The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Gani

  • A Beggars’ Opera for Gani

    A Beggars’ Opera for Gani

    As the royal send off for Nigeria’s fallen legal idol reached its kingly crescendo, reports reaching snooper spoke of a glorious exit spectacle in honour of the great man somewhere on the outskirts of Ikotun Egbe. We were informed that the whole place was crackling with verbal fireworks and anti-establishment wisecracks. This was departure brilliantly enacted as opera by Nigeria’s multi-ethnic underclass. There were reports of an old man singing ancient Suberu Oni tunes in honour of Gani in the deep, guttural Ondo dialect of the great duet. With Ondo royal blood flowing deep in his own veins through his paternal grandmother, snooper could not afford to miss this show-stopper. Of course, snooper immediately fingered the old radical contrarian, Baba Lekki.

    It has been a long time we heard from the scourge of the Nigerian ruling class. Not since he was arrested for going prematurely public with the comprehensive list of notable bank debtors including former heads of state. He subsequently walked out of jail when his jailers fled upon being informed that ferocious kidnappers from old Biafra were on the way to settle accounts. The old crook promptly resumed the distribution of the subversive documents, daring anybody to stop him.

    While the Gani royal departure rites lasted, snooper was worried about official attempts to deny his real constituency a say in the farewell of their noble benefactor. State narrators, with their fulsome praises and pathetic panegyrics, have taken over what is essentially a life lived at the behest of the masses. Snooper has been furious with this risible rodomontade. Once again, the poor subaltern cannot speak; once again, the hegemonic tale has swamped the counter-hegemonic narrative.

    And so to Ikotun Egbe we headed on a drizzly September morning after a rather heavy breakfast of pounded breadfruit and partridge from Ifewara. Due to the digestive emergency, a lot of blood seemed to have been withdrawn from the brains leaving one drowsy and torpid like a sated crocodile. But Ikotun Egbe changed all that.

    Read Also: Arewa youth group kicks against October 1 protest

     It was a huge carnival and the crazy old man was there pounding away at an ancient manual guitar with lyrics dripping with venomous wit and vitriol. He was surrounded by a posse of ruffians, ragamuffins and the casual riffraff on the margins of society. There were cut-throats and cut-purses on the loose. The whole place was crawling with beggars, cripples, the deaf, the dumb, the destitute and a thousand victims of the epidemics of state dereliction.

    There were several huge pots of aromatic pepper soup and massive primitive grills hissing and dripping with fat and curd. Snooper saw with his own eyes the celebrated beggar, Aminu Petrol, a.k.a Mayor of Carter Bridge, who runs a racket of divine extortion at the Idumota end of the old bridge. With his retinue of mendicant hangers-on and colourful harem, the blind man who was also an employer of blind labour, was as dashing and dazzling as ever.

    The blind master sidled towards Baba Lekki with his walking stick probing the air and an explosive sound of wild desire coming from his flared nostrils.

    “Baba, duallah bani nama gabadaya”, his mendicant majesty bellowed with authority.

    “Aminu, your head don kaput. Am I now your mai-suya?” the old man answered with a crooked smile as he pointed at the roiling grills.

     “Yoruba people good for Suya and kilishi”, the blind wag noted in halting English as one of his aides brought him a huge slab of meat surgically carved and dripping with much fat and oil, His royal blindness gobbled a chunk and spat it out with bitter disgust.

    “Allah, haram nama ne”, he screamed at Baba Lekki.

     “Haramu ko, kalamu ni” Baba Lekki trumpeted with malicious relish as the deflated beggar-king retreated with his retinue but not before a final round of hell raising.

    “This one, this Dan Iska, Babanbarawo ne, no be him come dey thief my money for under bridge?”, he screamed, directing his walking stick at a lame youth who sat by the old man mumbling some fiendish nonsense about authority stealing.

    “Ha Aminu, your Sigidi wan dance for heavy rain. If you are blind how come you can you see thief?”” Baba Lekki crowed.

    “Shut up, blind man dey see when area boys come steal him money. Even dumb man sef if you come step hard on him toe, he go talk”, the blind nobility noted with flourish and began to sing praises of the great Gani.             

    As soon as the old man sighted snooper, he became uncontrollable with wild excitement and started dishing out lyrics in praise of Gani in the inimitable manner of Suberu and Oni, the old Ondo juju maestros.

    A-Guinea Roger sebe o lo, akinkanju omo won L’ondo egin

    K’ato r’erin odigbo, kato r’efon o d’odan, ekun oko  awon Baseje

    Ekimogun omo alagbede, omo Lisa Alujonnu, omo Seriki Tugbogbo

    Anjonu agbejero ti fi adajo nakanakan, Jafojo, ako niwaju soja

    Ogbona bi elegun soponna, soponna o gbona elegun re l’ogbona

    It was at this point that Okon emerged from nowhere leading a crowd of mourners dressed in black suits like Nation of Islam fanatics. Snooper’s heart missed a beat. It was obvious that the mad boy had not come for any civil proceedings. His conduct was rowdy and threatening, and it was obvious that the crazy loony had been drinking local wine. Baba Lekki viewed the impudent rogue with wary bemusement.

    “Baba, abi your head no correct again? Wetin be dis yeye business? And why you dey call Gani Egin? Gani na Ganiyu. No be Egin at all. He be like if say dem police don pull your front teeth for detention”, the boy scowled.

    “Okon, you are a big fool. Egin is Ondo word”, the old man said as he burst into a deranged smile.

    “Hen na dat one you for say. All dis yeye lawyer who come dey cry as if dem like Gani, dem be useless people. If dem support am true true, Gani no fit die like that. I dey go Ondo for dem funeral and if I come see any lawyer dey cry, I go beat am well well. Dem all be yeye people. Dem be Senior Advocate of Nothing sam sam”, the mad boy exploded.

    “Okon na so we see am oo,”  the old man grunted with relish.

    “He get one of dem yeye Yoruba lawyers who dey talk say him dey wear silk since 1970. Wetin be big deal for silk? My grandfather, Okon Ekanem Okon, don dey wear silk robe for Calabar for 1940 and he no even go school,” the mad boy snorted.

    “Ah that one na Senior Advocate of Nabi”, Baba Lekki sniggered.

    “Baba wetin be nabi?” Okon demanded.

    “Nabi na Hausa word for karuwa” the old man replied.

    “Wetin be karuwa?” Okon asked in alarm.

