Gani: Radical to the end

By Reuben Abati

THERE are obvious lessons to be learnt from the manner in which the late legal luminary, Gani Fawehinmi has been mourned in the last week and it is as simple as this: it is good to be good, a good man is always mourned, the death of bad men results in break dances. We have witnessed quite a number of funeral rites involving prominent Nigerian figures in the last decades; it is not difficult to know a man's true worth and stature from the way his or her death is received by the rest of the community. A few examples would do. When Adegoke Adelabu, the star of Ibadan politics died in the 60s, the entire Ibadan community was shaken to its very roots.

The political circumstances of the departed resulted in a community-wide expression of pain. Adelabu may have been an opposition figure in the politics of the then Western region but his Ibadan kinsmen were proud of him. When the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi of the University of Lagos died, it was as if a dagger had been sunk into the heart of the progressive camp. Pa Michael Imoudu, Labour leader No 1 lived long, but his death still brought tears and a torrent of tributes. Margaret Ekpo was also celebrated in death as she was in her life-time. The same for Malam Aminu Kano, the leader of the poor and defender of their interests. Fela's death also produced so much display of affection and admiration at home and abroad. Awo's death brought the entire Yoruba nation to its feet. Sam Mbakwe, former Governor of the old Imo State was deeply mourned. Same was the case with the Cicero of Esa Oke, Chief Bola Ige.

Gani's death and all the ceremonies that have been held in his honour by his family, the Bar and the Bench, and the Lagos State Government remind us poignantly of how appreciative the Nigerian people are of goodness in human beings. In spite of all the travails in our lives and the failure of values that we complain about, death has a way of speaking directly to our sense of humanity. I have seen pictures in the newspapers of Gani's mansions in Lagos and Ondo, with their well-tended gardens which have inspired at least one remarkable comment in the Next newspaper, but this is not why Gani is being celebrated. No one gets remembered for their mansions or exotic cars; at the last hour, before the journey towards six-feet of mother-earth (some people get less these days), every person answers for his or her deeds.

Death and dying and the rituals of bereavement, mourning and burial are directly linked to society's moral codes and choices. The hour of death and burial provides a compass for the evaluation of time spent and how well. Gani had written his own epitaph when he was alive with his good deeds. When a good man dies, we feel intuitively as if an essential part of our lives has been lost, we feel diminished, and Gani was such a strong presence in the lives of Nigeria's suffering masses, most appropriately all the tributes to him have been marked with such expressions as service, courage, conscience, legacy and the need to sustain his ideals. Gani's children, receiving so many vistors who have been trooping to their Ikeja GRA home to pay condolence and tributes, must be proud of their father.

Gani's great grandchildren will one day read stories about the great Gani and also be proud of him. The well-deserved celebration of Gani and his life is a major triumph for the progressive movement. So overwhelming is the man's aura and spirit even in transition, that his former adversaries have felt compelled to put in a few words. And so, General Ibrahim Babangida issued a tribute, or someone did so on his behalf. Many fans of Gani who had not seen the tribute immediately asked the man to save his breath. There are also others who have been busy shedding hypocritical tears, and that is perhaps the way of the world. But this shouldn't bother us. If it takes Gani's death for some persons to recant, or repent, we must be glad that this is so. In the past week, we have been most pointedly reminded of all the fault lines in the Nigerian society, the injustices of the past, the present as well, and the need to continue with Gani's unfinished task.

We all have a lot to learn from his glorious exit. Gani was a radical to the end. His iconoclastic spirit has dominated his last journey. It has taken a Gani for us to realise that the Islamic practice of burying the dead immediately can be revised. All of a sudden, in respecting Gani's last wish that all the constituencies to which he belonged should be allowed to pay their last respects, many have become experts in reporting that the only reason Muslims in the desert regions are buried within 24 hours is because of heat and that in the rain forest region, this may not be necessary. Still, it doesn't matter. Gani has been praised fulsomely by the Muslim Jammat. He is a transcendental icon who deserves to be celebrated.

