as follows:

“SANSHIP is the highest award bequeated to Legal Practitioners who have distinguished themselves in practice over time.

You have over the years consistently proved your mettle in Scholarship, integrity and honesty in both your avowed legal profession and the cause of humanity.

You have also during our time liberalised and democratised the practice of law through your numerous Law Reports.

Today, your efforts have been crowned with that much envied award of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Today, you now officially stand at the pinnacle of the Legal Profession and a colossus on the field of Human Rights struggle.

Wishing you many years of God’s abundance grace and guidance.”

Abimbola Adeseyoju in the Daily Champion newspaper of Monday, September 10, 2001 page 12 titled: “Gani as an ideology” said:

“As the Chief is conferred with the revered silk title today, I want to pay homage to one of the greatest minds this country has ever produced.

To me, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has gone beyond what is generally believed of him. He has transcended the status of a brand name. Today, he is an institution. Tomorrow, I predict he will be an ideology.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi assumed the status of a brand name in Nigeria today simply because of his efficiency, effectiveness and consistency. These are the attributes of a great product. These are what makes a product popular, a market leader. Gani is a brand name today because of these factors...

If we define an ideology as a set of ideas or beliefs that form the basis of an economic, social or political theory or that are held by a particular group or person, then I say without any iota of contradiction that Gani qualifies as an ideology. Here is my case.

The hallmark of Gani's ideology is identifying with and championing the cause of the masses. This is quintessential Gani. All his life he had identified himself with the cause of the masses. He started this with the Obeya's case in 1969. Since then he has not looked back.

Before he takes up any cause, what is paramount in his mind is: Will this advance society's cause? Is it for the general good? Will it benefit society? Once he is convinced, he goes full blast. Nothing or nobody can then stop him.

Gani has told me times without number that anytime he sees injustices something inside him just snaps. He becomes restless. He is disturbed. Nothing he does will put the feelings away until he decided to address it.

The point must be made that Gani had other options. He could have kept quiet like the bourgeois lawyers before him. He could have joined the privileged few that the law profession could boast of then. But he chose to be different. He charted an entirely different perspective to the practice of law. He changed the history of law profession in Nigeria.

Right from the beginning I can authoritatively say that Gani was never interested in acquiring wealth. He was never for once motivated by any selfish reason....

Another of Gani's ideology is self-reliance. Right from the start Gani never looked up to any human being except God. He looked inwards and relied on his strength. He does not believe in godfatherism or favouritism. He does not believe in eye-service. Black is black. And white is white.

There is a great lesson to be learnt both as individuals and a nation from this.

The lesson for today's up and coming generation is that they too can make it if only they believe in themselves. Look up to God for help. Do not rely on any human being. Rely only on your efforts.

One of the banes of the Nigerian society today is godfatherism, favouristism, quota system, and all those open and secret societies that pursue selfish and individual interests.

Gani does not belong to any club or society, open or secret that does not have the interest of the larger society at heart. It is a matter for the records that Gani has never sought favour from any government since he started law. Yet, he was able to survive and succeed...

To me, Gani, through his hardwork alone, has been able to prove that hardwork does not kill. It only makes one perfect...

Gani elevated the fight for freedom and human dignity to a vocation in Nigeria. As he is conferred with the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) today, I cannot but wish him all the best and more service to his fatherland. He even deserves more. I hope President Obasanjo would not deny this great son of Nigeria, a national honour that he truly deserves. If all past regimes had denied him the SAN until now, I urge him to go the whole hog and confer Gani with at least a CON (Commander of the Order of Nigeria). He can do it."

See also, National Interest, September 9, 2001, p. 13
The Punch, September 10, 2001, p. 45
The Monitor, September 10, 2001, pp. 25 & 27
The Nigerian Observer, September 10, 2001, pp. 1 & 19
Eko Today, September 10, 2001, p. 17
New Nigerian, September 14, 2001, p. 5
Post Express, September 16, 2001, p. 6
Insider, September 17, 2001, p. 16 

Dr. Olatunji Dare in his column ‘Matters Arising’ and in an article titled “Senior Advocate for Nigerians” published in the Comet newspaper of Tuesday, August 21, 2001 at page 9 wrote as follows:

“When I learned that Gani Fawehinmi had finally been admitted to the Inner Bar and was set to be conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate, I didn’t know whether to rejoice or to cry.

