General Secretary, Textile and Garment Workers Union, Comrade Issah Aremu, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to accord late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, a posthumous national honour in appreciation of his selflessness and commitment to nationbuilding. Comrade Aremu said the unveiling of posthumous statue in honour of the memory and legacies of the late activist by Lagos state government “vindicated the iconic non-state activist and conversely damned his persecutors while alive.”
Fawehinmi died on 5th of September in Lagos in 2009. In a remark at the sidelines of the unveiling of Gani statue in Ojota, Lagos, Aremu, NEC member of NLC, while commending Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for what he called “historic tribute after similar unveiling of statue for the late Fela Kuti last year,” recalled that “for the late human rights activist, the methods and strategies might vary, but the objective is the same: get justice for the oppressed.”
Aremu observed that very few could be counted on the side of selflessness like Gani, adding that the late legal icon rejected the national award of the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) which the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Administration wanted to confer on him.
According to the labour leader, “very few progressive lawyers in Nigeria’s history had made effective use of instrumentality of the law to push for respect for good governance as Gani did,” adding that the iconic lawyer always “had eye on justice as distinct from cases and judgements”.
The labour leader further observed the late lawyer “won fantastic landmark judgments which advanced the cause of justice, democracy and good governance”. Some of the land mark cases Gani won, he said, included the case against INEC which reaffirmed the constitutional right to freedom of association and registration of more political parties, thus freeing Nigerians from the political regimentation of INEC and the right of organized labour in Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), to strike over serial fuel price increases by the Obasanjo civilian administration.
Aremu said serial persecutions of the late lawyer by the military only strengthened his faith in the judiciary, rule of law and not less. “Gani’s frustrations and despair about Nigeria’s persistent corruption and under-development captured imagination,” Aremu. Continuing, he said the late lawyer “impacted on quality of lives of many Nigerians than many self-style statesmen.
“A private sector man, Gani canvassed to the last for bigger kinder and just government. He audaciously demanded that the state should uplift the weak rather than privilege the few.”
“He fought against poverty not by begging for charity, handouts, but through productivity and wealth generation. He was rich not through non-performing loans, but wealth generation through value adding advocacy, litigation based on justice and fruits of his labour.
“At times like this when there is bi-partisan looting of nation’s common wealth, Nigeria needs incorruptible strongmen and women like Gani Fawehinmi,” he added.
