This columnist has kept to a tradition of announcing a “Person of the Year” since 2003. In 2003 and 2004, I selected the then Economic Management Team led by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as “Team of the Year” and in 2005, Okonjo-Iweala in her personal capacity. In 2006 and 2007, I returned to institutions, first the Judiciary and then specifically the Supreme Court as having, in my view, made the most significant positive impact on the Nigerian nation. In 2008, I had the shortest “shortlist” since embarking on the exercise, with initially only four names-Adams Oshiomole, Nuhu Ribadu, Rotimi Amaechi and Babatunde Raji Fashola meeting my strict criteria. And then I remembered Chief Gani Fawehinmi!
It was public knowledge at that time that Gani was ill, striken by lung cancer. For some reason, I was clear in my mind that it would probably be my last chance to honour and acknowledge him while he was alive. I did not want to be one of the many that would inevitably describe him after his demise as the greatest Nigerian that ever lived (and that’s what they are all doing now!) and I had no difficulty selecting him as my person of the year 2008. That article was published on Wednesday January 7, 2009. As I feared, the tireless, courageous and indefatigable Gani Fawehinmi passed on Saturday September 5, 2009 at 71 years. In that article, I wrote my “citation” as follows, “My person of the year is Gani Fawehinmi. This selection honours Gani’s lifelong commitment to the Nigerian nation and particularly the under-privileged. For most of the year, Gani was on his sick bed inside or outside the country, but that did not stop him from continuing to raise his voice passionately against corruption and mis-governance in our dear country. He has used his legal training, media access and even founded a political party, National Conscience Party to realise his dreams for a better Nigeria. He has given of his best, and will go to his God with a clear conscience. He is my person of 2008”
Today those words while appropriate, seem inadequate to describe the commitment, courage, integrity, sacrifice and tenacity Gani Fawehinmi brought to public life, legal practice, law publishing, social commentary, pro-democracy struggles and citizen advocacy in his unending crusade to improve our nation, and to enthrone social justice and egalitarian principles in our national life. He rose instinctively, consistently and persistently in defence of the under-privileged, the weak, the poor and the oppressed. Gani hated injustice, like many Nigerians. He hated corruption, oppression, abuse of power, and man’s inhumanity to man. Unlike most Nigerians however, he just could not keep quiet in the face of these vices. He could not be scared off by personal danger or economic considerations. He was never intimidated by power or its ability to put him in prison, deny him honours or awards, or even the possibility that he could be assassinated by a state which he believed killed Dele Giwa, one of the many clients whose battles he assumed. He was not ignorant of the devices of the autocratic and retrogressive forces which he continually confronted, but he was not cowed by them.
Gani was arrested, clamped in detention and prosecuted several times in the course of his struggles; indeed his health suffered from the many trials and tribulations he was subjected to; he fought on behalf of students, workers, journalists-any time there was an underdog, trampled upon by our internal colonialists, he was sure to rise up in defence. He was relentless in his struggles, passionate in his interventions, sacrificial in his contributions and tenacious in the vigour and energy he devoted to making Nigeria a better place. It is difficult to identify any other Nigerian that demonstrated these virtues to the level of this great patriot and hero. He was not a perfect person as no man could be. At times, he chose the wrong allies (the Buhari/Idiagbon regime for instance), or supported the wrong causes (the impeachment of Joshua Dariye by only six legislators under the supervision of the EFCC), but even when you disagreed with Gani, it was clear he was motivated only by his passion to confront corruption and social injustice in Nigeria.
If Gani had a regret, it would probably be Nigerians’ docility in the face of evil and our willingness to accept bad leadership. I also often wonder why our people seem so complacent and resigned to poverty, corruption, rigged elections and national drift. Gani must have wondered just like Fela before him why our people so fear danger and death, that they are prepared to accept a diminished existence. As I wrote in another article, “What do we lack? Part 2”, (April 15, 2009) “What are we Nigerians doing to restrain, challenge or replace bad leadership? If our national government is too remote for us to put pressure on and demand better performance from, what about the state and local governments, and national legislators who live amongst us? What about the commissioners and house of assembly members who stay in our communities? Why are Nigerians so willing to bend over backwards perhaps until we break?”
Well Gani Fawehinmi did his very best, and can now leave the rest to another generation. In his frustration, he even founded a party-National Conscience Party-and offered himself to Nigerians as its presidential candidate! As I wrote in my testimony, he will go to his God with a clear conscience.
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