First, the distinction has lost much of the lustre it once had. To be sure, a good many of the Senior Advocates, young and old, are more than worthy of the distinction. I will even go so far as to say that much of the prestige that still attaches to that rank today flows from the dignity, sobriety, and forensic brilliance that some notable and less notable senior attorneys have brought to bear on their practice.

Increasingly, however, conferment has come to signify not that the holder has distinguished himself or herself at the Bar, or made seminar contributions to juristic thought. It has come to indicate merely that the bearer is well connected, has chalked up considerable seniority, appeared before the appellate courts a certain number of times, or hails from a part of Nigeria that is under-represented in the conclave of Senior Advocate.

Merit is not always a consideration. Time and again, questions have been raised about the moral qualification of some of those who bestow the title. From the kinds of brief they take on, some Senior Advocates seem to regard the law as nothing more than an instrument to be manipulated to shield the culpable from justice and to block access to justice for the oppressed. To them, ethics and even justice are dirty words. Winning cases is everything. Forget Noblesse oblige. Forget elementary decency. Abandon all scruples.

For valuable consideration, many a Senior Advocate helped to design and refine the instruments with which a long line of military usurpers trampled upon the human rights of Nigerians, desecrated their institutions, looted their resources, impoverished them, arrested their development, and generally drove them to the edge of ruin. Far from showing remorse, many of them are still going round justifying their nefarious roles under the military and threatening that they would gladly re-enact such roles again if the chance arise.

Senior Advocate has been found guilty by his peers of some malfeasance, or of unconscionably betraying the trust that undergirds Attorney-client relations. Rumours spread that the investigation panel has determined that the fellow is no longer worthy of the rank, and has recommended that he be stripped of the badge.

In the end, nothing happens. The reports are neither confirmed nor denied. But the whispers continue that a person who has proved unworthy of the profession of law has again being shielded by those who have a duty to protect its honour and dignity.

This, then, is the select company to which they say they are inducting Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, our Gani, redoubtable legal clinician, author, activist, gadfly, philanthropist, political activist, crusader for human rights and social justice, scourge of usurpers, enemy of cant and humbug and conscience of the nation.

Would he not be swallowed up in such a group? Would he trade in his combative, irreverent, theatrical style for the sedate geniality that is supposed to be the hallmark of a Senior Advocate? Would he now settle for fat retainers to minister unto fugitives from justice and abandon the pro bono causes he has championed over the past 36 years at great cost to his health, his family and his estate? Is the conferment not a cynical, backhanded compliment designed to bring him in line?

Fawehinmi is without question the most persecuted Nigerian, living or dead. He has been detained in police custody or prison no fewer than 36 times. He has been physically assaulted in the hallowed precincts of the courts and on the streets; his home and law office had been sprayed with bullets and bombed.

At one point, his home and law offices were to be auctioned to pay off the damages awarded by a high court in a ruling that is all too reminiscent of the debauchery of that era. Because the state was, for obvious reasons, loath to prosecute the suspects in the parcel-bomb murder of his client Dele Giwa, Fawehinmi had decided to institute a private prosecution.

Brusquely setting aside the privilege that governs judicial proceedings, the court determined that the papers Fawehinmi filed contained defamatory statements about the suspects and ordered him to pay them N5 million by way of restitution. Mercifully, a sober superior court voided the ruling.

As Fawehinmi won honour after honour abroad, the military authorities and their surrogates pursued him with petulant vindictiveness at home. Even if he had applied for the rank of Senior Advocate at that time, he would in all likelihood have failed.

But this is another era. Thus, it may well be that the conferring authorities, recognising at long last that a roll of honour in which Fawehinmi does not figure is dubious at best, had signalled to Fawehinmi that the coast was now clear.

