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SOME OF THE CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES AND ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES ON HIS ELEVATION TO THE RANK OF SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA, SAN Chief Olusegun Okeowo – 1977/78 NUNS National President wrote in the Nigerian Tribune of Monday, 29th October 2001 at page 11 in an article titled “Gani and SAN award” said as follows: “The recent conferment of the highest national legal status, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on Chief Gani Fawehinmi has awakened many aching Nigerian souls from the decadent slumber of hopelessness. Indeed, the conferment is a symbolic demystification of a high systematic cultist institution: Nay, the conferment is a gladdening victory for the continuing struggle for the society as the greatest measure of all genuine intellectual pursuits… Gani Fawehinmi reflected progressive sunshine on the darkness of Nigerian national SANship. In another language, it is not the SAN that makes Gani famous or popular, it is Gani that has made the SAN both famous and popular. But for Gani, the conferment would have remained the customary famous obscurity in the usual cocoon of ignoble popularity. Gani had long been awarded Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) before the present SAN. Candidly speaking, the real beneficiary of the Gani SAN conferment is not Gani but the Nigerian judicial system and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) both of which we congratulate. As for Gani, we simply salute him for this gibraltaic consistency in the faces of the several tyrannies. Gani is able, Gani is capable, Gani is available and Gani is reliable despite his several baptisms of deprivations in several Nigerian prisons and detention camps” Olusegun Adeniyi in his column: The Verdict in the Thisday of Thursday, September 13, 2001 back page wrote in an article titled “Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, SAN” as follows: “…Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi or Gani as we all know him is actually genuine whenever he says the struggle to make Nigeria a better place is one for which he is prepared to lay down his life. Because he was prepared to lay his life that day... On Monday, Gani officially became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, an honour that is actually long overdue but that it happened is a big plus to the Bar and the Bench in Nigeria and nobody deserves greater commendation than the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Uwais, who negotiated the deal that saw Gani’s acceptance to apply once again for SAN which he had been denied in the past not on the ground that he did not merit it but on account of his stance. Almost every Nigerian had known for more than a decade now that Gani was more than qualified for the silk robe but then it had become a political matter until Justice Uwais broke the ice. But then as I have stated, it is one honour that is long overdue because whenever we talk about the profession of law in Nigeria today, Gani stands tall. With his weekly law reports, his library, his legal support for the indigent and the displaced and then his judicial activism, Gani has become an icon, a role model, defender of the voiceless and a terror to all despots. What distinguishes Gani from many other great lawyers in Nigeria today, however, is his belief that the law must serve the common good and that the law could be used for social advocacy, to right the wrongs of the society. Of course in pursuing this stance, he has suffered many forms of indignities, deprivations, physical and psychological torture. He has, as it were, paid the price. What indeed marks Gani out is the fact that he early in life chose the course he would chart and he has pursued his dream notwithstanding all the odds on the way. That is why many now salute his courage. You may not agree with his method, you may hate his guts, but you cannot fault the fact that he is genuine, he is honest and he truly loves the people. Incidentally, as a student of Ife in 1987, I was part of the process that led to Gani’s enthronement as Senior Advocate of the Masses. It was not only unanimous it was one of the most democratic decisions ever taken at any institutional level in Nigeria. I recall the endless debates at the Students Representatives Council level, the Students Congress at Awolowo Hall and the several meetings of the Association of Campus Journalists. All in the process to ensure the military authority did not scuttle it. The moving force then were President Owoseni Ajayi, Kehinde Bamigbetan, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika not to forget ‘outsiders’ like Lanre Arogundade and Opeyemi Bamidele who even when they had graduated still influenced our union from outside. With a Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wande Abimbola, who was not as lily livered as the ones now running the campuses, we defied the General Ibrahim Babangida regime and the heavy downpour of that day to give Gani an honour he can never forget. I doubt if anything can be compared to that day when our campus stood still for Gani as we made him the Senior Advocate of the Masses. Not being a lawyer, I don’t know what SAN can add to Gani (I know what it can add to many other lawyers) but whatever it is Gani’s place in history was already assured before the ceremony of Monday in Abuja. I wish him many more years of selfless service to Nigeria” |
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Copyright 2005 Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), All Rights Reserved. |
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