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Some weeks ago, precisely on the 15th day of January, 2025, the annual celebration of the legacy of the iconoclastic lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the first, and probably the only Senior Advocate of the Masses, was held by its pioneer and almost traditional platform, the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, through its annual lecture tagged “Fawehinmism”. The event was in its 21st edition, having been established in 2004.
FawehinmiThere seems to be a fond bond between the late icon and the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association as it is one particular organization that has made it an annual rite to celebrate Chief Fawehinmi when he was alive and after his death in 2009. It is a platform for an unusual blend of intellectual dissecting of the problems confronting Nigeria before the audience of poor Nigerians that Gani represented throughout his activism.
Regarding the poor masses as his primary constituency, Gani was said to have directed that the Nigerian masses must be the primary attendants at the lecture. For 21 years, this annual ritual has been preserved in honour and eternal memory of the man who chose to live for the poor despite his highly privileged profession and status attained by dint of hard work, discipline and fastidious attachment to stringent ethics.
Born Abdul-Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi to Chief Saheed Tugbobo Fawehinmi and Alhaja Munirat Fawehinmi in Ondo town in the southwestern part of Nigeria in the year 1938, Gani, as he is fondly referred to, attended Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Iyemaja – Ondo State from 1947 to 1953 for elementary education and Victory College Ikare for his secondary school education between 1954 to 1958. It was in Victory College that he sat for and passed his West African School Certificate Examination in 1958 in brilliant colours. Gani, popularly known and referred to by the nickname “Nation” while in secondary school due to his vast knowledge of civic studies and avid consumption of publication on political affairs. As it was the custom then for young school leavers to work for a short while before proceeding on higher education, Gani then worked for a short period of time as a law clerk in the High Court of Lagos until 1961 when he enrolled at the Holborn College of Law, University of London to study Law, a vocation he later practised with unparalleled conviction and passion till he died. His educational sojourn suffered a trajectory as his wealthy father suddenly bowed to the cold attacks of death thereby leaving him exposed to the inclement weather of poverty.
It was by uncommon perseverance and dedication that he completed and obtained his academic degree in London as he had to live by the sweat of his brow through various menial jobs in London. It was while being a student, as it was the case with many activists of the olden days, that Gani became fascinated by the impressive philosophy of Marxism through the publications of revolutionary or radical giants like Karl Marx, Fidel Castro, Mahatma Gandhi and Mao Tse Tsung amongst others. Gani enrolled in Nigeria as a legal practitioner on the 5th day of January 1965 from which date the annual celebration of Fawehinmism chose its immortalization. Gani was the second lawyer in the Fawehinmi Family as his elder brother, Rasheed Olabamidele Fawehinmi (later Honourable Justice) practised as a lawyer with whom Gani cut his legal teeth before hanging out his shingles. The choice of Gani as an activist brought him into collision constantly with the system that he characterized as unjust, oppressive and evil. He was the nemesis of many military and dictatorial governments right from the days of Gowon till he breathed his last.
The unyielding crusade in Gani was first noticed through the case of Abashe v. Andrew Obeya in which Gani stood for the less privileged who alleged that a prominent Benue government official had an affair with his wife. This matter, taken pro bono, by Gani, did not go down well with the government of Benue who stood with his official and got Gani incarcerated for nine months in what later turned out to be a baptismal of fire that Gani would endure at various times and durations for more than 30 years. Gani, as a Bar man served as the National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, the post he occupied until he came into a heavy collision with the Nigerian Bar Association as a result of a query when he was accused of advertising himself as a lawyer contrary to the rules of professional ethics. It was a battle that drew all lawyers to a point of attraction as everyone wanted to know the outcome of this matter involving most legal titans in Nigeria.
The victory attained by Fawehinmi liberated a major aspect of legal practice from the shackles of conservatism when the Supreme Court upheld Gani’s argument. Gani was a “suicidal” lawyer who confronted the moving train of the military government of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and as a result was incarcerated in dangerous and murderous detention cells. The number of times he abandoned his family, career and health for the Nigerian masses cannot be counted as he was in and out of prisons for many years. Like a man who had a date with history and must not fail to honour it, Gani was consistent in his fight for human rights and no moment would be more difficult than during his campaign for bringing to book the killers of Dele Giwa.