Still, I did not know whether to rejoice or cry. I was consoled by the thought that a candidate has to file an application to be considered for the title of Senior Advocate. If Fawehinmi applied for the rank, he must have done so, persuaded that it would do him no moral harm.

By every consideration, Fawehinmi deserves the preferment, and much more. He would be more than human if he were not miffed at finding Attorneys who were still in their diapers at the time he was called to the Bar being asked to present their cases ahead of him, on account of their being Senior Advocates.

If induction as a Senior Advocate will not entirely remove this anomaly, it will at least clear the way for Fawehinmi to nominate some of the brilliant Attorneys in his Chambers for the rank. Given the role that attaches to seniority in the legal profession, it would be invidious indeed if some Attorneys in Fawehinmi’s Chambers were to take silk before their principal.

As if sensing the discomfiture that the conferment has generated among his admirers, Fawehinmi has come out forthrightly to assure them that he will never compromise the ideals and the commitments that have made him a legal icon and the subject of enduring controversy. It is comforting that we are in no danger of losing him to the contrived respectability that has made the legal profession in Nigeria so stuffy.

If some Attorneys and policy-makers had their way, they would scrap the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria altogether, principally because it has ceased to be an authentic badge of merit. The distinction is in any case a sentimental archaism, a throwback to the days of Empire. In a republican democracy, its value is questionable. As this goes by, pressures will increase for its radical reform or abolition.

Whether the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria survives or not, we have it on his own solemn vow that Gani Oyesola Fawehinmi will remain the quintessential Senior Advocate of Nigerians.

James Tar Tsaaior in his article titled: “Ode to a Legal Luminary” in the National Interest, Saturday, August 18, 2001, page 11 stated as follows:

“A few weeks back, Chief Fawehinmi was again enrolled in the ranks of his legal vocation with the conferment on him of the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. Hitherto, he was proudly the owner of the populist shield of the Senior Advocate of the Masses, SAM, a title conferred on him by students of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University.

The award of SAN on the radical lawyer inspires a carnivalesque celebration even though it has arrived belatedly. Chief Fawehinmi may not be transported with joy for understandable reasons one of which is the stateless of the title. But a point has been made, and penetratingly too. Integrity. Industry. Honour. Perseverance. And tenacity of purpose are indispensable hand maidens of great and visionary personages. And Gani is a pre-eminent member of this hallowed club.

From his earliest beginnings as an embryonic lawyer, what has consistently trailed the path Chief Fawehinmi has been travelling is consistency. And with this are the kindred qualities of spartan determination and selflessness which he has upheld as cardinal lode stars challenging the rest of us to a life of altruism and self-abnegation.

In many variegated wraps Gani’s productive life constitutes a tale with a motif which leads itself to a number of morals that are of contemporary natural significance. This is a man who through sheer dint of conscientiousness and industry transcended the overwhelming odds planted before him by ostensibly malevolent realities to reach the ne pluls ultra of his legal calling. Moral one: no matter the stupefying circumstances ranged against our national existence, some magnitude of creative application of ourselves with diligence will carve a new, dimpled gate for us a nation and make us realise our nourished dreams.

It is perhaps not an overstatement that of all the lawyers Nigeria has produced and there is no doubt a harvest of them, Gani has had the most unenviable honours of being the guest of law enforcement agents. Successive regimes in the country have sound in the radical lawyer a tough nut to lay bare and harvest the virgin nut of his soul.

It is incontrovertible that Gani’s affirmatively rigid and uncompromising posture against military interregnum in the country confers on him the singular honour of being one of the foremost nationalists Nigeria has produced. And what is outstandingly peculiar to him is that he has consistently done this not for pecuniary gains or as an adventurism on self-trumpet blasting. The man has been surviving to this cause because he has seen as incumbent on him to stand up to military dictatorship and tyranny, a path many shamelessly have elected not to tread.

