Forever In Our Hearts By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Esq – TheNigerialawyer

I heard of him only in the news, that he was a no-nonsense
gadfly, wholly committed to abolishing all forms of impunity and
disregard for the rule of law, but I had not met him one on one.
Great Ife then became the melting point, through my good friend,
colleague and ally, Bamidele Aturu, now also of blessed memory. As
the PRO of the Students’ Union, I had the golden opportunity of
meeting external comrades and mentors, especially in the human
rights community.

The Union led Great Ife students on a protest against Nigeria’s
plan for IMF loan and the Structural Adjustment Programme, which
led to the closure of the university, proscription of the Students’
Union and eventual rustication of virtually all student leaders and
activists, numbering well over sixty brilliant minds. I couldn’t go
home to my people, knowing the wrath I would face within the family
that I had terminated their hope of producing a lawyer. Then
suddenly, Aturu announced that Gani has asked all affected students
to proceed to his Chambers in Lagos.

On getting to Gani’s expansive law office in Anthony Village, we
were first taken out for lunch, having traveled far from Ife. And
then we met him! He was emphatic that he would see to it that we
were all reinstated. We were thereafter divided into groups and
lawyers were appointed to attend to all of us to take our briefs on
the case. Gani filed the court case as promised, and attended all
the court proceedings personally, until he secured judgment for our
re-instatement. He took the judgment personally to the university
and sat there in the Senate building, insisting that we must be
allowed to sit for the coming examinations so that we won’t have to
miss any session. We were reinstated, I mean the entire sixty-two
student leaders; Adeola Soetan, Nurudeen Ogbara, Bamidele Aturu,
Adewale Sadiku, Biola Akiyode, etc. However, myself, Nurudeen
Ogbara and Bamidele Aturu had to face the Nigerian Law School, as
the university had written that we were not fit and proper persons
to be admitted into the school, due to our radical views and
activities. Gani stormed the Law School and got us admitted
immediately. So, it became natural to want to work with such an
enigma.

In Gani Fawehinmi Chambers, I truly got to know one of the best
minds that Nigeria has ever produced; very sincere, detribalized,
non-religious and always on the side of merit over and above all
other considerations. He was so very energetic, always bouncing as
if his heels couldn’t touch the ground; exceptionally bold and
determined, never for once accepting that anything is impossible,
so far as law is concerned. Generally, Gani was a fanatic, of
industry, of integrity, of excellence and diligence. He liked all
things done in order, to the very details. I had confided in
Bamidele Aturu that I only wanted to learn law and law alone,
without getting involved in the struggles of Gani and that was what
happened in my first few years of engagement in the chambers, with
Festus Keyamo, SAN, Dr. Sam Amadi and Mr Bayo Omotubora competently
working with Gani on virtually all human rights and political
matters.

Gani’s philosophy and goal was to democratize the knowledge and
practice of law and he did this in many ways, but two areas that
stood him out are the law reports and his many court cases. He
started with the Digest of Supreme Court cases, then moved on to
the Nigerian Constitutional Law cases, Supreme Court of Nigerian
Law Reports and several others. But above all these, the Nigerian
Weekly Law Reports proved to be Gani’s most potent weapon for
simplifying legal practice. He told us in the office that when he
started the practice of law, Supreme Court judgments were only
given to a few senior lawyers, who had formed the practice of
hoarding these judgments in order to gain advantage over their
adversaries in court. You would file a case, only for you to get to
court the following day and one of the privileged senior lawyers
would appear and throw a new Supreme Court decision at you, wherein
new principles of law had been decided, and all of which have
successfully snuffed life out of your case. If that had continued,
only those privileged lawyers would enjoy patronage from litigants,
to the detriment of other lawyers and their clients. Gani abolished
that with his law reports.

