FIRST and foremost, I salute the
quintessential social justice crusader, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) for his extraordinary, inimitabile and altruistic
life while on earth. The Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM)
as Gani was splendidly christened
lives on in the hearts of the people despite his transition to the great beyond
in 2009. Almost a decade counting, the vacuum Fawehinmi left is yet to be
adequately filled. The masses still mourn.
On the other hand, corruption hops dimensionally
knowing that its core enemy is no more. The youths voluntarily acknowledged
Fawehinmi’s selfless services to the society with the title of ‘SAM’ which connotes a defender and voice of the
people. It is understandable, therefore why Fawehinmi’s families, colleagues, fans
and the masses including students converge annually to commemorate his death
with public symposium among other activities.
Incidentally, the recent 14th
edition of Gani Fawehinmi Annual Memorial Lecture/Symposium organized by the
Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch turned dramatic with face-to-face accusations
and counter-accusations alongside defenses. At the venue, mammoth crowd of
great personalities and the youths gathered to pay homage as usual. But the unprecedented
episode that more or less interrupted the event was the aggressive refusal of
the youths and students to allow Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN)
have access to the venue as a guest-speaker. The youths discourteously blocked
his way and accused him of aiding and abetting corruption by spryly, delightedly
holding briefs on many corruption cases thereby frustrating the anti-corruption
crusade of the federal government. In their argument, Fawehinmi’s ideologies are
incompatible with backing treasury looters. As a result, countless unprintable
names were unrestrainedly, sarcastically thundered, echoed and thrown at
Ozekhome.
Luckily, a prominent activist and
lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) came to
his rescue and calmed the protesting youths. Reacting, visibly in an angry
manner, Ozekhome lambasted the federal government and his detractors over the opprobrium
and tagged the dramatis personae as ‘rented miscreants’. But seriously, could
the same crowds that bestowed titles without restrictions including ‘SAM’ to Fawehinmi metamorphose overnight to ‘rented
miscreants’ or perhaps, a different group? Two salient points emanate from the
quagmire; first, is there any sense in the youth’s nonsense? In all probabilities,
the youths’ specification for the highly-treasured event was exclusively
‘Fawehinmism’.
Second, could a lawyer hold briefs
for any accused persons including those on corruption related cases? A thousand
times yes. For instance, a suspect arrested for kidnapping and other felonies,
through his lawyers brought several claims against the Police recently
challenging his detention and also seizure of his chattels. That’s legal
profession in action. However, life is all about choices and two options always
exist. The discretion to hold any briefs remains the choice of lawyers.
Undeniably, late Gani Fawehinmi required
no introduction to anyone of age during his lifetime. Fawehinmi gallantly prioritized
public interests above personal benefits. As a lawyer that believed in legal
justice, he never allowed social justice to take a second position but measured
side by side on corruption matters. To him, any public officeholder
convincingly accused of corruption with substantial evidences cannot escape
justice despite plethora of flaws in the legal regime.
Relatively, Fawehinmi would not pray
the court to dismiss allegations with evidences rather would supportively fight
tooth and nail to recover diverted-funds stressfully traced to bank accounts by
security agencies? This irrefutably accounted for the cordial relationship he
enjoyed with Nuhu Ribadu during his tenure as EFCC helmsman. Was Ribadu’s
tenure flawless? Emphatically NO. Remarkably, Fawehinmi contested presidential
election against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on the platform his National
Conscience Party, NCP and lost, and therefore belonged to the opposition. Yet,
Fawehinmi overwhelmingly cheered and complemented the efforts of government’s
security agencies on corruption.
As far as Fawehinmi was concerned,
corruption must be confronted squarely and extraordinarily, and his heartbeat
on social justice was clear; salvage all looted funds and no scheming under the
cloak of technicalities and lacunas. That was the red line of Fawehinmi’s
activism. Simply put, stealing, looting and other corrupt practices are serious
crimes. Again, Fawehinmi wouldn’t denunciate government as tyrannical where
there are evidences of corruption let alone giving cover to tracked stolen
funds merely for procedural defects, at the detriments of the suffering masses?
Clearly, Fawehinmi’s activism underscored objectivity and triumphed exceptionally
on a maxim, ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’.
Emphatically, late Gani Fawehinmi
symbolizes self-abnegation, integrity and nationalism, precisely the masses
well-being. Above all, Fawehinmi’s high profile was dedicated to societal good,
and not even political ambition made him soft-pedal to ‘if you can’t beat them,
join them’ slogan. To the legal icon, all looted public funds until recovered were
tantamount to social injustice and oppression of the people.
To conclude, whether a government is
fit or inept will neither justify anyone accused of corruption to escape justice
under any guise. Thus, the weird approach notwithstanding, the voice of the
people is the voice of God, ‘vox populi, vox dei’.
Umegboro, public
affairs analyst writes from Lagos / umegborocarl@gmail.com / 07057101974 (SMS only)
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