Between Fawehinmi And Ozekhome

First and foremost, I salute the quintessential social justice crusader, late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) for his extraordinary, inimitable and altruistic life while on earth. The Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) as Gani was splendidly christened, lives on in the hearts of the people despite his transition to the great beyond in 2009.
Almost a decade counting, the vacuum Fawehinmi left is yet to be adequately filled. The masses still mourn.
On the other hand, corruption hops dimensionally knowing that its core enemy is no more. The youth voluntarily acknowledged Fawehinmi’s selfless services to the society by confering on him the title of ‘SAM’ which connotes a defender and voice of the people. It is understandable, therefore, why Fawehinmi’s families, colleagues, fans and the masses including students converge annually to commemorate his death with public symposium among other activities.
Incidentally, the recent 14thedition of Gani Fawehinmi Annual Memorial Lecture/Symposium organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch turned dramatic with face-to-face accusations and counter-accusations alongside defences. At the venue, a mammoth crowd of great personalities and youths gathered to pay homage as usual. But the unprecedented episode that more or less interrupted the event was the aggressive refusal by youths and students to allow Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) have access to the venue as a guest speaker.
The youth discourteously blocked his way and accused him of aiding and abetting corruption by spryly and delightedly holding briefs on many corruption cases thereby frustrating the anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government. In their argument, Fawehinmi’s ideologies are incompatible with backing treasury looters. As a result, countless unprintable names were unrestrainedly and sarcastically thundered, echoed and thrown at Ozekhome. Luckily, a prominent activist and lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) came to his rescue and calmed the protesting youth.
Reacting, obviously in an angry manner, Ozekhome lambasted the Federal Government and his detractors over the opprobrium and tagged the dramatis personae as ‘rented miscreants’. But seriously, could the same crowd that bestowed titles without restrictions including ‘SAM’ to Fawehinmi metamorphose overnight into ‘rented miscreants’ or perhaps, a different group?
Two salient questions emanate from the quagmire. First, is there any sense in the youth’s nonsense? In all probabilities, the youth’s specification for the highly-treasured event was exclusively ‘Fawehinmism’.
Second, could a lawyer hold briefs for any accused persons including those with corruption cases? A thousand times, yes. For instance, a suspect arrested for kidnapping and other felonies, through his lawyers, brought several claims against the Police recently, challenging his detention and also seizure of his chattels. That’s legal profession in action. However, life is all about choices and two options always exist. The discretion to hold briefs remains the choice of lawyers.
Undeniably, late Gani Fawehinmi required no introduction to anyone of age during his lifetime. Fawehinmi gallantly prioritised public interests above personal benefits. As a lawyer that believed in legal justice, he never allowed social justice to take a second position but measured side by side on corruption matters. To him, any public office holder convincingly accused of corruption with substantial evidences should not escape justice despite plethora of flaws in the legal regime.
Relatively, Fawehinmi would not pray the court to dismiss allegations with evidences but rather would supportively fight tooth and nail to recover diverted funds. This irrefutably accounted for the cordial relationship he enjoyed with Nuhu Ribadu during his tenure as EFCC helmsman. Was Ribadu’s tenure flawless? Emphatically NO.
Remarkably, Fawehinmi contested presidential election against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and lost. In spite of his loss to the government in power, Fawehinmi and his National Conscience Party (NCP) cheered and complemented the efforts of government’s security agencies on corruption.
As far as Fawehinmi was concerned, corruption must be confronted squarely and extraordinarily, and his heartbeat on social justice was clear: salvage all looted funds without scheming under the cloak of legal technicalities. That was the red line of Fawehinmi’s activism. Simply put, stealing, looting and other corrupt practices are serious crimes.
Again, Fawehinmi wouldn’t denunciate government as tyrannical where there are evidences of corruption, let alone giving cover to tracked stolen funds. Clearly, Fawehinmi’s activism underscored objectivity and triumphed exceptionally on a maxim, ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’.
Emphatically, late Gani Fawehinmi symbolises self-abnegation, integrity, nationalism and precisely, the masses well-being. Above all, Fawehinmi’s high profile was dedicated to societal good, and not even political ambition made him soft-pedal to ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ slogan.
To the legal icon, all looted public funds until recovered were tantamount to social injustice and oppression of the people.
To conclude, whether a government is fit or inept will neither justify anyone accused of corruption to escape justice under any guise. Thus, the weird approach notwithstanding, the voice of the people is the voice of God. Vox populi, vox dei.
Umegboro, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos.

Carl Umegboro