    “ Karuwa na Hausa word for Ashewo or Agammo for ancient Yoruba”, Baba croaked.

    “Kai kai, baba, your head don pafuka patapata”, Okon exclaimed, considerably awed.

    “That is what they call satanic synonyms”, the old man noted as he reverted to perfect Queen’s English. “By the way, you hear that Nuhu Ribadu also came through NADECO Pass via Imeko?”

     “Brave man, dat one na better person”, Okon swooned.

         “Remember I told the yeye boy dat dem go turn am to Fura de Nuhu? Abi I no warn am?” Baba snorted.

         “ Baba, you no say dat dem Anthony General, him head no correct at all?” Okon raved.

    “Ah you mean Malam Ribadun?” Baba noted with a mischievous wink.

    “Baba, he is not Ribadu”, Okon protested.

    “I said Ribadun. Get that into your blockhead”, the old man suddenly snapped.

    “Baba, but him name na Andooaaka, and na Tiv man”.

    “Okon, greet the Tiv for me and greet Nnamani for me too and tell am say na Kukuruku man go finish Wuruwuru man. You have one more question”.

     “Baba, I come notice say all dem lunatic dogs come vamoose when Gani died. Mad dog sabi im owner, abi no be so?” Okon retorted.

    “Mad dog dey soup, dem don become pepper soup”, the old man replied with a sneer.

     “Baba, Make una no tell me I don dey eat 404 meat for here!!!” Okon screamed.

    “Na lokili, dat be wetin dem Ondo people call am. Now dat Gani don quench, you go see dem real mad dogs for this dem Obodo ”, Baba Lekki sneered as he dismissed Okon.

    “Baba, dis one na real parable of dem mad dogs”.

    • First published in 2010

  • Gani talks the talk

    Gani talks the talk

    First, Gani Adams’ so-called letter to South West governors, for a mandate to “flush out” Fulani kidnappers in the region, was met with a yawn it eminently deserved. 

    Atavistic fears — or resent — hardly harbour the rigour to crack a contemporary problem, not the least a hardy security one.

    Then, the new presidential concession on state police.  That has got to be the most nimble thinking, since the military invaded the political space in January 1966. 

    Formalizing state police is the Nigerian state’s clinical riposte to the opportunistic din by non-state hustlers, craving relevance. Ignore too, the clatter of naysayers: mainly ex-police(wo)men, hung up on the old security regime, with its central near-paralysis.

    Such play up past and present fears.  In truth, such fears should be noted; and poured into the crucible of air-tight legislations that will re-federalize the Police system; but ensure state police doesn’t end up the wayward rod of cynical governors. 

    But back to Adams and co.  If your thinking flares and freezes with cross-ethnic wars, how can you be part of a security thinking for a modern, multi-ethnic, multi-faith state?

    Still, you’d be amazed at Adams’ penchant for the over-reach: the hubris that sank many Aare Ona Kakanfo — an irony totally lost on the Kakanfo latest modern mascot.

    By the way — as Ripples earlier pointed out — there’s hardly anything as Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland.  It was originally an Oyo title, imposed on Oyo’s vassal and tributary kingdoms in the Yoruba country, under the Oyo Empire.

    The Ijebu, for instance, never came under the Oyo imperial yoke.  Yet, they are no less Yoruba.  So, isn’t an “Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland” —  a Yorubaland that includes the Ijebu country — a laughable historical fallacy?

    Yet, from this presumption issued Adams’ letter seeking governors’ fiat to pacify the South West of Fulani felons.  But why would any right-thinking governor, worth his mandate, surrender his security authority to some non-state cells?

    Again, it’s an overreach, which bizarre irony again seems to escape Adams.  Yet, tragic overreaches, bordering on reckless hubris, plagued the paths, and triggered the tragic ends, of many previous Kakanfo — hence the title’s poisoned chalice.

    By the way, Adams would appear yoked in the lower rung of a neo-atavistic chain: nay-sayers thundering from newspaper columns; as TV anchors and as radio presenters, milking present angsts to proclaim past whims, as sure future catastrophes!

    That, to be sure, is not alien to a democracy, with a flower of contesting ideas. 

    Yet, emotively gloating over current challenges and pushing preferred Armageddon hardly equates thinking through policy options and proffering rigorous alternatives.  That’s what the media should do.  Unfortunately, the reverse is the case, in many cases.  The people — that crave guidance in troubled times — are the worse for it.

    That’s why a Gani Adams would proffer antediluvian solutions to a modern problem and hope to get traction.  But again, it’s voyage to nowhere.

    Back to previous Kakanfo and tragic overreaches, however.

    Ilorin’s Afonja leveraged his life-long beef with Alaafin Aole Arogangan to supplant his Oyo imperial state.  Afonja, as Kakanfo, was Oyo’s military guard(ian)-in-chief.  But for his treachery, he enlisted Alimi, his Fulani friend and his corps of quoranic teachers-cum-warriors.

    They supplanted Oyo all right but Afonja’s hitherto proud Yoruba town, founded by his great grandfather, Laderin, fell under Fulani liege.  He not only died tragically betrayed, he become a historic study in self-destruct perfidy. 

    Afonja was only the fourth Ilorin Yoruba ruler, after Laderin, Pasin and Alagbin, Afonja’s father, in that order.  After him, the Fulani, though of a mixed Yoruba-Fulani breed, took over.

    Ijaye’s Kurunmi perhaps had legitimate grouses against Alaafin Adelu.  But he too overreached himself by undermining Adelu’s authority, though Adelu’s father, Abiodun, made Kurunmi his Kakanfo.

    So, when the Ibadan army, under the Alaafin’s diktat, stormed his Ijaye redoubt, and Kurunmi’s five sons died in battle on the same day, the evocative tragedy of Kurunmi was wrought in sickening colour!

    Ibadan’s own Latoosa had decisioned Efunsetan Aniwura, the Iyalode and Ibadan native society’s opposer-in-chief to Latoosa’s not-so-hidden power grab schemes.  To him, the Olubadan, was a “woman” because the Ibadan constitution forbade the Baale from going to war.

    Yes, Efunsetan was down but the Ibadan constitution held.  So, off went Latoosa to “end all wars in the Yoruba country” simply because the intrepid Fabunmi, of Okemesi, had the temerity to behead an Ibadan viceroy, Oyepetun, for defiling Fabunmi’s wife. 

