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Gani Fawehinmi Versus Olu Onagoruwa By Adebisi Obafemi
In recent times both Gani Fawehinmi and Dr Olu Onagoruwa has been sparring on the pages of newspapers and books. These men aside from been legal luminaries and respected members of the society were good friends until the late dictator General Sanni Abacha became the Military Head of State in Nigeria and Dr Olu Onagoruwa accepted to serve in his corrupt administration as the nation’s Attorney General.
If you have been following the Nigeria press lately you would have noticed the war of words between the two men. Recently there was a three part articles in the Guardian News Paper by Dr Onagoruwa challenging some of Gani’s uncharitable reaction to his book. In the aforementioned three part articles some posers were directed at Gani about his relationship with Buhari and his contribution to national development.
In terms of popularity, Gani is probably the better known of the two. His constant opposition to government policies and fight against corruption, championing the cause of Dele Giwa, his client and friend and the numerous defences of the Student Union leaders among other things has endeared him to the poor and dispossessed of the society. Gani is generally thought to be an honest man who made lots of money through his legal practise. He is also thought by some people to be a “hard” man and a totalitarian. A man who may not eat his food except his wife present it kneeling down on her two knees. We have seen this on the pages on newspaper in the past where Ganiat knelt down to greet her husband and present food to Gani while he was in detention.
Olu Onagoruwa is rather obscure to the ordinary man on the street. He is nonetheless very active in the effort to bring justice and democratic reform to Nigeria. He featured prominently in the politics of the second republic. He is a pro-democracy lawyer who rubbed shoulders with the “bigwig” in the society and eventually became Nigeria’s Attorney General under the Sanni Abacha’s administration.
Being an outsider, I can not claim to know the genesis or the details of the squabble between these otherwise honourable men. However the general belief is that Gani is not happy that Olu Onagoruwa served in a very corrupt and repressive government of Abacha. Gani has suggested several times that Dr Onagoruwa was dismissed from Abacha’s government but Olu Onagoruwa has vehemently denied this. Gani will want us to believe that the stroke suffered “recently” by Onagoruwa has affected his cognitive functions hence his recalls and judgement as documented in his book and recent newspaper writings particularly as pertaining to Gani Fawehinmi can not be trusted.
Olu Onagoruwa on the other hand feels Gani likes to play to the galleries. He painted the picture of a proud man. He suggested that Gani likes to be seen as championing the cause of the law without actually contributing “anything” to the society in general. In Onagoruwa’s thought Gani only gets involve in things that will promote Gani Fawehinmi’s name and enhance his stature in the eyes of his fans. Despite Gani’s showmanship he could not win a presidential election in Nigeria. He loves to criticize but has not served in any official position to prove he could translate his theory into practise as done by others such as Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Tai Solarin, Olu Onagoruwa, Wole Soyinka and other Nigerians who have served the country in one capacity or the other.
More damning of all the assertion by Dr Olu Onagoruwa is the suggestion that Gani Fawehinmi profited or benefited from the Buhari autocratic Military Administration. He mentioned that Gani Fawehinmi’s house in London was bought with some sort of “help” from the Buhari’s administration. He also suggested that Gani would have been the Attorney General under Buhari but for the coup. I have been waiting to read Gani Fawehinmi’s rejoinder to Dr Olu Onagoruwa’s three-part article in the Guardian but it is not forth coming yet. I am definitely sure that Gani will have a response to this allegation because in my view, it greatly detracts from the high and lofty perception of “purity” that Gani Fawehinmi enjoys amongst Nigerians.
If Dr Onagoruwa’s assertion is true that Gani benefited from Buhari’s administration; does that explain why Gani is endorsing Mohammed Buhari for presidency, a former military dictator and someone who is generally regarded as a Sharia religious fanatic who is likely to turn Nigeria religious freedom backward if he wins the presidential election? Could it be that there is a secret bond of brotherhood between Gani Fawehinmi and Mohammed Buhari that we don’t know about? Some people have suggested that the duo have similar personality, beliefs and temperament.
You may argue that we don’t need to know if there is a brotherhood bond between the two but I strongly believe the public needs to know whether or not Gani benefited from the Buhari Administration as suggested by Dr Olu Onagoruwa. As far as I know Olu Onagoruwa survived his stroke and his cognitive functions remain intact. This is evident from his writings; we need a rebuttal that goes beyond presumed memory impairment of Dr Onagoruwa.
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