In the historical trajectory of nations, it is as though in the course
of events, providence- that Almighty Hand that ever, in the spirit of
benevolence, interrupts the folly and the foibles of men. To right
wrongs and set nations on the path of renaissance, often sends
avatars, prophets, seers and visioneers to give guidance, warnings or
to chart the path for increased liberty for the vast majority.
A cursory glance down recorded history of nations across the world
will validate my claims. In Biblical history for instance, we have
learnt of the travails under which the Hebrews labored- in servitude
to the Egyptians. The servitude continued until Providence intervened
in the person of the man Moses, who became liberator and emancipator
of his people.
Indeed biblical history is replete with accounts of men and women who,
in the role of prophets and seers, emerged time and again, to guide,
as it were, the erring ship of the Hebrew nation which was wont to
flounder at the hands of rebellious kings of old. The prophets-
Jeremiah, Isaiah, Nathan, and a host of many others were fiery, bold
and uncompromising in their chastising of royalty and common folk, as
they spoke truth to power, guiding the ruler and the ruled alike.
When the nation of Israel was in disarray and spiritual darkness
seemed to permeate the land, when there was hopelessness occasioned by
the Roman’s occupation of Jerusalem, when Herod Agrippa, the King was
playing God over the people, Jesus Christ came like a meteor to be the
Messiah. In compassion he made the lame to work, blind to see, the
infirm, he made whole, he fed the hungry, set the spiritual captive
free. He said of himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to set the oppressed free…..”
Islamic history also reveals how the emergence of Prophet Mohammed ASW
brought order, justice, emancipation, and enlightenment to the
aboriginal people of the Middle East who hitherto had existed in a
state of darkness, anarchy and feudalism.
Secular history also records the role played by avatars- champions of
justice, equity, truth, and liberty. This was perhaps first
exemplified by the philosopher Socrates who will forever be known as
the father of insightful thinking. His teachings on philosophy and
integrity were so revolutionary that the elders and powers that be of
his era felt so threatened that he was accused of corrupting the
youth, tried, found guilty, and was dispatched with a poison drink of
hemlock.
Time would not permit me to go into a recital of the many heroes of
integrity who have, in our history as a species, held aloft the light
of integrity and doing so, illuminated the dark corridors of human
society and the dark corners of the human heart. Time would also not
permit me to go into the travails that their stand for truth,
integrity and righteousness earned them in a world sold on ignorance,
duplicity and hypocrisy.
It is not my intention to go into an anthology of the ones who have
been a light unto humanity across the six continents of our world;
indeed there may be no need for that here.
I however intend to examine the personality of the one who sojourned
in our world for 71 years after he came visiting on 22nd day of April,
1938 and was translated to the great beyond on the 5th of September,
2009.
As I give tribute once again to this legend I implore us all to draw
lessons from the life and times of this great giant of humanity who in
his time, exemplified with true candor, the finer virtues of
integrity, courage and compassion.
It is my intention to examine the man who, in his time amongst us, was
a light unto our nation- a light that burned fiercely and was a terror
to the denizens of darkness who sought to keep us in perpetual
bondage, in a web of deceit, oppression and grand larceny. It is my
intention to also answer the question “What Would Gani Do?” viz-a-viz
our current political realities in Nigeria of today.
The man, Chief Gani Oyesola Fawehinmi, “Nation” “Alujanun Iberu”
Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM), Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)-
teacher, advocate, crusader, activist, social critic, emancipator,
one-time presidential aspirant and Hero Extraordinaire will forever
remain an exemplar of what it means to truly be “A Man of The People”,
and an Avatar of the ideals of equal rights, justice and liberty.
As we all know, the above mentioned virtues are the enduring
foundations of any truly egalitarian society; this was first posited
in 1790 by Maximilien Robespierre, a torchbearer of the French
Revolution, who devised the democratic ideal for the French republic
and suggested as motto, the ideals, “Libertaire, Egalitaire and
Fraternitaire” meaning liberty, equality, and fraternity. Like
Robespierre, our man, our Guide and our Light, the Gani Fawehinmi
esteemed these three values as even dearer than life itself during his
earthly sojourn, and he did prove this several times, in his
confrontation with the forces of oppression across our land.
Indeed, for Gani, the maxim “The Law must be the same for all, whether
it protects or punishes; all citizens being equal in its eyes” was
holy writ, and his conduct amongst us showed that he believed this
with every fibre of his being, and lived it out every day that he drew
breath here.
We all agree that the man Gani was an epitome of integrity whose
conduct was in total harmony with the words that he spoke-he walked
his talk always. He was a stickler for justice who continually
championed the cause of justice for Nigerians everywhere, in a bid to
prove to the oppressor and the oppressed that everyone can, through
relentless determination, pursue and obtain justice regardless of the
odds arrayed against us. It is also no exaggeration to say that Chief
Gani lived and lived for the common man.
It is often said that only those who have walked in your shoes can
have the ability to feel the pain and truly empathize with you. Gani’s
path to legal luminescence was paved with much hardship due to lack of
financial ability. Regardless of this, he endured and completed his
studies in London. Perhaps this informed his love for the
under-privileged and his obsessive philanthropy which saw many
Nigerians depending on him- for subsistence and for advancement
through education.