    That was September 1877.  But by 1893 when the smoke of Kiriji, the Yoruba Civil War, had cleared, the Oyo Empire, which the Ibadan opportunistic army of war spoils claimed to defend, had itself fallen — to a more ruthless British colonial army.

    Latoosa himself never died in battle.  But he fell ill and died at the tail end of the dire 16-year stalemate — a stalemate that tasted as defeat to the Ibadan army, but victory to the Ekiti Parapo battle-hardened troops; that called the bluff of the Ibadan bullies.

    Read Also: EFCC quizzes ex-Gov Ahmed over alleged diversion of N10bn

    Again, the Kakanfo and their tragic overreaches of missions impossible!

    Gani Adams appears not so different.  In his letter, he boasted of having “troops and logistics to flush out undesirable elements” — great!  But troops and logistics!  What law gives a non-state player the fiat to harbour “troops and logistics”? 

    Even assuming without conceding — as the lawyers would say — that Gani’s ancestral “army” worked this magical wonder, how sustainable will it be, if the situation remains unchanged Nigeria-wide? 

    So long for quaint and romantic solutions to all-too-real problems!  Still, you can’t blame Adams for his passion and love for his native Yorubaland. In doing that however, he should be wary of talking himself into needless trouble.

    The truth is Nigeria’s security challenge isn’t a Fulani versus Yoruba ancestral feud; or the Junkun versus the Idoma, in Ajoche: that excellent epic serial beamed on DSTV; or even Fulani versus Hausa, which a research finding has fingered as the genesis  of banditry and sundry violence in the North West.

    Fulani herders accused some Hausa criminals of cattle rustling.  Hausa farmers countered with Fulani herders wilfully destroying their crops.  Both resorted to fearsome arms to settle scores.  Enter, the current security meltdown!

    So, Nigeria’s insecurity nightmare is the criminal, of whichever ethnic hue, versus the rest of us —  not some mascots settling ancient scores, real or imagined.

    The logical answer, after a rigorous diagnosis, is re-federalizing the police for more trained numbers and spread in police cadres.  State police is it.

  • Abiola’s, Gani’s posthumous awards in order, say Sagay, Oyebode, Falana

    Senior lawyers yesterday disagreed with a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Alfa Belgore, that President Muhammadu Buhari broke the law by awarding Nigeria’s highest national honour to the late Chief Moshood Abiola and Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN).

    Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Professor of International Law at the University of Lagos, Prof. Akin Oyebode, rights activist Femi Falana and a former National Secretary of Labour Party, Kayode Ajulo, said the awards were in order.

    President Buhari on Wednesday evening named Abiola, winner of 1993 presidential election that was annulled by former dictator Ibrahim Babangida, a holder of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), 20 years after his death in 1998.

    Gani Fawehinmi, a rights advocate and icon of the June 12 struggle, who died in 2009 aged 71, was also posthumously conferred with the Grand Commander of Nigeria (GCON), while Democracy Day would be celebrated on June 12, rather than May 29, to further honour Abiola’s  memory.

    But Justice Belgore, CJN from 2006 to 2007, told online newspaper Premium Times that the national honours could not be awarded posthumously.

    According to him, under the 1964 National Honours Act, only soldiers or other servicemen could be awarded posthumous medals for their bravery.

    Section 3 of the law states the requirements for awarding national honours to a Nigerian as follows:

    “The President shall by notice in the Federal Gazette signify his intention of appointing a person to a particular rank of an Order.

    “Subject to the next following paragraph of this article, a person shall be appointed to a particular rank of an Order when he receives from the President in person, at an investiture held for the purpose- the insignia appropriate for that rank; and an instrument under the hand of the President and the public seal of the Federation declaring him to be appointed to that rank.

    “If in the case of any person it appears to the President expedient to dispense with the requirements of paragraph (2) of this article, he may direct that that person shall be appointed to the rank in question in such a manner as may be specified in the direction.”

    But Sagay noted although he had not read the particular provision relied on by the ex CJN, he urged Nigerians to “look at the big picture.”

    He said: “Was there injustice done on June 12? Yes, to both Nigerians and to Abiola, a very great injustice which almost destroyed this country. Is it therefore good that this injustice should be removed and justice done? The answer is yes. Has what Buhari done, not restored justice to the situation and poured balm into the hearts of those who were hurt? The answer is yes.

    “So, why should we be looking for legal arguments to overturn justice that has been done? These are some of the things that I cannot understand about Nigerians.”

    He implored critics to stop pouring “cold water on the happiness of the people on positive things that elevate this country. They want to pour cold water on it with very technical, narrow-minded and, I may even say evil arguments.

    “Some people are even saying the awards were conferred with a political motive. Again, I ask, what is achieved by the conferment of the awards, is it a positive or negative thing? Is the act something to be happy about? Is it something that resolves a major problem and brings relief to the country? The answer is yes.

    “So, what does it matter, even if there’s a political motive?

    According to Sagay, the awards were “the right thing to do, it’s a big solution to a long-standing problem that has been festering. It brings relief and joy to the country. I think Buhari needs to be congratulated heartily and I so congratulate him.”

    Oyebode observed that the conferment on the awards on Abiola and Gani were special cases. He cautioned Nigerians against trying to thwart that honour through legalism.

    Oyebode said: “We should be clear that the awards are honorific in nature and should not be hamstrung by legal gymnastics. Agreed, awards are usually for the living but that Abiola case is a special one which should not be vitiated by crass legalism, more so as the enabling Act grants the President as the awarding authority a wide discretion on the matter.”

    Falana, relying on the Act and Public Holidays Act, submitted that there was nothing illegal in what the President did.

    Falana said: “With profound respect to the Honourable Justice Alfa Belgore, the National Honours Act has not prohibited or restricted the powers of the President to confer national honours on deserving Nigerian citizens, dead or alive.

    “No doubt, paragraph 2 of the Honours Warrant made pursuant to the National Honours Act provides that ‘a person shall be appointed to a particular rank of an Order when he receives from the President in person, at an investiture held for the purpose…’

    “But paragraph 3 thereof has given the President the unqualified discretion “to dispense with the requirement of paragraph 2 in such manner as may be specified in the direction.

    “Therefore, since the national awards conferred on Chief Abiola and Chief Fawehinmi cannot be received by them in person the President may permit their family members to receive same on their behalf.

    “Furthermore, Section 2 (1) of the Public Holidays Act stipulates that in addition to the holidays mentioned in the Schedule to the Act, the President may appoint a special day to be kept as a public holiday either throughout Nigeria or in any part thereof.”

