Don’t be
used, Gani tells Igbo
By Victor Ebimomi
Reporter, Lagos
Foremost human rights crusader, Chief Gani Fawehinmi
(SAN), has charged the Igbo people to come together and forge a united front
instead of allowing themselves to be used and dumped by the powers-that-be. He
advised them to be united so as to produce a president in 2007.
Fawehinmi said at the launch of a book Nigeria: Freedom of Association and
the Trade Union Act: A critical Analysis written by Femi Aborisade and Adeola Joseph, that successive
governments in the country have always seen Igbo people as the whipping boy.
He advised them to take their destiny in their hands
by shedding the toga of elements to be used and dumped and take their rightful
place in the scheme of things in the country.
“The East should stop allowing themselves to be
used by nebulous and nefarious leaders”, the ever critical and vocal Gani
said, blaming the Igbo for their problems.
He said it is because they allowed themselves to be
used that issues like the shrines found in Okija was celebrated, noting that
there is no where in the country where shrines do not exist.
Gani came down hard on members of the National
Assembly for the way they were handling the Labour Bill before them, saying the
bill was hurriedly put together by the Presidency and the legislators are ready
to pass it “with indecent haste”.
He said majority of the senators do not understand
the bill but are only willing to pass it because they have been influenced by
the ‘Ghana-must-go’ syndrome. President Olusegun Obasanjo “
does not mean well for the country” was the summary of his assessment of
the president’s polices and system of governance.
Ha faulted Obasanjo’s claim that the Labour
Bill was meant to reflect the democratic spirit in the country, explaining that
it was only meant to protect the selfish and oil interests of the few in
government.
He argued that reviewing the labour law should not be
at prerogative of the government alone but must involve all stakeholders.
“Obasanjo is not a democrat. He does not
believe in democracy and, therefore, he cannot defend Section 40”, Gani
said.
He warned that there would be no strike again if the
bill is passed and the fallout is that poverty would be aggravated because
there would be nobody to defend the masses.
He also criticised the president of acting as an agent to
international financial organisations and the West. Gani said, “Major
sectors of the economy that are supposed to be managed by government are being
privatised by this government”.
