Introduction
Last week, I gave a little insight into my humble contributions to the struggle for democracy, now being messed up by present state actors who were never involved. Many of them had run abroad. Many hid behind their wives’ backs. Many carried on their normal business. But some of us risked our lives, came out and faced the military goons, ranging from military juntas of Generals Buhari, Babangida, Abacha and Abubakar. We (human rights activists) did not discriminate, whether we were minority, like me, or of majority ethnic groups. We fought together and snatched Nigeria back from the asphyxiating grip of military fascism. We enthroned democracy!
Titanic Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM, the undoubted leader of the struggles, was badly bruised. He suffered more detentions, humiliation, pains, pangs, tears, sorrow and blood than any other Nigerian, living or dead. He died of lung cancer on September 5, 2009. He was lucky to have lived for another 10 years after enthronement of democracy, considering the savagery he went through in the hands of the military. Chief M.K.O. Abiola was not that lucky. He won the 1993 presidential election, was denied the crown and eventually died inside Aso Villa, in suspicious circumstances that pointed to top government conspiracy.
Encore
As I said last week, I had begged Gani to apply for his SANship, to enable me do same. He did. He got it in 2001. Mine lasted till 2009 when, eventually, I was conferred. The story is long.
But Gani had become increasily uneasy and furious at the delay. When he felt that my being conferred with SANship was lasting forever, he wrote me a personally signed letter dated November 22, 2008 (I have it framed), wherein he said,
“My Dear Ozek,
Shock is the expression of rejection of the refusal by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee to confer the honour or status of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on you this year.
God knows that you more than deserve the award of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
In the year 2009, God will put right the mistakes made by human beings in their failure in 2008 to award Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to you.
Yours sincerely,
Chief Gani Fawehinmi, LLD, SAN”
Yes, Gani was prophetic. I was conferred with the rank of SAN in 2009, the very year he had predicted. I had left Gani’s chambers a very fulfilled, ambitious young man in December 1985. I set up my own legal practice in January 1986. Military dictatorship was then in full bloom. But we remained close till he died, with a father-son confidante relationship. I was one of the last persons who visited him at his home (GRA, Ikeja, Lagos), after he returned from London, weighed down by lung cancer. Many of the things Gani confided in me before his death (e.g., why he closed down his chambers, but allowed Nigerian Weekly Law Reports (NWLR) publication to continue), remain in my bossom. My memoirs will reveal all. I had co-founded the now famous NWLR with him. It was me who suggested the name and colours. We launched it on October 1, 1985. I was Assistant Editor.
My collaboration in the formation of the first human rights body in Nigeria – the CLO
There came the urgent need in the 1980s to float a virile human rights league of like minds, to fight the military to a standstill, rather than the solo efforts we had been used to. This new thinking gave birth to the first ever human rights organisation in Nigeria, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), on October 15, 1987. These were the pioneer drivers: Olisa Agbakoba, SAN (President); Clement Nwakwo (Secretary); Mike Ozekome, SAN (Director of Legal Services); Richard Akinola, then of Vanguard newspapers (Director of Publicity); Abdul Oroh, then of Guardian newspapers (Director of Organisation); Emmanuel Erhakpotobor (Treasurer). We took up pro-masses causes, releasing from Kirikiri and Ikoyi prisons, through the law courts, many illegally detained prisoners. Some had been so incarcerated for over 15 years without trial, even for minor misdemeanors. It was most horrific. The SAP riots soon came. We dealt with them.
Formation of the UDD
By 1992, I became more restless, more convinced we needed more voices to fight the military. So, I established the Universal Defenders of Democracy (UDD), an international human rights league, launched by late Justice (Dr.) Akinola Aguda. Emeka Ihedioha (ex-Governor, Imo State) was Director of Organization. Chika Michael, a lawyer, was Treasurer. Pastor Leke Sanusi (now based in London) was Director of Legal services. Pollie Okoronkwo (now of NNPC) was Director of Publicity. Tayo Douglas was Staff Attorney. We protested against the military on the streets, sang, danced, walked, ran, pamphleteered, leafleteered, etc. This increased under the umbrella of the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), after the mindless annulment of Abiola’s election as President. Gani was JACON president; I, the director of publicity and publications. We protested from Ikeja, Mushin, Ojota, Ikorodu, Isolo, Igando, Ikotun, Yaba, Iyana-Ipaja, Ebute Metta, Tinubu Square, Ijanikin, Okota, Lawanson, Ijesha, Maryland, etc. We remained in the trenches for days, weeks, months. Many of us were beaten up, maimed, killed, detained or jailed. Many escaped abroad on self-exile. Some of us stayed put, and dared the military, eyeball-to-eyeball. Some activist journalists went underground and commenced guerilla journalism. On one occasion at Yaba/Tejuosho bus stop, Murtala Muhammed Way, Lagos, the military actually sprayed us tear gas with hovering helicopters. We used handkerchiefs, soaked with kerosene, to ameliorate the choking effect. Gani, our fearless leader, collapsed due to much inhalation of noxious gas. We rushed him to the hospital. Not a few believe his lung cancer disease emanated from these serial brutalisation and dehumanisation in the hands of successive military cabals.