Gani equally revolutionized the practice of law through his
personal cases and struggles. Right from his face-off with the Bar
during the military clamp down on politicians, to the Dele Giwa
cases, he made a bold statement of his intention to change the
nature of legal practice in Nigeria, through progressive advocacy.
He indeed is the father of human rights litigation, he expanded the
concept of locus standi and deployed law to challenge dictatorship
and impunity, in all their forms. Gani it was, who took up the
challenge of the de-registration of political parties, right up to
the Supreme Court, paving the way for the political pluralism that
we now enjoy. Gani gave up his life for the cause of the masses,
such that even though he was comfortable, he continued his advocacy
for the rule of law and peoples’ freedoms, leading to constant
brushes with the authorities. He was arrested on many occasions,
detained several times, in police stations and prison yards. It
must have been in the course of his many deprivations, especially
his long detention at Gashua ancient prisons, that he contracted
the ailment that eventually led to his death.

Many have opined that were he to be alive today, Gani will
single handedly advance the cause of democracy beyond our present
experience. It may well be so, but as Richard Akinola recently
stated, Gani was a unique man born for a particular time to fulfil
a specific mandate for his generation. He did that most eloquently
and in his own characteristic style that is incomparable and
inimitable. He came, he saw and he conquered. The ones that I have
said so far, are well known to many as the typical Gani; so let me
now talk about the unknown sides of Gani.

He had a fantastic staff welfare package, although this was not
static or documented, as Gani had different categories of staff,
such as lawyers and other support staff, who worked in the
chambers, staff of the law report section and his domestic staff.
Generally, I didn’t bother myself with the issue of welfare. I went
to his chambers to learn and the impression I was given then was
that junior lawyers owe a duty of gratitude to their seniors who
offered to train them. Generally, Gani took interest in his
workers, but this was based purely on your productivity. He had a
general handsome payment pattern, but he invented and deployed
various incentives for those who worked a little above others. Let
me explain. The general closing time was 6pm but Gani always stayed
in the office till very late, at time till 10pm or 11 pm, depending
on the volume of work. He expects you to stay in the office with
him, to assist him to pick cases, to draft papers or do some other
job. If however you prefer to close at the normal time of 6pm, he
will not compel you to stay beyond that time but you may not
benefit from his incentives beyond your normal salary.

Gani was a builder of persons, who has produced judges and
lawyers of repute, all very successful in their different
endeavours. Just last week, I received an invitation to attend the
Gani Fawehinmi Annual Scholarship Awards, which he started in 1973.
This year alone, thirty scholarships will be awarded to qualified
students from universities, polytechnics and colleges of
education.

Gani didn’t believe in restrictions, as he had that innate
conviction that any legal issue can be raised in court. Those times
when I sat with him at home and he would be dictating the reliefs
to be filed in court, I couldn’t but wonder what kind of man he
was. Asking the court to compel Gen Sani Abacha to release the
report of all probe panels set up by the government or that the
court should abolish the office of the First Lady of Nigeria! And
he does it with so much passion that you were immediately infected
with the virus of activism yourself. So, unknown to me one day, he
had compiled a list of about 15 probe panels set up by the
government. When I got to his house, he asked me to sit down and
later invited me to breakfast. Of course I was having a nice time
but soon thereafter he started to bring out some documents from his
room upstairs. And then I noticed that he had a jotter upon which
he had scribbled some things in his own hand writing, which
required some divine intervention to read. So, he said he wanted to
file an action on probe panels. Thinking that I could dissuade him,
I told him that those panels were set up a long time ago and the
government having failed to release any white paper on them, the
cause of action may not be sustained. He said YES! That is the
issue. He immediately asked me to write down a relief for an order
of mandamus to compel government to release the white papers on the
probe panels, his argument being that since public revenue was
expended on the panels, Nigerians were entitled to know their
outcome. I just kept quiet and only starred at him from a distance.
He was such blessed soul.

I commend the present administration for immortalizing Gani,
through the June 12 award. However, the Nigerian Bar Association
should collaborate with the government for a more enduring monument
for him, that is relevant to the legal profession, Gani’s primary
constituency.