    According to him, “It is crystal clear that the President is not required by law to seek and obtain the approval of the National Assembly before declaring a public holiday in the country.”

    Falana argued that in view of the combined effect of the National Honours Act and the Public Holidays Act “the legal validity of the well deserved awards and the historic holiday has not been impugned in any manner whatsoever.”

    Ajulo argued that “since S.3(3) of the Honours Warrant states that the procedure under S.3(2) may be dispensed only by the president where it becomes expedient, thus honouring MKO Abiola posthumous is dispensing with him having to collect his award in person under S.3(2) because its expedient for the president  to do so under S.3(3) by reason of his death.

    “In respect of this, it could be said that the act of the President to award the late MKO Abiola and late Chief Gani Fawehinmi is a laudable feat set to celebrate their struggles for the nation. And just like the National Anthem rightly puts; that the ‘labours of our heros past shall never be in vain.’ This the President has achieved.”

  • Gani always a hero, role model, says Ambode

    It was another day of honour – although posthumous – for Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi (SAN), who died nine years ago.

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode unveiled a 44-foot statue of the legal luminary at the ‘Liberty Park’, in Ojota to “symbolise the phenomenon that the rights activist represented in his life time.”

    The statue was also unveiled to mark the 80th posthumous birthday of the late icon as an affirmation of Ambode’s administration’s commitment to celebrating personalities whose actions helped to define the fortune and spirit of the state positively over the years.

    The governor recalled that Fawehinmi led the struggle for attainment of human rights and dignity especially during the military regimes which dehumanized many Nigerians.

    He said the late human rights activist would continue to remain a hero and role model for many till date.

    “We celebrate the invaluable contribution and personal sacrifices of Chief Gani Fawehinmi in the campaign for human rights and dignity, especially in Lagos State where he spent the greater part of his life.

    “Chief Gani Fawehinmi loomed large in the minds of the people, especially the underprivileged and vulnerable masses for whom he was ready to lay down his life. In the hallowed corridors of the Law Courts where he fought many battles, he was revered as a titan. Also his acts of philanthropy were borderless. He remains a hero and role model to many till date,” Ambode, represented by Deputy Governor Idiat Adebule, said.

    He added:  “Although Chief Gani Fawehinmi is no longer in our midst; like all great men, he lives on in our hearts and memories. We will continue to keep his ideals alive and pass it on to the next generation. He will continue to inspire us as we forge ahead with the missing of building a better society. This monument stands as a testimony of his strength and courage.”

    The event was well attended by members of the human rights movement and Fawehinmi’s family including his widow, Alhaja Ganiyat Fawehinmi; Chief Femi Okurounmu, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Jiti Ogunye, Debo Adeniran, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Declan Ihekaire, Nelson Ekujumi, Dr Yunusa Tanko, among others.

    Mohammed, eldest son of the late activist thanked the State Government and Governor Ambode. He said:

    “I am totally overwhelmed. I want to say a big thank you to Lagos State Government and another very big massive thank you to Governor Ambode. In all honesty, he is the man I least expected this to come from.

    “We understood when former Governor Fashola started this with a smaller statue and we were all glad that at least he remembered our mentor, our father, our leader in the human rights struggle and senior advocate of the masses. But now seeing this, I now started to say to myself that Governor Ambode has placed the name Gani Fawehinmi on a global map.”

    He described Ambode as a very reputable accountant and one of the most outstanding governors, adding that such a gigantic statue would enter the Guinness Book of Records.

    Mohammed, who alluded to the massive infrastructural renewal and efforts to make Lagos rank among top global cities, also announced the decision of the Fawehinmi family to endorse Governor Ambode for a second term in office to continue the good works across the State.

    “We hereby endorse Governor Ambode for second term in office to continue the good works in the State,” Mohammed said.

    Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) described the statue as one of the best in the country. “The monument we are unveiling today is one of the best in the country and it has to be so. We want to thank the Lagos State Government for the investment in this edifice. We can assure you that many Nigerians or anybody who enters Lagos through this road will want to find out who is here and every day we are going to teach lessons about Gani Fawehinmi.

    “We thank the Lagos State Government for rebuilding this statue. We were wondering when the former one was collapsing but we are sure this one can never collapse. It is very solid and very strong,” Falana said.

    National Secretary of National Conscience Party (NCP), Comrade Ayodele Akele, said the edifice was a wonderful 80th posthumous birthday gift to the family and associates of the late activist.

    Akele, who spoke on behalf of the NCP, a party founded by late Fawehinmi, specially thanked the State Government and Governor Ambode, saying that the government deserved to be commended.

    “I am totally flabbergasted by this wonderful edifice in honour of my icon, in honour of my mentor, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. For me, this is a wonderful memory of late Chief Fawehinmi.

    “This would be auspicious gift to the posthumous 80th birthday of our mentor and this is wonderful. For doing this to the memory of Chief Gani Fawehinmi, my humble self, National Conscience Party (NCP) and all its associates across the world say a big thank you to the Lagos State Government and particularly Governor Ambode,” Akele said.

    The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) represented by the Deputy National President, Comrade Issa Aremu also appreciated the State Government for the statue, saying it was well deserved.

    “We appreciate the Lagos State Government ably led by Governor Ambode for the honour done to our mentor, our leader, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. For us to identify with this occasion is a total commitment because when the late chief was alive, he was with us totally. He was there on the streets joining our protests and several times when we were being harassed with black market injunctions, Chief Fawehinmi was always there to defend us,” Aremu said.

    President of Women Arise, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin commended the State Government, saying that the legacies of the late Fawehinmi would continue to be remembered.

    “We are gathered here today at the statue of a great life wire of the human rights and pro-democracy movement. I want to specially thank the Lagos State Government. I know that Gani Fawehinmi continue to live in the unconsciousness of the people,” she said.

  • Fireworks as activists, others remember Gani

    On January 15, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch held the 14th Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture. The yearly event is held on the day the late Fawehinmi was called to bar, ADEBISI ONANUGA reports.

    Lawyers, activists and students from tertiary institutions around the country converged on Lagos last week for the 14th Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture. The event held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja with the theme, “Federalism, Restructuring and Good Governance: Striking A Balance”. In attendance was the the former General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, who was chairman of the event, while the royal father of the day was the Adeboruwa of Igbogbo, Oba Semiu Orimadegun Kasali, Femi Falana (SAN) among others.

