Gani Fawehinmi (1938-2009) is the most famous figure in Nigerian history who made a name using his legal training and resources in fighting for justice for the Nigerian people.The only other legal figure who could be said to have his prominence as a lawyer is Rotimi Williams ((1920-2005), but "Timi the Law",even though he demonstrated the courage of an independent minded person along with his legal brilliance,was not a social activist like Gani was.
Gani was one of the ever resilient few,along with Nobel Laurete Wole Soyinka and other figures,who insisted on fighting causes whose primary or only relationship with their own well being was that it affected all Nigerians.He endured imprisonment,harassment and the climate of assassination created by the Babanginda and Abacha regimes in battling causes which,even though,they did not always succeed against totalitarian governments who controlled the organs of the law,succeeded in focusing national and international attention on the villainy represented by a significant number of the activities of such governments,as well as highlighting their illegitimate means of coming to power.Particularly memorable for me is his long,dogged and unsuccessful attempt to prosecute two military officers,Halilu Akilu and Tunde Togun,on cirumstantial evidence,for complicity in the 1986 assassination of the journalist Dele Giwa,during the Babangida regime,a murder unsolved till today and for which,as far as I know, no prosecution has been carried out.
His death this morning,5th September 2009, suggests the beginning of the end of an era of a particular generation of public activists in Nigeria,following on the death in 2006, of Beko Ransome Kuti(1940-2006), who,along with Fela Anikulapo (1938-1997) and Olikoye (1927-2003),to adapt the words of former President Olusegun Obasanjo,were,along with their sister,Dolupo,their mother,Funmilayo Ransome Kuti ( 1900 – 1978)and father Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (1891 to 1955) members of "the legendary Ransome Kuti [family] of Abeokuta".
Younger and older members of the group who fought such death defying battles are still with us,such as Femi Falana and Wole Soyinka,but I wonder whether the culture of civic resistance these people represent is still as powerful as what they demonstrated.The fact that Nigeria has had a democratic government for some years,with relatively orderly succession at the highest level in one election,means that the inspiration and the character of such resistance might be changing.Perhaps the struggle is becoming less spectacular,more focused on the effort to speak truth to power,to mobilise the resources of the press and the Internet in presenting and mobilising support for alternative perspectives to those of the government.
The culture of civic activism Gani represents is marked by being embodied by members of a highly educated and cosmopolitan elite,most,in my understanding ,being from Southern Nigeria,and a few from the North.
Do people like those,whose vision and career are visibly centred in self and tribally transcending values,have a place in government?Should such people try to influence public policy and its execution through participation in the political process?Those who are better informed than myself can better judge the character and accomplishment of various Nigerian politicians and of technocrats in the Nigerian government..In doing that,the brief career of Wole Soyinka in the Babangida government and of Gani's efforts at the centre of a political party would be examined as to the challenges facing Nigerian visionaries in politics.Soyinka's role was different from that of Gani,Soyinka being appointed by Babangida,as Olikoye Ransome Kuti was in the health ministry,to oversee particular initiatives under the auspices of the government.Gani's aspiration was different.His political amibitions were not centred in the idea of :simply working within a government but he sought to be central to the formation of a government.I do not know how seriously he pursued that vision.His lifetime of activity as a gadfly of the state in the Socratic sense,however,will remain legendary in Nigerian history.
Gani was one of the ever resilient few,along with Nobel Laurete Wole Soyinka and other figures,who insisted on fighting causes whose primary or only relationship with their own well being was that it affected all Nigerians.He endured imprisonment,harassment and the climate of assassination created by the Babanginda and Abacha regimes in battling causes which,even though,they did not always succeed against totalitarian governments who controlled the organs of the law,succeeded in focusing national and international attention on the villainy represented by a significant number of the activities of such governments,as well as highlighting their illegitimate means of coming to power.Particularly memorable for me is his long,dogged and unsuccessful attempt to prosecute two military officers,Halilu Akilu and Tunde Togun,on cirumstantial evidence,for complicity in the 1986 assassination of the journalist Dele Giwa,during the Babangida regime,a murder unsolved till today and for which,as far as I know, no prosecution has been carried out.
His death this morning,5th September 2009, suggests the beginning of the end of an era of a particular generation of public activists in Nigeria,following on the death in 2006, of Beko Ransome Kuti(1940-2006), who,along with Fela Anikulapo (1938-1997) and Olikoye (1927-2003),to adapt the words of former President Olusegun Obasanjo,were,along with their sister,Dolupo,their mother,Funmilayo Ransome Kuti ( 1900 – 1978)and father Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (1891 to 1955) members of "the legendary Ransome Kuti [family] of Abeokuta".
Younger and older members of the group who fought such death defying battles are still with us,such as Femi Falana and Wole Soyinka,but I wonder whether the culture of civic resistance these people represent is still as powerful as what they demonstrated.The fact that Nigeria has had a democratic government for some years,with relatively orderly succession at the highest level in one election,means that the inspiration and the character of such resistance might be changing.Perhaps the struggle is becoming less spectacular,more focused on the effort to speak truth to power,to mobilise the resources of the press and the Internet in presenting and mobilising support for alternative perspectives to those of the government.
The culture of civic activism Gani represents is marked by being embodied by members of a highly educated and cosmopolitan elite,most,in my understanding ,being from Southern Nigeria,and a few from the North.
Do people like those,whose vision and career are visibly centred in self and tribally transcending values,have a place in government?Should such people try to influence public policy and its execution through participation in the political process?Those who are better informed than myself can better judge the character and accomplishment of various Nigerian politicians and of technocrats in the Nigerian government..In doing that,the brief career of Wole Soyinka in the Babangida government and of Gani's efforts at the centre of a political party would be examined as to the challenges facing Nigerian visionaries in politics.Soyinka's role was different from that of Gani,Soyinka being appointed by Babangida,as Olikoye Ransome Kuti was in the health ministry,to oversee particular initiatives under the auspices of the government.Gani's aspiration was different.His political amibitions were not centred in the idea of :simply working within a government but he sought to be central to the formation of a government.I do not know how seriously he pursued that vision.His lifetime of activity as a gadfly of the state in the Socratic sense,however,will remain legendary in Nigerian history.
