Gani Fawehinmi’s Family Rejects Jonathan’s Centenary Honour

By SaharaReporters, New York

The family of late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi has rejected the centenary award of the Federal Government, which is part of activities commemorating 100 years of the country’s amalgamation.
Fawehinmi and 99 others are to be honoured across a total of 14 categories, but his family has turned down the honour, citing a number of reasons, most important of which is the equal award of an honour to ex-military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, whom the family considers indirectly responsible for Fawehinmi’s death.
Fawehinmi’s first son, Mohammed explained the family’s position today in a letter to Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pious Anyim.
According to the letter, Babangida — asides allegedly masterminding the death of journalist Dele Giwa — also incarcerated Fawehinmi, spraying his cell with toxic substances that inflicted him with lung cancer, the eventual cause of his death. For this reason, the family would never imagine standing on the same podium with Babangida to receive an award.
“We acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 24th February 2014, which was routed through Mr. Tony Akiotu, group managing director, DAAR Communications, Abuja, wherein our late father, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) was chosen as one of the awardees of the Centenary celebrations of Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan”, Mohammed’s letter read.
“We want thank the Federal Government for considering our late father for this HONOUR. However, for reasons stated here under, our family has decided it would be inexpedient to accept the award:
“In the list of the awardees published by the Federal Government was the name of former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, who as military president, severally [sic] detained and tortured our late father. In the course of one of such illegal and inhuman detentions, our late father’s cell was sprayed with toxic substances while in Gashua prison in 1987.
“The cumulative effect of that dastardly action led to our father, a non-smoker, contracting lung cancer, which eventually led to his death on September 5, 2009. We therefore, find it morally incongruous and psychologically debilitating for our family to stand on the same podium with General Babangida to receive awards”.
Fawehinmi’s family also cited the resurgence of killings in the North-East, saying this ordinarily ought to be a period for sober reflections, rather than wining and dining.
“Our late father was empathetic to the sufferings of our people, particularly students. In the last 72 hours, 59 innocent students were mowed down by the blood- thirsty Boko Haram terrorists in Yobe state, while 20 other girls were similarly abducted by these same band of terrorists”, the letter stated.
“These girls are still in captivity while their fate is unknown. If our late father were to be alive, would he be wining and dining with all the glitterati at a Centenary celebration under these circumstances? Certainly no”.
Continuing, Mohammed wrote: “In the past few weeks, the polity has been assaulted with putrid odour of corruption with the alleged $20 billion missing in NNPC, a development that became the Archilles heel of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the suspended governor of Central Bank.
“As an anti-corruption activist, if he were to be alive, our late father would have confronted the issue head-long and possibly gone to court. With the issue still raging, would our late father have accepted this award at this critical moment? Certainly no.
“Our late father was unrepentantly for the UNITY of Nigeria. However, with the level of profligacy in some of the events celebrating NIGERIA’S Centenary, our late father would have preferred these multi-million Naira expenditures channelled to our decrepit Teaching hospitals, than unproductive razzmatazz that do not improve the socio-Economic well being of our people. Sir, for these reasons, our family respectfully declines to receive the award about to be conferred on our late father by the government. Please, accept the assurances of our highest consideration. Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Mohammed’s rejection of the honour is the second since the list was made public, following in the footstep of internationally acclaimed musician Femi Kuti’s disclosure that his family would turn down the award unless the Federal Government apologised for the death of his grandmother and the burning of Kalakuta Republic.
The list itself is replete with controversial names, headlined by that of erstwhile military dictator, late General Sani Abacha in the category for Outstanding Promoters of Unity, Patriotism and National Development.