    In his opening remarks, Kokori recalled the events surrounding the June 12, 1993 elections won by the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola and the nationwide strike which he led his union to embark on and joined by Nigerians to get former General Ibrahim Babangida to revalidate the results of the election.

    According to him, the June 12 elections were “the freest and cleanest election” ever held in the country.

    “June 12 was when Nigerians stood up to liberate themselves and not October 1, 1960 (Independence Day)”, he said.

    Kokori lamented that the military annulled that election. According to him, Nigeria never had the experience of freedom fighters like many other African countries and as such cannot appreciate what June 12 meant.

    Kokori said he watched  Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome Kuti, Femi Falana and others carry placards to protest the annulment of the election. He said if that had happened on Downing Street, London, those in authority would read their messages and listen to them.

    Kokori said rather than join the protesters on the street, he called his ‘kitchen cabinet’ and they did what needed to be done, which was to implement the strike that paralysed the country for several weeks.

    Veering from the strike, Kokori lamented that that he was being denied a federal appointment. “Me, symbol of freedom and democracy,” he said.

    The former NUPENG scribe explained that sometime in September last year, he got a call from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, informing him that President Muhammadu Buhari had  appointed him Chairman of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), an organisation set up to manage Nigerian workers’ pension funds.

    He said the minister congratulated him and invited him to Abuja for the inauguration of the NSITF board.

    Kokori said he arrived in Abuja with other members of the board, only for the minister to inform them that he was going for his mother’s burial and that the inauguration has been postponed.

    He said he had been to Abuja several times but the inauguration is yet to hold.

    “Up till today and four months after my appointment by the President, the board is yet to be inaugurated,”he said.

    According to another speaker at the event, Seun Kuti, son of the late Afro beat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Nigeria is still under western imperialism, which he said has also taken over the courts. He claimed that a magistrate court in Lagos refused to allow him bail a friend who was “unjustly” accused. Seun said the complainant, after getting his friend locked up, never appeared in court. According to him, the justice system in Nigeria does not represent Nigerians but western imperialists.

    Seun Kuti, who was ‘yabbing  satirically’ like his late father, took a swipe at the government saying that  the constitution did not make room for restructuring and that the laws have no room for federalisim.

    “It is unfortunate that we motherland people just accept whatever name and appellation given to us by the western powers,” he said.

    To him, “there cannot be true federalism, restructuring and good governance until those of us at the bottom start resisting those perpetuating corruption at the top”.

    However, while the lecture lasted, there was nothing in the air to indicate that Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), one of the persons invited as a contributor to the main lecture delievered by a former Dean, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Prof. Demola Popoola, was going to have an unholy welcome.

    Chief Ozekhome, who arrived at the venue at about 1:10pm, was stopped from entering the hall by protesters comprising  of some youth and students who accused him of defending corrupt politicians, calling him unprintable names. The incident interrupted the keynote lecture being delievered by Prof Popoola for more than 20 minutes.

    The protesters berated Chief Ozekhome for defending personalities including Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, former First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, Senate President Bukola Saraki among others, who they labeled as corrupt, contrary to the ideals for which the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi stood for.

    To them, the presence of the learned Silk was derogatory to Fawehinmi’s memory.

    It took the intervention of Falana, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja Chairman Mr Adeshina Ogunlana and Mr Mohammed Fawehinmi to bring the situation under control.

    Mohammed calmed the protesting youths by recalling that his late father did not believe in violence.

    He said Fawehinmi would not have approved what they did because Ozekhome was at the event for a purpose.

    “This gathering is a democratic gathering and it is a gathering in which security should not  restrict anybody”, he said, adding that he was about nine years old when Ozekhome was working as a counsel in his late father’s chamber.

    Ozekhome, who later addressed the gathering, told them that he was very close to Fawehinmi and that together they formulated and started the publication, “Nigerian weekly Law Report”.

    He said Gani did not believe in oppression, repression and tyranny in whatever form, adding, :”Gani fought across the country handling many cases including controversial ones.”

    He recalled that when, in 1983, the NBA said lawyers should not defend alleged corrupt politicians under the administration of General Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon when they were fighting corruption, “Gani said No; these people are entitled to their rights.

    “By Section 36 of the Constitution, every person’s innocence is presumed; I was with Gani when we were defending the so-called corrupt politicians,” among who he said was Folorunsho Kila.

    His address was, however, punctured by the protesters who shouted  “lies, lies, lies’’ even as the senior advocate told the protesters that he cannot be intimidated and called them hired protersters.

    Afterwards, Falana clarified Ozekhome’s statement on Gani, which he said should not be misunderstood to mean that Gani was a defender of  corruption.

    Falana said Gani  took on some cases to expose corruption and corrupt politicians. “So that we don’t go away with the very misleading impression that Gani was a defender of corrupt people. No! And I am going to correct this. For those that Gani defended, Gani never went to any court; he never filed stay of proceedings to frustrate the system as it is the culture now.

    “Gani never defended anybody tried by the EFCC or the ICPC. He called a few of us and said, ‘If we cannot help to kill corruption in Nigeria, we must never frustrate the little attempt being made by Nuhu Ribadu and others fighting corruption in Nigeria’ and that was Gani for you”,  Falana said.

    According to the Silk, but for Gani, there would have been too much impunity in the country.

    He said: “The country operates a class law. If a poor man is killed, they call it murder but if a rich man is killed, they call it assassination”.

    “If we are celebrating Gani, we must be able to  stand for what he stood for, which is good governance. If we are talking about restructuring, we should not be recycling same people that brought us to the level we are today.”

    The erudite lawyer said political restructuring is not possible without first getting economic restructuring in order to liberate the people.

    Earlier,  Prof.  Popoola, in his paper  titled, “ Re-Inventing the Nigerian State: Imperatives, Prospects and Challenges of Federalism, Restructuring and Good Governance” agreed with Falana that  the country cannot have meaningful restructuring without first attaining economic restructuring.

    He observed that beyond the security question, the corporate existence of the Nigerian state,  is under threat from various sources.

    He noted that there “is no country in the world today, which is not torn by civil war, yet whose basis of corporate existence (has been) subjected to such vociferous and persistent attackss’ by various sections of its citizenry, as that of Nigeria.

    According to him, some of the issues that have been raised go to the historical basis of the nation’s existence as a country.

