Daily Independent Online.
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Monday, June 14, 2004.
Bloody nose for a gallant fighter
By Godwin Adindu
Deputy
Head, Covers & Investigation, Lagos
There is no record showing that as a child
Chief Gani Fawehinmi was a truant. Even in his school days both at
Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Iyemaja, Ondo and at Victory College Ikare, where
he had his primary and secondary education, Gani was never seen as a dissident
student. Instead, he was popular for his passionate interest in national and
political issues, the reason for which he was nicknamed the
“Nation”. But, today, successive Nigerian governments have
chastised and vilified him as a dissident and an irritant. Is Gani truly an
irritant? Or is he a man persuaded by noble ideals?
For over three decades, Gani has been in
the forefront of the struggle against bad governance. And while the
establishment sees him as an irritant, the larger community honours him as the
leader of the oppressed masses. And in this vocation, Gani has paid his price.
He has lived from prison to prison, harassed, beaten and cudgeled. But, at no time has the state so
physically and ferociously attacked the Ondo State born lawyer as it did in
Lagos recently. For Gani, it was a close shave with death.
Gani and the duo of Wole Soyinka and Femi
Aborishade had staged a walk to protest President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
obnoxious policies. Venue was the Campos Square area of Lagos. But, the
authorities were determined to stop the procession. But, in their
characteristic way of exhibiting courage in the face of aggression, the trio
resisted the police and went ahead with the match. Then, came the attack. The
police threw tear-gas canisters at them and shot more directly at Gani. For
minutes, the 66-year old fighter was engulfed by the smoke of poisonous gas. He
collapsed and passed out. But, when he was revived later at a private
residence, Gani, instead of weeping for himself wept for the Nigerian nation.
And why did he weep?
Having dissipated so much energy trying to
reconstruct the nation, it is natural for Gani to feel disillusioned and
frustrated at what the new democracy is presenting to Nigerians. Besides the
incessant fuel hike, the spate of politically motivated killings, there is a
lamentable rate of social decline. After fighting so tenaciously against the military, even at the
risk of his life, the new democracy ordinarily should have provided a moment of
respite for Gani and the other freedom fighters. But, in recent times, the man
has found himself on the streets again. And this time, he is being badly bruised
and endangered by the very system he fought very hard to institute.
But, Gani doesn’t seem to be cowed. He is still
matching along with the same spirit with which he has endured eight prison
experiences and about 30 police arrests. His life is the odyssey of a ceaseless
trail, a marriage with tribulation. Starting from 1969, when he was locked up
for four times in Kaduna, Jos, Ilorin and Lagos Police Stations, to the last
incident in Lagos, Gani has come under the oppression of the state. But, there
is, it might seem, a certain force that drives the man. It is the spirit he
invoked to confront life in England as a student when his father died. Then,
Gani was in part two in the law school, and without any other source of
support, he dropped out of the Holborn College as a full time student. He wrote
over a 100 letters soliciting financial support, but none replied him. Gani was
forced to take a full time job as a Toilet Cleaner in Russell Square Hotel in
Southampton Row, London. He also did other odd jobs including working as a
sweeper in the old Gatwick Airport. And that was how he was able to see himself
through college, in England.
But, Gani’s struggles and
contribution to national development has not gone unnoticed. He has also had
his moments of glory. In 1971, he was made a member of the Ghandi Foundation.
In 1972, the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) made him an honoury member, and
in 1993, he won the Bruno Kriesky Award for his contributions in the defence of
Human Rights. These are just a few of the many awards that have been won by
Gani.
But, wherever Gani is today, there is one thing that he
would find rather very intriguing. And it is the fact that Obasanjo can pose
such a threat, to the point of leaving him with swollen eyes and a bloody nose
at the recent battle in Lagos. Gani had fought for his release from
Abacha’s gulag.