For me the most touching part has been the appearance in Gani's home of a long queue of beggars who came to pay their last respects. They also made a speech, the best tribute that has been paid to Gani so far. At one of the lying-in-state ceremonies okada motorcyclists also turned up in their hundreds. Children and students. So moving. There has also been a touch of irony to the funeral rites: yesterday, the Lagos state event in honour of Gani Fawehinmi was held in of all places, the Police College Grounds in Ikeja! Can you imagine Gani lying-in-state in police premises? The same Gani whom the police attacked with tear gas, threatened to shoot and marched into the Black Maria for protesting on behalf of the ordinary people of Nigeria, for insisting on the rights of every human being to be treated with dignity. The same police men joined the large crowd of mourners and they mourned too. The Nigeria Police is also providing 1, 300 men to provide security during Gani's burial in his hometown of Ondo, with the rider that "the police would deal ruthlessly with anybody who might want to use the occasion to carry out any sinister motive." In his speech, Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos made the point that hopefully, Gani's death will inspire the Nigerian Police to desist from reckless shooting of innocent citizens and we may add, the collection of N20 bribe at check-points. Can we say amen to that?

When unpopular figures die, the atmosphere of public response is different. This may range from ambivalence, to indifference or outright jublilation. Abacha's death was celebrated as the death of a bad man. There was dancing in the streets from Alakuko to Ojuelegba in Lagos; it was unprecedented. Most newspaper comments gave harsh accounts of the man's life and times. When Lamidi Adedibu, the strong man of Ibadan politics also died, the poor people whose cause he championed mourned him but the educated elite who objected to his style of politics felt relieved. Abacha and Adedibu, to mention just these two, represented certain tendencies that the people considered inimical to the common good. Abacha's totalitarian methods and Adedibu's culture of political thuggery and "Godfatherism" have not been recommended anywhere since. But Gani lies still on his death-bed and the consensus at home and abroad, is that the multiplication of his tribe is necessarily a good thing for society.

There was something I consider curious however at the Lagos State event yesterday. There were references at least twice to Gani's five-year old grandson and how the boy is already showing signs of becoming another Gani. The struggle for a better Nigeria for which Gani lived and died cannot wait for Gani's grandson. The biggest tribute that we can all pay to him is to carry the torch of freedom from where he left it off. There is a Gani in each one of us that must be brought to the surface and we need not display the departed icon's level of courage but each in his own way can imbibe the values of his life.

So many politicians have been "dancing" around Gani's death-bed making highly rhetorical noises. The PDP, the ANPP, the AC and other political parties have talked about Gani's ideals and legacy. It is not enough to talk. If those politicians mean exactly what they are saying, then they will respect the people's rights to choose, there will be no further rigging of elections and the theft of ballot boxes, no arrogant boasts about "capturing" power for 60 years. Government officials have also heaped tons of praises on Gani's casket: if they all mean what they are saying, there will be no more looting of the treasury and the governance process will become people-oriented. Gani has also been praised by so many rich men and women, but are they willing like Gani to support the poor and the needy? How many of our rich men offer scholarships or support the indigent? In many cases, they steal from the poor in order to remain rich.

So genuine was Gani's humanism that even the deaf, the blind, the dumb came, not to pose for photographs beside his casket, but to mourn him. "We have lost our friend," they said. "Gani was our lover and we have come to pray for his departed soul. We have known him and he has known us for over 20 years. This great Chief has always helped us. For instance, harrassment by many governments. You know he stayed long in his cancer problem; so because he was not well, that was why he has not been able to help us for sometime. If to say that he was well, the government cannot do us anyhow. He would have told us, let us go to them. Who is cheating you and so on like that. He would have said let us go to that Majidun area and bail out whoever is there. Honestly, we are still crying in our hearts because the chief made us feel like real human beings. But we have been praying for him." May it please the Almighty to answer their prayers.

Robot  # 1 | 11.09.2009 07:37

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