    “In addressing these issues, it is imperative that we come to terms with the substance of the historical processes which had produced our ethnic groups and the Nigerian polity as well as reflect on the mosaic nature of the ethnic and cultural geography of the county”, he advised.

    He remarked that  Nigeria and other African countries were programmed to fail by the colonial masters right from the beginning, with distorted and disarticulated structures and a marginal location and role in the global order.

    Pointing out that the political environment at independence was “a set up” , the learned professor of international law explained that this was why at independence, the state inherited was “non-hegemonic and lacked the capacity to create the sort of environment that would have allowed public policy to be rational, sustainable and effective.

    “Besides, Africa did not inherit an environment that was conductive to democracy growth, and development.

    “The custodian of state power seemed also set up to fail.  They lacked economic power, their political power was fragile, and they were opportunistic and incapable of competing with powerful and entrenched profit and hegemony seeking transactional corporations.

    “The few that opted for progressive policies were humiliated, frustrated or eliminated. The result was that African policy makers and leaders moved, as it were from one error to the other. As they were able to benefit from the existing dire conditions, they resisted all calls for change”, he stated.

    Nevertheles, he noted that Nigeria still has a brilliant destiny. “In the historical evolution of nations, there are always dark and frosty moments when it might be difficult to see beyond the present challenges Nigeria, for now, may be a country of contradictions, “embodying plenty of painful realities and beautiful dreams”.

    He added, “freedom for the people, that is what Gani stood for and pursued with dogged determination in his life time. The struggle must not be allowed to die even as we continue to celebrate this enigma of our time”, he emphasised.

  • KSA, Gani gave me N100 scholarship – Senator Babafemi Ojudu

    KSA, Gani gave me N100 scholarship – Senator Babafemi Ojudu

    Senator Babafemi Ojudu has recalled how legendary juju musician King Sunny Ade and late legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, jointly gave him a N100 scholarship to complete his secondary school education in 1977.

    Ojudu, Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Buhari disclosed this via his Facebook over the weekend as she shared a post of a doctor he assisted to complete her post-graduate medical studies in the US.

    ‘With my “daughter” Dr Bunmi Obayemi who just completed her post graduate in Medical studies in the US,’ Ojudu wrote.

    ‘She came all the way from Virginia yesterday to receive me in Maryland.

    ‘She was deeply emotional as she gave her testimony on how I got her through medical school. I almost teared up too as I listened to her full of appreciation.

    ‘Yesterday was my second time of meeting her. The first was when our respected monarch , The Ewi Of Ado Ekiti, handed her over to me and said “Femi you have to see her through school”. I didn’t look back from them on. Thank God Bunmi has made the best of the opportunity.

    ‘I once passed through a similar lane. In 1977 Chief Gani Fawehinmi and King Sunny Ade gave me a scholarship for my final year in secondary school. It was N100. When you sow a seed sometimes you never can imagine the fruit it will bear.

    ‘I am so so proud of Bunmi’s accomplishments. May God use her too to better the lots of others.’

    A firm believer in education, Ojudu started the Initiative of Babafemi Ojudu for Leadership Development, iBOLD, an annual essay competition for students, whereby the top 20 students are ‘helped through school and (given) a laptop to assist them in their studies.’

     

  • Gani and the curse of Aole

    Gani and the curse of Aole

    Gani Adams’ thirst for the controversial Aare Ona Kakanfo title, is clearly  a push for self-actualization, after attaining the basics of life.

    But given the jinx that comes with the deal, a yearn for societal recognition never comes with more baleful sweepstakes.

    Ola Rotimi, in Kurunmi, put the ruin of Kurunmi of Ijaye, yet another Kakanfo, in the tale of the tortoise and his doomed travel.

    Mr. Tortoise, the playwright teased, when would you return from your journey?

    When I am disgraced, disgraced, disgraced, the tortoise chanted, as if stung and frozen by hubris, when I am disgraced!

    Mr. Tortoise was the powerful Kakanfo Kurunmi of Ijaye, for picking war, when he could have chosen peace, against the equally formidable Ibadan army, led by Basorun Ogunmola.  At the end, Kurunmi perished, with his five sons; and his city lay in ruins.

    That was 1861, when the Oyo Empire was on a crumbling run.

    Shortly after, Latoosa, the Ibadan war general, had a crack at the Kakanfo title.  Baited to mount the Olubadan stool, he balked:  the Olubadan was a “woman”, since by the Ibadan constitution, he was forbidden from going to war. But he, Latoosa, was a man of valour!

    His wish, unspoken but loud enough, was to annex Olubadan to his Kakanfo title.  But at the end, not even the mighty Latoosa could push his wish through.

    Latoosa fell ill and died during the Kiriji campaign (1877-1893); forcing a constitutional stalemate.  That merged into a hideous stalemate the Kiriji War had become, against the Ekiti Parapo, under the hardy Ogedengbe of Ilesa.  Latoosa, history records, was the last general to lead Ibadan’s last war as a military power.  But he didn’t conquer.

    Still, Kurunmi and Latoosa were latter-day victims of the Kakanfo jinx.  The jinx itself originated from the ancients, marked by the dreadful Aole curse.

    Alaafin Aole so wanted to get rid of the powerful Kakanfo Afonja, the Ilorin warlord and most dreaded war general in the Oyo Empire of his day, who without much ado, annexed the Kakanfo title, after Kakanfo Oyabi died.

    Alaafin Aole didn’t like that one bit.  So, he saddled Afonja with an un-winnable war, such that after 90 days, and the Kakanfo didn’t triumph, he would commit suicide, by the severe code of his office.

    But Afonja and war confederates somewhat penetrated the plot and hatched a counter-plot.  From the battle zone, they sent the king an empty but covered calabash — a grim symbol of total rejection, at which the Alaafin must end his life.

    Aole did.  But he laid a curse — the dreaded curse of Aole — which doomed the Yoruba country to endless wars, plunder and capture; by kith-and-kin and by aliens.

    Afonja of Ilorin, true enough, was the first victim of that curse.  He not only died in his final battle with his Fulani usurpers, under the treacherous Alimi, he also lost Ilorin, his city, to them.

    Thus began the Kakanfo jinx — which seems to have endured, with its latest victim the late MKO Abiola, who died in detention in 1998.

    That is the title Gani Adams just inherited.