Another salutary aspect of the Lagos lawyer’s life which is a testament that represents our chequered postcolonial state touches on his tenacity in pursuing causes that he believes in. When Chief Fawehinmi rolled out the legal armoured tanks to confront the military authorities he suspected of mowing down the late Dele Giwa through a parcel bomb, Chief Gani’s fidelity to the cause of dredging the lazy circumstances surrounding the death of the ace journalist has ever remained a consuming passion. That he has presented the case before the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission (HRVIC), is a martial statement that the drums of war for the soul of justice have been sounded and to the warfront all must pour to bring justice to beleaguered and hapless citizenry.

And whether the riddle that defines Giwa’s death is resolved or not, Gani has succeeded in making power full statements that will continue to reverberate in the caveins of our stalking memories. True friendship is endless and it demands extreme loyalty even at the point of death. A calling which entrusts on one public trust should not be repudiated or subordinated to any cause no matter how discomfiting and menacing the realities contingent on the fulfilment of that trust should be.

The minced statement Chief Fawehinmi has made and is making resonates with morals for a nation in manacles touching on the paramount need for the emergence of a nation whose citizens are imbued with tenacity of purpose and commitment to the realisation of her natural dreams and aspirations.

It may be intriguing to many that Gani has endeared himself to many Nigerians as a man with a pan-Nigerian vision and persuasm. This has perhaps alienated him from praetorian zones. But his constituency which resides with the less privileged and, indeed, the scum of the earth has greatly humbled those who see themselves as the orbit around which the universe revolves.

Gani’s gravitation to unbridled identification with the masses has duren him into legal representations of people who never had the faintest potential of ever paying him for his powerful legal services. That he has always seen himself as a bulwark of strength for the hapless against the powerful casts him in the mould of the nationalist fighters on the continent like Drs. Nnamdi Azikwe of Nigeria, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia among others.

It is little wonder then Gani has become unceasingly, a veritable subject of celebration. His inimitable brilliance as a lawyer, pertinacity and courage as a civil rights crusader and humanness as a man of the people are, perhaps unparalleled in our part of the world.

As fate at last beams effervescently on the Senior Advocate of the Masses with a long over due award of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, it looks like the list of honours has just flagged off. And as the tall cap of the radical lawyer continues to host more feathers of distinction, it looks like the tide will continue mounting if failing health which has dogged Gani recently allows him to pace the terrain of legal professionalism and, indeed, that of life does not stand between him and a life of continued selfless service to his compatriots and humanity generally…

And perhaps as the garlands continue to dance Gani’s way, his religious commitment and unflagging dedication to the cause of the man of the impoverished populace will also remain firm as he ... humanity and enables those who are alien to nobility.”

Adams Aliu in his letter in the Nigerian Observer of Monday, August 6, 2001 titled “Letter to Gani Fawehinmi, SAN” wrote:

“I wish you speedy recovery from your sick bed in London. You might be surprised to read this Open Letter from me to you because we have not really met at close range or engaged in any exclusive tete-a-tete. However, I not only regard you as my ‘Egbon’ but also as a model patriot. I first heard of your name during the Kunle Adepeju tragedy in the University of Ibadan in early 1971.

I was then a Freshman in the University of Lagos where I was very much involved in Students’ Politics. You volunteered to defend the students in court free of charge when they took the Police authorities and government to court over the unprovoked killing of Adepeju during an innocuous students’ demonstration.

Upon graduation, I went into the paper and pen profession of Journalism in the mid 1970’s and since you had become a newsmaker, you must have come across my name or met me casually during my senior editorial years at THE PUNCH newspaper (1975 – 1980) and/or THE DAILY TIMES (1980 – 1992).

In journalism, any unusual occurrence is news especially when a notable personality like you is involved. We used to heave a sigh of relief whenever a reporter breezed in with news on Gani, whether exclusive or not.

I learnt that you earned an LL.B. Hons. Degree from the U.K. in early 1960’s and attended the Nigerian Law School Lagos where you were called to the Nigerian Bar in January 1965. If we count your professional years thereafter, one would see that you now have over 36 years experience at the Bar.

