Exactly 40 years ago, Abdul-Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi hit the national consciousness as the conscience of the nation. The young lawyer had taken up the case of a poor man whose wife was involved with a military man in Jos. Since then Fawehinmi has remained a permanent feature of the citizens’ battle against forces which work to sustain a regime of oppression of the masses. "Gani", as he is fondly known, had been many things to many people.
His Parents
However, he remained the man who was born on April 22, 1938 into the Fawehinmi family of Ondo town in Ondo State. His father was Chief Saheed Tugbobo Fawehinmi, a successful timber merchant reputed for being the one who brought the religion of Islam to Ondo town. The older Fawehinmi was also known for his philanthropy and persistent opposition to the imposition of excessive tax on the masses. These two attributes of the father must have being the source of Gani Fawehinmi’s penchant for fighting for the rights of the oppressed, no matter their antecedent. Gani’s grandfather, Chief Lisa Alujonu Fawehinmi was also a defender of public interest as he was an irrepressible warrior who fought in many battles to sustain the sovereignty of his town.
Fawehimi’s mother, Alhaja Muniratu Fawehinmi was the one who was around at the time Gani had become a national icon. She was the Iya Olori Egbe Adinni of Ondo Central Mosque before she died at the age of 87. The father had died on February 5, 1963 at the age of 89 years.
His School Days
The late lawyer had his primary education at Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Iyemaja Ondo from 1947 to 1953. He attended Victory College, Ikare between 1954 to 1958. His principal was late Revered Akinrele, a renowned educationist known around Ondo province for his disciplinarian approach. It was in this school that Gani started demonstrating the radical traits which was later to define his life. In the school, he was nicknamed “Nation” because of his passionate interest in national, legal and political issues. He would volunteer to argue the cases of junior students being punished by the students unjustifiably. Fellow students also remembered him for being an avid reader of Daily Times and West African Pilot, the two newspapers that were the most popular then. Until he became very sick, Fawehinmi was a darling of journalists. His views were sought on most national issues and his sitting room at home was full of laminated version of newspaper and magazine articles written on him.
In January 1959, Gani left Ondo for Lagos to stay with his uncle, Mr Olu Akinfe at No 39, Abule-Nla Road, Ebute Metta. He got his first job as a clerk in the Lagos High Court. Two years later, on April 29, 1961, he left Nigeria for the United Kingdom by sea on the popular M.V. Aureol passenger ship. He arrived Liverpool May 12, 1961 and traveled to London by train.
Fawehinmi, who had passed his West African School Certificate in 1958 in Ondo arrived London to get the result of his General Certificate of Education (G.C.E) Advanced Level which he took shortly before he left Nigeria. He passed very well. In September 1961, he enrolled in the Holborn College of Law for the LL.B degree of the University of London (External). He was in part II of the programme when his father died. His source of financial support dried up and he became an indigent student. He had to drop out of school as a full-time student. He took a full time job as a toilet cleaner in Russell Square Hotel in Southampton Row, London. He did other cleaning jobs which included working as a sweeper in the old Gatwick Airport between February 1963 and August 1964.
He read on his own to pass the parts II and III of the LL.B degree programme. He returned to Nigeria in early September 1964 with a small suitcase containing two pairs of trousers, three shirts, one pair of shoes, two pants, two singlets, two pairs of socks and two black suits. He had bought the items at a cheap store in general sale at Caledonia Road, North London. He later enrolled at the Nigeria Law School at 213A, Igbosere, Lagos for the then compulsory three months course. He was called to he Nigerian Bar on January 15, 1965.
The Lawyer
He began his law practice in the law office of his elder brother, Rasheed Fawehinmi who later retired as a high court judge. The law office was located on No. 103 Herbert Macaulay Street, Ebute Metta, Lagos. In April 1965, he established his own chambers at No. 6 Denton Street, Ebute Metta, Lagos. In 1974, he moved the chambers to his house at No. 28 Sabiu Ajose Crescent, Surulere, Lagos. In 1978, he finally moved the chambers to its present site in Anthony Village.
Today, the chambers, including its sister company, the Nigerian Law Publications Limited has 201 employees from across the country including a Ghanaian. These include 19 lawyers. The chamber boasts of the best library in Nigeria and one of the best in Africa.
Fawehinmi was a lawyer who used advocacy, authorship of law books and publication of law reports to democratise the knowledge of law. His Nigeria Weekly Law Reports (NWLR) opened access for lawyers to decisions in the courts. As at today, over 780 parts of the law reports which is a must read for all practicing lawyers and judges, have been published. Each part now has over 300 pages weekly. It has been published without fail since 21 years ago. He has also published about 20 other books on different aspect of law spanning constitutional law, criminal law, commercial law and procedural law.
Fawehinmi, a senior advocate has handled many cases today which are not only loci classicus but open new vistas in our legal and justice system. They included Fawehinmi Vs Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee which came as a result of attempts by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to punish for defying its order that no lawyer should appear before a military tribunal, Fawehinmi Vs Abacha where the Supreme Court decided that the African Human Rights Charter is enforceable in Nigeria and Fawehinmi Vs IGP where he got the Supreme Court to decide that though the President, Governors and their deputies who enjoy immunity under section 308 of the constitution can be investigated though they cannot be tried. Fawehinmi's knowledge of law was legendary and he was so versatile about remembering the precedent cases to use in supporting an on-going case that he was often referred to as ‘Authority.’
Gani was indeed an authority in legal practice as he handled about 5700 briefs in his chamber between 1969 and 2002 when he stopped appearing in courts and more than 1,500 of these were pro bono cases which he handled of poor, oppressed, cheated people free of charge.
Also Oppresssed
Gani Fawehinmi had been detained by security agents 32 times between 1969 and1996 across 12 jails and detention centres all over the country. The government, particularly military administrations, was always uncomfortable with his pro-people activities and his advocacy for the rights, interests and aspirations of the common people. His international passport had been seized 10 times while he was physically assaulted by security agents six times. His house and office had been subjected to search about 16 times. Once, security agents invaded his Anthony Village office and shot at his guards, inflicting wounds on two of them. Another attempt to burn down his Surulere office where he kept his books was averted by neighbours who apprehended the arsonists. The same office was also raided on June 10, 1988 by security agents who seized about 496 copies of one of his books ‘Murder of Dele Giwa - Right of a Private Prosecutor.’ Though a court ordered that the books be returned and compensation paid to him, the order was totally ignored.
The late lawyer was however irrepressible. He fought to the end. And his indomitable spirit was demonstrated in that while his lung was being eaten away by cancer, last week he ordered his lawyers to file an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging the decision of a Federal High Court, Abuja over his suit in which he contended that the appointment of Mrs Farida Waziri as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was invalid as the former occupant of the position, Nuhu Ribadu has not been removed from office.
The case which has now become one of Fawehinmi’s unfinished businesses is an indication of how Nigeria has lost her number one public interest litigator, defender of the poor, Senior Advocate of the Masses and one of the most knowledgeable lawyers produced by Nigeria in the last 100 years.
Adieu Gani.
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