    But as the Kakanfo of the ancient era was soaked in jinx, the Kakanfo of the modern era is drenched in the fierce politics of the Yoruba progressive/conservative divide — one, bowing to the moral majesty of the Ooni of Ife (custodian of the Yoruba cradle); the other, holding fealty to the imperial supremacy of the Alaafin of Oyo (proud inheritor of the Oyo Empire, the sole imperial state in Yoruba history).

    Under the British colonial order and Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) government in early independence years, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi (reigned 1930-1980), had scaled unmatched ascendancy, which climaxed in his appointment as Western Region governor (1960-1962), and re-established his post-empire preeminence in Yorubaland.

    In contrast, no thanks to Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II’s squabble with the AG establishment (deposed in 1955 after mounting the throne in 1945), the Alaafin had sunk in the opposite direction.

    So, when as Regional Premier, Samuel Ladoke Akintola (SLA) became the Aare Ona Kakanfo (the first in the modern era) in 1962, it was in the thick of the AG schism and regional crisis.

    It was also a rally, by the Oyo-speaking Yoruba, for one of their own, against the Awo AG establishment.  It was Yoruba neo-civil war under high-wire politics, with high calibre casualties.

    Awo went to gaol.  But SLA also perished in the 15 January 1966 coup, to sustain the jinx that the Kakanfo seldom ended well.

    The MKO Kakanfo story also followed the same pattern.  Abiola’s Kakanfo path was the Yoruba conservatives’ challenge to Awo’s post-2nd Republic (1979-1983) progressive mainstream.  MKO had led a futile charge, from the conservative National Party of Nigeria (NPN), to uproot that hegemony.

    Though MKO was named Kakanfo in 1988 (three clear years after the fall of the 2nd Republic and one year after Awo’s death), it was in the context of the Ooni-Alaafin tango for supremacy in the old Oyo State (now Oyo and Osun states).  Abiola, a Gbagura man from Egbaland, had an Oyo ancestry.  His father was Balogun of Ojoo, Ibadan.

    Still, 10 years later in 1998, the Kakanfo jinx struck again.  MKO died in the Abacha gulag, after languishing there for four years, for challenging the lawless annulment of his presidential mandate.  Cold comfort, though: MKO died a martyr of Nigerian democracy.

    Ironically, Gani Adams is blundering on the Kakanfo title, after the rather rash politicking of 2015.

    The South West progressives had split, with the old Awoists supporting President Goodluck Jonathan, simply because they detested the other faction, under Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, doing an electoral entente with Muhammadu Buhari’s North West.

    Adams, with Dr. Frederick Fasehun, threw their Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) lot with the Afenifere grandees, but in exchange for electoral lucre — a controversial oil pipeline contract.

    OPC also later rallied for their commander-in-chief with a Lagos show of brazen outlawry, just to press their loyalty.  They lost the election but OPC gained fresh notoriety, derision and contempt from civil and polite society.

    Ironically, with his Kakanfo announcement, Gani’s old allies in the Afenifere camp have thumbed it down  as rash, callow and over-ambitious.  But the other camp has given him qualified encouragement.

    Is this then the birth of fresh electoral alliances for 2019?

    Adams himself has been rather excitable over the Kakanfo jinx — who wouldn’t? — telling anyone he would buck it by not dying young.  That is no illegitimate wish, and his lovers would say amen to that.

    But the Kakanfo is not unlike fearlessly treading where angels dread.  Still, however his tenure ends nestles in the womb of time.

     

  • 60 garlands for Gani, UI kingmaker

    Within the campus of University of Ibadan (UI), he is as popular as the institution itself. And, in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, he is as famous as moon. Perhaps, his popularity, based on his natural inclination for justice, fairness, integrity and accountability can better be understood within the context of an argot among his admirers who summarise his relevance thus: Gani kan, UI kan, Gani kan, Ibadan kan meaning there is only one Gani in both UI and Ibadan.

    However, beyond his popularity, any time the name, Dr. Gàníyù Adetunji Adeniran is mentioned, the refrain has always been, “but Gani is good “. To all intent and purposes, this goodness that is associated with Dr. Gani largely has to do with his positive character, integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity and moral courage. Born on 2 July, 1957 at Adeoyo Hospital in Ibadan, Dr. Gani who turns 60 today is a senior lecturer in the Department of Veterinary Pathology, UI where he graduated in 1986. He had earlier attended Ilesha Grammar School and School of Animal Health, Moore Plantation, Ibadan from 1977 to 1979. He has served UI in various capacities, including Council Committee Chairman on Security from 2007 to 2015. Outside the campus, Dr. Gani was Chairman, Presidential Visitation Panel to Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi (1999), Member, Governing Council, Federal College of Education, Kontangora (2000-2003) and Commissioner, Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSEIC) between 2004 and 2007.

    Interestingly , Dr. Gani’s  life eloquently demonstrates the Turkish proverb which says  ”good people are like candles, they burn themselves up to give others light”. Certainly, those who know him will agree that he is an “Afenifere” (the one who wishes others well) to the core. He is naturally given to the pursuit of well being of everyone. Little wonder he is so popular and loved by many. The fragrance of flowers may spread in the direction of the wind, but as far as Gani is concerned, his own goodness spreads in all directions without considering your tribe, religion or social class.

    For many years to come, security men and women in the UI will forever be grateful to Dr. Gani for all he did to improve their welfare when he was the Council Committee Chairman on Security. Before the coming of Gani, no security officer had ever attained  Principal  Security Officer (PSO) cadre on CONTISS 11. But when the “warrior” came, he practically took on the battle and fought gallantly until the siege was over. He dismantled all administrative bottlenecks constituting promotion stagnation for the security men and women on campus.

    Also, during his tenure as Chairman, Dr. Adeniran created  four security zonal offices including Masaba, Botanical garden, Intelligence Unit, and Awolowo hall. He also employed the highest number of security personnel in a very transparent manner. To be specific, 90 patrolmen and women were recruited: the largest single recruitment exercise in the history of campus security service. He rebranded their operational vehicles, just as he raised money among his friends to ensure that all was well with the unit and its personnel.

    In the last 25 years, Dr. Gani has participated actively in the appointment of six Vice Chancellors, thus earning the appellation of a kingmaker. “Once Gani supports your ambition for the position of VC,  rest assured that you are the VC”, a dependable source volunteered. From Profs Omoniyi Adewoye, to Ayodele Falase, Olufemi Bamiro, Isaac Adewole and the incumbent, Abel Idowu Olayinka, it is probably difficult to dismiss the political sagacity of Dr. Gani. He has the followership. He understands the terrain and  has mastered the game . He is indeed a major factor in both campus politics and Ibadan political culture .