With the UDD, I secured reprieve, through Justice Morenike Onalaja of the Lagos High Court, a stay of execution of the death sentence passed on General Zamani Lekwot, who had been sentenced to death by an IBB military tribunal over the Zangon-Kataf riots. I never knew or met him before then. We only met for the first time in 2014, 21 years later, as delegates at the National Conference. He thanked me profusely. I used my UDD to persuade the court to declare illegal the arrest and detention of the then “Kuje 5” – Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Baba Omojola, Femi Falana and Olusegun Maiyegun (then NANS president). And many more.
The emergence of JACON
We later discovered that going solo with our various human rights leagues was not sufficient. We needed a larger umbrella body. My UDD (now Universal Defenders of Justice Initiative [UDJI]), Gani’s National Conscience Party (NCP), the CLO, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Agbakoba’s United Action for Democracy (UAD), Nwankwo’s Constitutional Rights Projects (CRP), Beko’s Campaign for Democracy (CD), Falana’s Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Dr Tunji Abayomi’s Human Rights Africa (HRA), and 16 other pro-democracy and human rights organisations, merged together to create a new organisation, the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON). On April 29, 1998. These organisations finally sent the military packing.
Many JACON members were arrested and detained. JACON instituted several court actions against Generals Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, and against the annulment of the June 12 election won squarely by Nigeria’s iconic democratic matyr, Abiola, who shed his precious blood in messianic redemption. Courageous Justice Dolapo Akinsanya of the Lagos High Court was later to declare as illegal, the Interim National Government (ING), set up by Babangida, and headed by former U.A.C. chairman, Chief Ernest Sonekan. For some details of these struggles, please see: page 33, CLO’s 1990 Annual Report on Human Rights in Nigeria. See also NY, USA-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Report (issued 27th June, 1989), titled “In Defence of Rights: Attacks on Lawyers and Judges” (https://www.iej; https:books.google.com.ng); https://www.inigerian.com/june-12-and-the-hypocrisies-of-a-junta/; https://rhbooks.com.ng/product/heroes-of-democracy/; https://thenationonlineng.net/heroes-of-june-12/; https://www.facebook.com/nigeriansinusa/posts/heroes-of-june-12posted-by-emmanuel-oladesu-on-june-8-2018-the-nationhuman-right/1012615088892120/; https://diplomaticwatch.com/june-12-as-nigerias-democracy-day-president-buhari-has-done-the-right-thing-for-which-history-will-remember-him-ozekhome-san/.
Read also Joe Igbokwe’s detailed chronicle in his epic book, “Heroes of Democracy”, published in 1999. That yours sincerely, from a humble background, was considered fit and proper by God Almighty to be inducted into the pantheon and Hall of Fame of “Heroes of Democracy in Nigeria” is one thing I cherish forever. I am grateful to God.
My sweat, tears, pains and pangs
In my years of struggles, I was beaten, humiliated, tear-gassed, detained several times, terrorised, my phones bugged, declared persona non-gratia to briefs of government institutions (MDAs), etc.
Let me recall just a few. On one occasion, SSS (now DSS) men threw tear gas canister into my Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos, office, to smoke out myself and members of the UDD, as we used my office address as UDD secretariat. For detailed narration, see Tayo Douglas, https://www.marketwatch.com/pressrelease). My first detention experience was actually by the State Security Service (DSS), at Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, in April 1986. I was later to be detained also at Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, and many other cells.
On another occasion, after the April 22, 1990, Gideon Orka coup, I was arrested by two lorryloads of fierce and fully armed soldiers from my Ajao Road, Surulere, Lagos, office. I mocked the officers for wasting precious manpower and time over “small” me, with an armada of fully armed personnel, as if going to war. I lectured them that a mere invitation by letter, or through my landline, would have achieved the same objective.
I was whisked away and detained at a dungeon, near an open, smelly toilet, with maggots wriggling out. It was owned by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), headed by Brigadier General Ibrahim Sabo, at Child Avenue, Apapa, Lagos. I met Olisa Agbakoba there (see https:www.amnesty.org).
May God grant eternal rest to the martyrs of the struggles: Chief M.K.O. Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Chima Ubani, Bagauda Kaltho, etc. May God bless the living heroes and heroines of the struggle. I thank God that I have been part of the struggle and to be alive to tell the story. The struggle continues. Even now. No retreat, no surrender. Aluta continua! Victoria Acerta.
Thought for the week
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and
listen.”
– Winston Churchill