Sunday the 19th day of October, 1986 was a black one in the annals of journalism in Nigeria when a prominent and brilliant journalist, Dele Giwa, was assassinated through a parcel bomb. It was unprecedented in Nigeria and it marked the height of what was suspected to be state murder in the country. This brutal killing of this outstanding man of the pen incensed Gani, just like all other cases of oppression that he took up with consuming passion and uncompromising obstinacy. Gani fought like an angry bull not minding whatever the might of the military might do to him.
His advocacy in the media, in the courtroom, on the streets, in jail, in his homestead, against highhanded university authorities constitute the basis he was conferred with the prestigious rank of “Senior Advocate of the Masses” by the constituency he represented with love and unbending loyalty, the student movement, when Obafemi Awolowo University Student’s Union decided to honour Gani under the leadership of the indefatigable Adeola Soetan. Gani became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2001 after many years of applying to join the Inner Bar and when he had decided to abandon the dream of taking Silk.
It was a honour delayed for what many perceived as punishment for his audacity to confront the system and challenge the establishment in the legal profession. Gani did not spare the judiciary in his campaign against corruption. His acerbic pen and tongue wielded with focused wildness against members of the Bench in Nigeria who were perceived to be motivated by factors other than the need to do justice in performing their duties. He rallied the masses in a lone-ranger fight for which he did not require a company. All these have made Gani an idol to be celebrated on the day he felt he acquired the most potent weapon to fight oppression: his day of call to the Nigerian Bar. That is why the celebration of this year drew lots of people from different walks of life. His traditional constituencies, the masses and the student movement were adequately represented.
The presence of the Emir of Kano, His Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, was the highpoint of attendance and His Highness appeared in full royal regalia and accompaniment which gave the event the kind of flamboyance it had never witnessed before. The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, in total support of the event was on hand to complement the Attorney General of Lagos State, Lawal Pedro, SAN in honouring the legacy of the undeniably the greatest advocate of human rights that Nigeria has ever produced. The topic of discourse this year is eye-catching and questioning!
It is “Bretton Woods and African Economies: Can Nigeria Survive Another Structural Adjustment Programme?”. The guest lecturer was the quintessential Ademola Popoola, Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. Popular known in the student community as “Igi Iwe”, meaning, a tree of knowledge, Professor Popoola did undeniable justice to the lecture as he gushed out waters of knowledge from his rich and moving paper. The panel of contributors, made of Comrade Bala Zakka, an engineer and accountant, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, a senior lecturer from the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos and human rights advocate of international standard, distinguished themselves beyond the expectations of the organisers as confessed by the Chairman of Ikeja Branch of the NBA, Adeniyi Quadri, Esq. The lecture hall was packed full to the brims as the lecture session was moderated by the towering voice of Dr. Reuben Abati of Arise Television.
Not in the history of Fawehinmism has the lecture been this fascinating. The memory of the lecture lingers in the imposing aura of its subject, Gani Fawehinmi, SAN. Gani is (as his memory lives on) a fly that perched on the scrotum of the giant that must be carefully chased away otherwise the bulky frame of the monstrous being shall be sprawling on the ground. Notwithstanding his critical stance against the government, he could not be ignored but must be recognized for his contribution to Nigeria. This is why the government of Nigeria tried hard twice to confer on him a national award which he rejected. It was not until nine years after his death in 2018 that the government of Buhari awarded him posthumously the Order of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in recognition of his sterling qualities and achievements for the country.
Gani died on the 5th day of September, 2009 at the age of 71 when probably he was fast losing hope for the redemption of the country. Indeed, the topic and timing was the best opportune time to celebrate the great man, as the situation of the masses has never been this precarious. May the soul of this great philanthropist, one of the best legal minds that have graced the Nigerian legal firmament, a lover of humanity and the best human rights advocate of our time, rest in peace.
Live on, Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM, OON.
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