    Amazingly, he does not carry religion on his head. He is a devout Muslim, yet Dr. Gani will attend your church ceremony if invited. He will sing and dance with you in church. He simply loves people and their progress. He hates injustice . For instance, when some powers and principalities rose against my appointment in UI, Dr. Gani stood for me. He insisted that the appointment must sail through. According to him, “Saanu is not a Muslim as I am. He is not from Ibadan where I come from neither is he a woman that I want to go out with. But I simply like this man because of the quality of his work. If the university must move forward, we must not hesitate to recruit the like of Saanu “. In conjunction with the immediate past VC, Prof. Adewole who equally deployed his powers and political wizardry , Dr. Adeniran fought and fought until the opposition voices were subdued. Yet, he knew me not from Adam!

    Apart from my case, he has fought similar battles on behalf of many helpless and hapless individuals who would have otherwise  been edged out of the system unjustly. Indeed, Dr. Gani is a divine handkerchief in the hands of those that are weeping. He is a helper of the helpless and a defense for the defenseless. In abundance, he naturally possesses  incomparable passion for the wellbeing of the less privileged .

    Dr. Gani has the three universally recognized moral qualities of real men : wisdom, compassion  and courage. From caring for others, his courage probably blossoms. He maintains a bit of mystique as his style of life is unique, simple, truthful, fearless and above all consistent. He is unrepentant when it comes to fighting for a just cause. It does not matter who is involved, Gani will garnish you with the bitter truth that will lay you to rest!

    However, he does not joke with his integrity, he hates corruption with passion. In demonstration of his love for accountability , Dr.Gani attended a conference in India on the bill of the University in 2011. Immediately he returned from the “Fire India 2011 Exhibition  conference. He refunded a day estacode of $425 (about #75,000). Excited by his transparent lifestyle, the then VC, Prof. Adewole commended him in a letter dated 10 October, 2011, saying “ your timely clearance of the cash/ touring advancement given to you for the journey is highly commendable”. A dubious person would have manipulated the situation to keep the money for himself. Not in Gani’s character. In the same vein, when he was the Hall Warden of Sultan Bello Hall, he gave a transparent account of his stewardship, just as he raised money for the Hall without taking commission . Without doubt, in moral probity and accountability, he stands out.

    To Dr. Gani, honesty is more than not lying. Honesty is truth-telling, truth-speaking, truth-living and truth-loving. His philosophy  is found in the words of an Australian television personality, Tabatha Coffey who says “ we have to stand up for what we believe in , even when we might not be popular for it. Honesty starts with being ourselves, authentic and true to who we are,  and what we believe in, and that may not always be popular, but it will always let you follow your dreams and your heart”.

    However, this tribute does not in anyway suggest  that Dr. Gani is an angel. No. He is human. And there is no error-proof man in life. He has his own shortcomings. Perhaps, part of his imperfectness could be found in his mercurial twists of temperament. He could be accused of volatile unpredictability of mood. Dr. Gani is largely feared for his tempestuous temper . But then, as he advances in age, more so now that he has joined the club of sexagenarians, it is hoped that he will be taming his temper. Good enough, age, or better still, old age, has a way of making a warrior less adventurous. But beyond this perceived weakness, Dr. Gani is a man with a loving heart. A man whose unwavering commitment to any worthy cause is unparalleled.

    He has established a “prayer-by- phone ministry through which he daily sends a dose of prayer and inspirational messages to his loved ones. But if you failed to acknowledge the prayer on three consecutive times, Dr. Gani may feel miffed, thereby remove your name from the list of the beneficiaries. But that doesn’t mean he hates you! To him , you probably don’t need prayer.

    In recognition of his immense contributions to the development of Ibadan land, Dr. Gani was recently honoured by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) during the Ibadan Cultural Festival 2017 where his virtues were loudly proclaimed . He does not have plenty money in his pocket, yet, he is qualified to be named among the contemporary philanthropists as he regularly assists the needy with his meagre resources. Apart from giving you money, he will attend your ceremony irrespective of the distance.

    As this enigma marks 60 years in the land of the living today, one can only pray that he lives much longer before he becomes an ancestor. Happy birthday Dr. Gani, may your days be long for the benefit of humanity.

    • Saanu is Media Assistant in the Vice Chancellor’s office, University of Ibadan     Email: sundaysaanu@yahoo.com(08059436919)

     

  • Emir of Borgu appoints committee for Gani Durbar

    Emir of Borgu appoints committee for Gani Durbar

    The Emir of Borgu , Senator Haliru Dantoro  has appointed Mallam Ibrahim Musa Goni, the Kogunan Borgu as Chairman of a Six Man committee to oversee the successful implementation of the work plan for 2015 Gani Durbar Festival slated for 7th  14th November in Kainji, New Bassa, Niger State.

    Other members of the committee which is expected to deliver a new bench mark for the international festival are Alhaji Nurudeen Mohammed, the Tafidan Kiama (vice  Chairman), Alhaji Damisa Yau Mohammed, the Danmasanin Borgu (Director  General), Alhaji Abdullahi Umar, the Madanin Borgu, Mr. Frank Meke and Mr. Peter Nze.

    The Emir who directed that the committee should fast  track the registration of a company to manage the affairs of the festival, enjoined the committee not to leave any stone unturned in the quest to deliver a world class festival that would not only promote tourism and culture in Borgu land but will bring about change to Nigeria quest to attract international visitors and revamp tourism as a business with employment windows.

    And in line with His Royal Highness Directives, the committee has set up contact office in New Bussa and Abuja with a plan to officially unveil the programmes of the festival including the theme to corporate sponsors and stakeholders before the end of September.

    In a press release issued by the media team in New Bussa, the chairman of the committee, Mallam Ibrahim Goni assured the Emirate council, the people of Borgu and Niger State government of the preparedness of his team to deliver a festival that would reverberate across the nation and our borders, particularly in restoring and rebranding the traditional sport, history and culture of northern Nigeria and also help put Borgu land on global tourism map as must visit destination.

  • What would Gani do?

    I 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 candour, 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.

    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.

    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.

    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 all this 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 a 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 land 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”.

     

    • Ajulo, a lawyer, Founder/Chairman, Egalitarian Mission for Africa and the National Secretary, Labour Party, wrote in from Abuja in commemoration of 6th Memorial Anniversary of Gani Fawehinmi.