Between then and now, you have continued to be the solicitor and advocate of the oppressed, especially students. I remember vividly, several post-Adepeju instances where the students’ fundamental human rights were violated either collectively or individually and you came to their rescue by defending them either jointly or severally … free of charge!

You have continued to uphold the tenets of the legal profession. You have continued to be the defender of the down-trodden ones who did not hesitate to give you the title Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) in 1988 after it became obvious that you had been denied your befitting title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) by the Awards Committee which had hitherto always been teleguided by any government in power.

I pray for your speedy recovery so as to enable you to be physically present for the swearing-in-ceremony of all the dozen new Senior Advocates of Nigeria on September 10, 2001 which is less than a month from now. I shall be at the ceremony in flesh and blood and I am sure that thousands of Nigerians – especially undergraduates – will also be there. You will be surprised that your swearing-in-ceremony will look like a carnival or jamboree.

It is said that it is better late than never. We all knew that it was mischief, envy, bias and bad faith by earlier governments (teleguided the Legal Practitioners Committee) that delayed this your well merited award all these years. SAN is Nigeria’s equivalent of Queen’s Counsel (QC) which used to be bestowed on distinguished Nigerian legal luminaries before and immediately after our Independence in 1960. Now that we have a listening and democratic government, we are not surprised that you are remembered.

For someone who has paid his dues as a lawyer, patriot, philanthropist and benefactor, the title SAN is a mere formal compliment. During my recent years of studying for a Diploma in Law at the Lagos State University (LASU) and an Honours Degree in Law at the University of Benin, your Law Reports were of much monumental help. Our Law lecturers would always refer us to Gani’s Law Report for the facts of cases…which you did not stop updating from time to time.

I am not a beneficiary of any of your Scholarships or Awards but I know some of them. They are perpetually grateful to you. I know some of your clients who had thought that your consultation fee would be too high but you handled their cases with human face. I do know how frenzy and charged the atmosphere is whenever you honour any invitation to deliver a lecture…

Let’s check the recipients’ list: Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi; M. D. Belgore; D. N. A. Ibegbu; A. O. Akande; Akintola M. Adeniyi; A. B. Mahmoud; D. D. Dodo; A. A. Kayode; T. A. Eze-Obi; A. Nwaiwu; Mrs. D. A. Adekoya and A. Akpomudje.

As the Law of Tort would say in this case: Res Ipsa Ioquitur (The thing speaks for itself). Little wonder that all Nigerian newspapers of Thursday July 26, 2001 carried front page stories of these new SANs. Remarkably, all of them used the words at last or now, before screaming that you have joined the rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

At times, Egbon Gani, I am uncomfortable when people describe you as a Human Rights Activist and Lagos lawyer because you are more than that. Your legal periphery spans the length and breadth of Nigeria (outside Lagos metropolis). I am sure that henceforth, people will correctly refer to you as a Nigerian lawyer and no more Lagos lawyer. After all, you have defended many non-Lagosians in celebrated cases in the North, South, East and West of Nigeria.

When the Nigerian Labour Congress organised a rally on May 21, 2001 to protest government’s intended plan to deregulate the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil industry and you slumped or collapsed, some pessimists thought that you would not survive. I knew that it was a result of severe heat which is not good for your body composure and that you would survive because you have not satisfactorily eaten the fruits of your labour.

Now, with the suffix SAN, and two of your children (a son and a daughter already lawyers), good health which made you to outlive some of your enemies… I join you in counting your blessing by naming them one by one. And we see that it surprises us what the Lord has done. I doff my hat for you and will see you at your swearing-in-ceremony.”

In one of the numerous congratulatory receptions to honour him after the award of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the Comet Newspaper of Monday, September 24, 2001 at page 3 in its story titled “Rights activists honour their own Fawehinmi” wrote as follows:

“The civil rights community at the weekend converged at the Skypower Club, Ikeja, Lagos to honour one of their own, Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi (SAN), following his recent conferment with the highest honour in the legal profession.

