Good night, Gani Fawehinmi
For years, I’ve lost interest in Network news at 9. I just can’t remember when it started, what really caused it and why but definitely bad power supply is one of the reasons. Surprisingly though, I heard of Late Ganiyu Fawehinmi’s death on Network news last Saturday. Initially, I thought Gani was discussing EFCC issue but later, the screen blinked and Rtd. General Mohammadu Buhari used ‘was’ for him in his conversation. That was how I got the news.
I phoned my wife who was on holiday in the east, told her Gani is dead and she felt sorry for me for a reason. I’ll come to that later. Further discussion with Tomide later threw me back to when one of our sisters, Moromoke was living with Gani’s mother popularly known as Mama Faiko. We used to love going there to give Moromoke messages from mummy. As a great lover of food, it was fun visiting her after Ramadan and other Islamic festive seasons, enough pounded yam to eat coupled with drinks to wash the throat but I was very young then, the man Gani didn’t mean anything to me until later in life.
My wife got to know more about Gani few months to our traditional wedding in the East. As an Igbo woman, one of her relatives that did her youth service in Akure told her Ondo indigenes are very brilliant and stubborn, they don’t like cheating. She later blew up the issue of stubbornness which she believed I possess and I used Gani as an example of a typical Ondo man. A typical Ondo indigene abhors cheating and stealing, he won’t praise or lick your legs in order to get money or favour. He has pride under that context, he will never allow you to cheat him or others in his presence. Naturally, a great sense of fairness flows through that old town.
Now Gani is gone, a powerful voice has gone to rest. A preponderance and philosophical cast of mind, a man whose heart was made of steel, powerfully built with great sense of justice. Iron man! He never bent in the face of injustice. Just like Sango, he spat fire on bad leaders all the days of his life. His intransigence would always be cherished among the masses, he stood by us till he lost the battle to Unwanted Hero. The guy called death. He will always remain in our heart. Oh! Baba Ganiyu Fawehinmi. I can feel a deep sense of loss inside my heart, I thought you’ll still be alive to see my books and advice me on how I can tackle the pain in my heart over the devilish manufactured discrimination in Nigeria banks and other terrible money spinning organisations. To me, a legend just finished his assignment.
Before you put your eyes off this write-up, I’d like to let you know that deep inside me, I see Gani as a visionary, one whose vision in life is to fight for justice and he did this all his life, he never had interest in money like all these pleasurenaries we have around. He fought so hard to contribute to humanity while others are acquiring filthy lucre from humanity. Especially, those SANs with bad sense of judgement, deeply enmesh in corruption, wining and dining with spivs and vagabonds in power, assuring them they can enjoy their loots with their support. Their vast wealth of knowledge is to cunningly manipulate justice to favour crooks to have their cooks. What the masses are going through is none of their business, as long as their bellies are filled and their children are belching, whose ox is gored should go to God and pray for his own time to eat in the national cake. A feat Gani detested with every part of his being.
As human beings, we are born with imperfections, Gani was not a perfect man, he must have made some mistakes in his lifetime too, acts detractors would love to use against his integrity and authenticity, but at least, he scored above 70 percent in his passion for justice and that was a distinction. He did well. He knew that you’ll never loose value while adding value to others. His values are edifying and will continue to grow in our hearts. He was a great man, a visionary.
Where are visionaries today in this dispensation? Most of those that parade themselves as visionaries today are fraught with egotistic inclinations, reached the top through tax payers’ money, scholarships and sweat, in the place of election, they selected themselves against our wish. We have religious leaders riding on the crest religion to cause all sorts of confusion, breaking down the ladder they climbed up with their hands. Teachers and lecturers are inversely proportional to Commissioners and senators. That is why we still count those that fought for independence as visionaries after 49 years of independence. How many have we felt their impacts after them? Very few, counting them would be an arduous task but to count corrupt leaders is one of the easiest things to do today. Even, unborn children would raise up their hands in their mothers’ wombs because they hear their names everyday in the corners of every home.
Lord! When are we going to have another man with great passion for justice, someone that will love the masses with all his heart? When are we going to have our own Obama? Will someone come out from the plethora of these men in black suits and babarigas? Among these scum whose vision in life are grossly materialistic and acquisitive, they wake up everyday to nurture, perpetuate, integrate and nourish all sorts of unethical labour practices with astute sense of greed in the name of making profit. Their vision in life is to acquire through every means, no sense of contribution to the society. Greed has blocked their heart from human feelings and values. Even blacks did not suffer this kind of discrimination we are experiencing under our own brothers in the name of racial discrimination. Some even connive with foreigners to abuse our fellow compatriots. Foreigners would sit in air condition saloon car and our people would be jam-packed inside a container like prisoners on their way to construction sites. What, if we don’t have this dark skin in common? If these are the leaders in the making, we are in a dire strait or deep shit! Just like the proverbial endless pit.
Visionaries thought of ideas for days and years, worked and pray to solve problems in Law, Communications, Banking, Science and technology, Politics and other works of life but what pleasurenaries hold as evergreen tree is to maximise profit against all odds, exploit their countrymen, rob Peter to pay Paul and eventually put everybody in darkness while retrogressing at a tremendous rate. Where is our sense of mission, team spirit, common goal and love for humanity?
Kindly permits my sentimentalism over this. Reminds me of the bubble that recently burst in Nigeria banking industry. In the name of raising banks’ capital, many bankers were transferred out of station, friction began to grow between husbands and wives, marriages were broken, family values are going down at a tremendous rate, ladies consciously and unconsciously transformed themselves into prostitutes in order to meet target, people were sacked over simple mistakes, Polytechnic graduated are turned to filthy rags before the degree holders, bad riddance, good for the work, bad for the pay. They are oppressed, maltreated, molested and put under depression. Robbers broke into banks and killed in droves. Heart failure is on the increase due to the heat of the moment, which is, making and acquiring money. Whereas, bank chiefs are up their wallowing in all sorts of odious and unethical bank practices, deals that are totally out of phase with bank rules and regulations, toying with shareholders and organisations’ sweat before Tsunami Lamido came. Are these visionaries? These are the kind of values Late Gani Fawehinmi will never synchronise with, he will never mess people’s lives up in the name of pleasure.
In one of Ghandi’s expressions, he said and I quote “My life is my message”. Late Gani Fawehinmi’s life was his message and I personally love his delivery, a wonderful script I would love to follow. What is your message? Please start writing your script today. It’s not yet over, God is still in love with this country.
Good night Gani Fawehinmi. Good night Baba. You’ve done a wonderful job!
Posted by Adeola Adejokun | Location: Yola, Nigeria Time: 18/09/2009 04:40 AM