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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 The Catholic Church of Nigeria in their congratulatory letter titled "Catholic Church Congratulates Gani" published in many newspapers particularly the Punch of Saturday, July 28, 2001, page 17 wrote: “The Lagos Archdiocese the Catholic Church on Friday congratulated Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the fiery Lagos based lawyer, for his elevation to the rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)… the Director of Social Communication of the church, Rev. Gabriel Osu said: ‘Although well deserved and merited, it (SAN) has been unduly delayed and overdue, but there is time for everything, it has come’ You (Fawehinmi) have used your profession and talents to challenge unjust policies and structures and defended human and people’s rights even to the point of losing your life for the sake of the masses. I rejoice with you on this attainment and extend my warm felicitation to you on this joyous occasion.” See also, The Comet, Saturday, July 28, 2001, p. 4 The Monitor, Saturday, July 28, 2001, p. 2 The Monitor, Sunday, July 29, 2001, p. A3 Ayo Akinyemi in an article titled: “If men were God” published in The Monitor on Sunday, July 29, 2001, page A7 said: “As I was summing up my thoughts came the news of Gani Fawehinmi’s ascension to the honourable platform of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The effant terrible of the bar now has combined honours of SAM and SAN. What a graduation! What a combination? Senior Advocate of the Masses plus Senior Advocate of Nigeria. What a change in the tide of time, in the life of man, as dictated by the Most High from His exalted throne. No man has control over the direction of the tide of time, and the life of the other man. What God’s ordained time for a happening in the life of man is ripe, no jupiter can stop it.” The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in its congratulatory message signed by its President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to Chief Gani Fawehinmi on the award of SAN published in the Daily Champion of Monday, August 6, 2001 page 24 wrote: “That the title is a well-deserved reward for integrity, hard work and professional excellence is merely saying the obvious. However for us in the trade union movement and civil society, the progressive and people centred trust of your advocacy had marked you out over the years as an authentic Senior Advocate despite the judgment of the legal establishment. Therefore the real issue is that your admission into the inner bar has in fact bestowed greater credibility on the institution and given real meaning to the title.” Eric Osagie in his column, the Flipside in the National Interest of Saturday, July 28, 2001, page 9 and in an article titled “Triumph of the Gadfly” wrote as follows: “Roll the drums. Sound the trumpet. Pop the champagne. Let’s celebrate. Let’s toast to the triumph of the gadfly. Let’s salute a great Nigerian. A unique Nigerian. A one-in-a-million guy. A humanist and a crusader. A guy with fire in his bones. I know you know who I am talking about: Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, a man I am proud to call my friend, and who happens to share the same birthday, April 28 with me. A man who has just been honoured with the prestigious award of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. I am filled with excitement for this man who, to me, is one of the greatest living legal practitioners in the country today. A man who would count among the 10 most brilliant, most accomplished lawyers ever produced in Nigeria. It doesn’t matter whether you love or hate his guts; and I am not saying it because he is my friend or because he has just won an award. Gani is indeed a gift to the legal profession and to Nigerians. The sadness of it all is that it took 35 long years for Gani to be given what he eminently deserves. It has indeed been a long walk to SAN(ship). Gani has sometimes wondered why some Nigerians delighted in stalling the dues of others, for no other reason than envy and pettiness? Why did those who knew he was more than qualified for SAN keep withholding the award from him? Why did those who have been using his fabulously rich weekly law reports and other publications and had benefited from his immense wealth of experience continuously keep the honour from him, all for the flimpsy reason that he has never applied for it? And why must he apply to be recognised? For a very long time, Gani’s non-award of SAN was a painful embarrassment to the Legal Practitioners Privilege Committee and indeed lawyers in the country. It had become a veritable symbol of injustice and vindictiveness against one man. Anytime names of new SANs are announced, the question usually asked is why was Gani not given? There is usually no answer other than he hasn’t applied. …perseverance finally paid off for him. Doggedness, resilience, commitment to principle was finally acknowledged. …if I know Gani well enough, this latest award will fire him up the more in the struggle to lift up the people from the morass of dejection and hopelessness. If I know Gani well enough, the award would make him more determined in the fight against all forms of injustices in the land and a commitment to bring to book some bad guys who during their days in power had done terrible things. I am one man who knows that his determination to make IBB and others answer for the murder of Dele Giwa, the front-line journalist, is no fluke or play-acting. He had once told me that even if it means death for him, he would ensure Babangida is prosecuted. He had in the course of chasing Giwa’s killers being hounded. He admitted that state powers deployed against one man could be awesome and intimidating. He has faced death in the course of tracking Giwa’s killers. But he has remained undaunted. Gani never gives up once he embarks on a crusade, a battle. One quality I admire most in this guy, is his cerebral power, his intelligence, his sheer brilliance. Wake him up in the dead of the night on any issue, he delves straight into it, without much ado. Issues of law and politics come naturally to him” Tope Adeboboye in an article in the National Interest of Saturday, July 28, 2001 page 26 titled “Gani: SAN at Last” wrote: “The news instantly struck an incredulous chord in the ears of everyone. ‘Gani now a SAN?’ That question continually reverberated from the mouths of many pleasantly surprised people. But it was true. Last Wednesday, Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, radical lawyer and irrepressible human rights and pro democracy campaigner was conferred with the prestigious title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria… Many people were both surprised and excited by the award of SAN to Chief Gani Fawehinmi. It is not that the radical lawyer is not qualified for the award. In fact, for many years, millions of Nigerians have waited in vain for Gani’s name to appear in the list of new members of the nation’s Inner Bar. The popular belief has always been that his name was left out because of Gani’s unrelenting battles with successive military governments… With the award, the brilliance of the Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) has, at last, now been recognised at the appropriate quarters. ‘The award has been long overdue, but it is better late than never’ says Rotimi Adelowo, an Ikeja based lawyer. ‘Chief Gani Fawehinmi is obviously one of the most brilliant lawyers in this country. His publications are sources of research materials for every lawyer, and he has handled many important cases. The truth is that he couldn’t have been made a SAN during military rule because of his battles with the military. Chief Fawehinmi is indeed qualified for this award, and I’m happy for him. With this he has won another battle’. …He has for long shown himself as a man within whom the milk of human kindness consistently flows. Every year, he awards scholarships to hundreds of indigent Nigerian students from the 36 states and the federal capital. Till date, several thousands have benefited from his scheme. Only last year, 300 indigent students of northern origin benefited from the Chief’s large heart with each receiving N20,000 cash for their educational pursuits. ‘Chief Gani Fawehinmi is an acknowledged national patriot, using his private resources for the development of education, especially for the under-privileged and his patriotism and commitment is now being extended to the northern part of the country. This is a natural and logical development in the personal character of a true patriot as Chief Gani Fawehinmi has great courage, foresight, commitment, moderate material resources and national outlook’ said Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former governor of Kaduna State, last year.” |
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