Such was his influence and his contributions to the struggle for a
truly free humanity that in 1993, he was awarded the prestigious Bruno
Kreisky Prize, instituted for international figures who have worked
arduously to advance human rights causes. The International Bar
Association also awarded him the Bernard Simmons Award in recognition
of his human rights and pro-democracy contributions in 1998. Indeed it
is safe to say that without the contributions of the late Gani
Fawehinmi and a few others like him, the democracy we have in Nigeria
would have remained a mirage, a fantasy, a dream, a fleeting illusion-
to be pursued and never attained.
His stance earned him many travails reminiscent of the travails of the
Apostle Paul which led him (Paul) to write: “But in all things we
commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in
tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments,
in tumults, in labours, in sleeplessness, and in fastings…”. Like the
Apostle Paul, Chief Gani was a a servant of Providence and in addition
he was also a unique kind of builder- one who sought to build a new
society- a new Nigeria founded on the tenets of human rights, justice
and equity for all and sundry.
Like that great Exemplar of service to humanity, Jesus of Nazareth,
the man Gani Fawehinmi in his time, exemplified the twin virtues of
Compassion and Courage- virtues which he, Jesus, taught that without
which none could lay claim to serving God or humanity. Like the
Saviour who rid his Father’s temple of those rogues who sought to turn
the house of God into a bureau-de-change, the man Gani fought
valiantly without fear to rid Government in Nigeria of looters who
masqueraded as leaders, and parasites who disguised as presidents.
Like the Christ who embodied compassion, Chief Gani loved Nigeria and
Nigerians with all of his heart, often braving detention at the hands
of various juntas who sought unsuccessfully, to shut him up.
We are glad that the seeds of struggle for emancipation sown by this
great man have paid off. We can look back to where we used to be as a
nation- under the jackboots of various military leaders, a pariah
amongst the comity of nations, and feel thankful for the sacrifice
offered by our avatar. We know we have come a long way from the days
of arbitrary rules, decrees, terror, detentions and state-sponsored
killings.
We have come a long way from the days of martial music and early
morning announcements of “My fellow Nigerians…”. For this, we are
grateful to the Almighty, and to those whom he used to lead us out of
the dark into the ever-growing light, like He once did when he used
Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt towards the Promised Land
Canaan. We are grateful to our own very Moses, Chief Gani Fawehinmi,
who like that Moses of yore, may have been privately informed by the
Divine, that though he had, through the eyes of foresight, perceived
the Nigeria of his dreams, he would not enter the land.
As a nation, we know where we are headed, we know where we are. It is
however pertinent that we pause, and take stock of the things
achieved, and the distance we have to go. I have taken the liberty to
attempt to answer this, by asking us this entire question:
“What Would Gani Do?”
What would Gani do- in the face of the sometimes comic absurdities
foisted upon us by the ones we have elected to legislate and to
execute laws on our behalf?
What would Gani do- in the face of a lop-sided war against corruption
that appears to target only those so designated?
What would Gani do- in the face of an seeming unfolding agenda by a
section of the nation to treat other regions as occupied territory and
spoils of war?
What would Gani do- as politics of Ghana-Must-Go continues to trump
politics of ideology, thereby relegating to the political background,
capable hands who cannot compete with political heavyweights who are
armed with filthy lucre pilfered from the state purse?
What would Gani do- as it appears to be increasingly clear that the
liberty he fought for as he strove to liberate our land from the
clutches of khaki bandits, has been hijacked by equally rapacious
bandits clad in suits, agbadas and babarigas?
On this auspicious day that celebrates the life and times of our
Legend, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, I make bold to say that the Gani
Fawehinmi I know would not merely fold his arms and wail in
helplessness. He would not also keep mute in the unfounded hope of
some measly appointment or patronage or wait for mobilization fund
from international donors and communities as some of our modern day,
self-styled human rights activists are doing.
I am of the conviction that that fierce crusader, activist and
liberator would do only what he knows best to do: renew the fight for
the liberty of the land that he loves with the only instrument that he
knew how to wield: the Law.
I believe that that unrelenting spirit would not give up or compromise
halfway to Zion, as some appear to have done as they have traded the
struggle for a quest for a piece of the national cake.
I am persuaded that Chief Gani would want us shout that rallying cry
“Aluta Continua, Victoria Ascerta” as we go back to the trenches,
armed not with guns or machetes, but with the Constitution and Laws as
his ever potent weapons.
On this day, as we honour the man who shone as a light while he walked
amidst us, I hereby implore us to reach for that same light that he
lifted up so bravely, and continue the good fight- the fight for
justice and equity across the land, and fear no darkness.
It was that American statesman, John F. Kennedy, who opined: “A man
may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on eternally”.
Our hero may have transited to fairer lands but there is no doubt that
his ideals, which hold the potential to establish Nigeria as the lands
of our dreams, live on.
The onus lies on us who remain, to stretch forth our hands to the
plough and carry on the good work of building a just and true Nigeria.
May we find the strength of mind and character of spirit to fulfill
the words of our national anthem: “The labours of our heroes past
shall never be in vain”.
Thank you
Barr. Olukayode Ajulo
Founder/Chairman, Egalitarian Mission, Africa & National Secretary, Labour Party