Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, has said that the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi played a pivotal role in keeping Nigeria’s political space open for opposition parties and political associations. He recently had his say at the public presentation of a book titled Gani Fawehinmi and Uba Sani: A Tale of Mentor and Mentee, in Kaduna.
According to him, Fawehinmi spearheaded the legal battle against strict conditions imposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission on political associations seeking registration as political parties.
He added that while several human rights and pro-democracy activists became disillusioned during the struggle, Fawehinmi refused to let frustration derail their commitment to democracy.
His words, “At a serious meeting, we told Chief Fawehinmi, our leader, that we were beginning to lose faith in democracy. But he would not permit frustration to become despair.
He told us to have faith in the judiciary, faith in the rule of law and faith in democracy itself.
Rather than abandon the democratic process, we would use the democratic process to defend democracy.
I recall that the ruling was delivered by Justice Dahiru Mustapha in 2002. INEC appealed to the Supreme Court, but in January 2003, the Supreme Court again ruled in our favour.
Therefore, whenever we celebrate political plurality in Nigeria, whenever new parties emerge and whenever citizens exercise their rights to organise politically, we should remember those who fought to make that space possible.
Many of those proudly identifying with all sorts of political platforms today may not know that the freedom they exercise was secured through difficult struggles by people like Chief Gani Fawehinmi. Democracy has a history, and every freedom has a cost.
Many of those beneficiaries have since become medical doctors, lawyers, academics, engineers and professionals who are contributing meaningfully to national development.
Many of the challenges confronting Northern Nigeria today are connected, directly or indirectly, to inadequate investment in human capital.
Fawehinmi possessed the rare courage to make principle more important than comfort and justice more compelling than personal convenience.
He used the law as an instrument of liberation, defended ordinary citizens against arbitrary power and contributed immensely to Nigeria’s struggle for democracy, accountability and human dignity.”
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