By Alex Ekemenah
Lagos, Nigeria – Cross-section of participants at the 16th Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture have extolled the legacy and virtues of late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the indefatigable lawyer who died on September 5, 2009.
Mr Monday Ubani, a legal practitioner and one of the organizers of the event, which took place at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, said late Chief Gani Fawehinmi is being remembered for “his great achievements in every area of our national life esepcially in the usage of law as instrument of social change”.
Ubani said “no lawyer whether dead or alive is yet to rivalhis immeasurable contributions to issues of human rights and public interest litigations.”
“He was second to none and his legacy remains the treasure of the legal community until the end of time”
In his welcome address, the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Lagos, Prince Dele Oloke, said Gani Fawehinmi was a “human rights collosus, a legal titan, a cheerful giver whose relevance to the Nigerian society while he was alive”.
Oloke said his legacy “remained unparalleled and could not be diminshed by his human shortcomings. His closeness to, association with and love for the poor, forsaken, downtrodden and oppressed Nigerian masses pitched him against the State for close to 50 years.
“In consequence, his health suffered, partly due to several incancerations which naturally denied him the opportunity to take care of himself aside from the physical and psychological tortures to which he was severally subjected by the Nigerian State.
Oloke further disclosed that “In all his travails in the hands of the State, he was unwavering in his beliefs and convictions that only the strict adherence to the concept of the Rule of Law – an independent non-pocketed judiciary which will aid constitutional democracy – is the premise upon which a just and egalitarian society can be founded and nurtured.
The lecture themed “Federalism and the Judiciary in Nigeria” was chosen to “reflect the times in which we live in this country”.
The theme was addressed by Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, a notable maritime lawyer in Nigeria and Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, a notable Nigerian legal practitioner as Guest Speakers.
The Lecture which drew lawyers, students and journalists, traditional rulers and members of the human rights community also witnessed the award of Two Hundred Thousand Naira to Mr. Mayowa Abiru, the best performing First Class student in the 2019 Final Nigerian Bar Examinations of the Nigerian Law School, an amount generously donated by Mr. Patrick Olumide-Fusika, SAN.