The ‘Gani Open Reception’ was a carnival with a heavy dose of theatricals from the chief celebrant as he was made to don his Ikoyi Prison uniform.

Earlier in the day, a lecture titled: ‘Democracy and the Rule of Law’ was delivered by Mrs. Ayo Obe of the Civil Liberties Organisations (CLO), who was the guest speaker.

Fawehinmi, who was at various times incarcerated for his political and human rights activities by past successive military governments, wore the prison uniform with No. J60 at the reception to dramatise his odyssey in the past 21 years and as a symbol of his prosecution.

In his characteristic self, he went on to drink from one of his prison cups, which he said was smuggled out of the Gashua Prison.

After being presented with a plague by the civil rights community, led by the Chairman of the Gani Open Reception Committee, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, the activist lawyer went into a long tirade against the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the present status quo...” 

Student Cause

Gani over the years has always fought on the side of the Nigerian Students, who in their attempts to oppose some of the obnoxious policies of their various institutions of learning and misgovernance by the various governments in power are either rusticated or expelled from school. Some of such relationships with the students include the following:

  UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN - 1971

On February 1, 1971, crisis engulfed the University of Ibadan. There was a peaceful demonstration against the excesses of the university authority by the university students. Gowon’s police invaded the university with live ammunitions and killed one of the students, Mr. Kunle Adepeju. The nation was incensed with anger, there was tension everywhere in the country.

Gowon set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by Hon. Justice Boonyamin Oladiran Kazeem then of the Lagos High Court. The students wanted Gani Fawehinmi to represent them and he did. He was in Ibadan for several months defending the students’ interests.

When the report of the Commission of Inquiry was released, more than eighty percent of the students demands were met. The students won the battle against the military regime of Gen. Gowon.

  UNIVERSITY OF BENIN - 1976

In 1976, the University of Benin was on the boil. Crisis erupted between the university authority and the students’ body. Some student leaders were rusticated while some were expelled. Students cried to Chief Gani Fawehinmi in Lagos and he quickly came to their rescue. He rushed to Benin and filed series of actions in Benin High Court. He won them all. The students won and the authority of the University of Benin lost. Honourable Justice Ovie-Whiskey, the then Chief Judge of Bendel State sat on the case(s).

The University of Benin was called to order, to obey the law of the land and all its decisions against the students were nullified by the court.

  UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS - 1978

In 1978, Obasanjo’s military Government wanted to increase fees payable in tertiary institutions. The University students through their union, the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) rejected the heartless move of the Obasanjo government.

The University of Lagos was the arrow-head of the protest. The leader of all Nigerian students was an undergraduate of the university, Mr. Segun Okeowo. A massive demonstration took place in Lagos. The students central body (NUNS) was proscribed by Gen. Obasanjo. The students chose Chief Gani Fawehinmi as their lawyer.

He converted part of his Chambers at No. 28, Sabiu Ajose Crescent, Surulere, to the headquarters of National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS). He gave them succour-legal, financial and moral.

At a meeting of the association of students leaders in his Chambers on Thursday, May 16, 1978, a detachment of fifty policemen took over the Chambers and arrested Chief Gani Fawehinmi. He was later detained and tried but he won the case.

Whilst Gani Fawehinmi’s criminal case was going on, he was on bail and appearing for Segun Okeowo, seeking his release from an illegal detention before Honourable Justice Ishola Oluwa. Okeowo was later released from illegal custody and he became an Administrative Officer briefly in Gani Fawehinmi Chambers before he was re-admitted by the University in obedience to court order.

  UNIVERSITY OF IFE - 1981

In 1981, eight students of University of Ife were killed under Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s regime and the breast of four of them were cut by the police. This was after the suspicious murder of one of the students called Bukunola Arogundade. The students protested in their thousands. Seventy-five students were injured and eight were killed through the excesses of the police. The government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari appointed Honourable Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore to conduct an inquiry into the crisis.

The students and the teachers said never! that they would never allow a government appointed inquiry into their campus and they succeeded. Chief Gani Fawehinmi was appointed by the students and the teachers to look into the problems, to investigate and apportion blame and make recommendations where necessary. He was assisted by S. Labanji Bolaji, the former General Manager of Daily Sketch (of blessed memory). Gani sat for months at University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University).

He found the Federal Government guilty on all counts and found the police liable in all respects and ordered the Federal Government to pay N10m as damages to the students. In today's monetary terms,this amounts to about N800m. This debt is still hanging on the neck of the Federal Government.

  UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI - 1983

In 1983, it was another serious crisis at the University of Maiduguri. The crisis erupted consequent upon the high-handedness of the university authority. There was a riot in the institution on February 2, 1983, consequent upon which many student leaders were rusticated and some were expelled.

Again the students went to Chief Gani Fawehinmi who fought their battle up to the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court. The school authority was compelled by the Supreme Court to re-admit the rusticated and the expelled students in the now famous case of Garba v. University of Maiduguri. Again the students triumphed. One of the affected students, Okon Akiba, is now a medical doctor with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

  UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA - 1990

In 1990, the school authorities of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka suspended some students unlawfully. Chief Gani Fawehinmi instituted an action on behalf of the suspended students in the case of Harmony Kalu, Innocent Chukwuma & Ors. v. U.N.N. He got the students reinstated by a court order.

  OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY - 1991

Consequent upon a major disagreement between the university authority and the students, 61 students were expelled from the university without due compliance with the laws of the university and those of the nation.

The authorities compounded the illegality by using the police and the security network to arrest and detain some of the student leaders.

Again the students went straight to Chief Gani Fawehinmi and he stoutly and robustly rose to the occasion. He went to court challenging the illegality of the acts of the university and at the Ile-Ife High Court the students got decisive victory and the university authorities lost hands down. Those expelled or rusticated were re-admitted. Three of them are already showing signs of leadership at the Bar - Bamidele Aturu, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa and Nurudeen Ogbara.

There is a standing rule in the Chambers that “Students Are Not To Be Charged Fees When They Come For Help.”

These are just a few of the examples of the legion of his activities which endeared Chief Gani Fawehinmi to the Nigerian students.

Scholarship

Though Gani dares, he also cares. Based on his experience of financial deprivation as a student in London, he instituted his own Scholarship Scheme in 1971. Every year, since 1971 to date, he has been awarding scholarships to brilliant children of those he categorises as victims of socio-economic injustice - the poor, the deprived, the denied, the neglected, the ignored and the persecuted. More than 1,000 (one thousand) poor students from various parts of Nigeria - North, East, South and West have been educationally emancipated by the life-line assistance given to them by this man.

In the year 2000 alone, Gani gave scholarship awards to 45 (forty-five) indigent students of institution of higher learning from different parts of the country. He travelled to the far North on the 25th and 26th July, 2000 where he gave scholarship to 25 (twenty-five) students of northern origin in the higher institutions. The ceremony was held at Arewa House, Kaduna.

On the 28th and 29th of August, 2000, he gave scholarship to 20 (twenty) students of Southern origin in higher institutions of learning.

Because of his belief in free education at all levels, he travelled to many countries ending up in Paris, France to collect research materials in 1973 and 1974 for his book titled “People’s Right to Free Education” and in 1975 he launched the Free Education Association of Nigeria.

Philanthropy

Chief Gani Fawehinmi has an uncontrollable love for the Poor, the Cheated, the Oppressed, the Persecuted, the Ignored, the Street beggars, the Students etc. This passion is responsible for the selfless services he renders without charging any fees, for the protection, defence and advancement of fundamental human rights of the Nigerian People.

He has handled more than 5000 (according to Justice Uwais) briefs free of all charges for members of his self - defined constituency, the poor, the cheated, the ignored, the oppressed, the persecuted and the street beggars.

At every celebration in his family, he arranged the same clothes for himself and the street beggars. He hosts the street beggars to sumptuous meal and drink on every last Saturday of the month. 

Information, courtsesy www.ganifawehinmi.com