IF the name Gani Fawehinmi today or at any time becomes a monarchical title and there was Gani Fawehinmi I, surely and indisputably, human rights king-makers would in one accord crown Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) as Gani Fawehinmi II.Chief Fawehinmi, the fiery and erudite lawyer and human rights campaigner and defender, while alive, never disputed the fact that Mr. Falana was the automatic heir apparent to his 'throne'.This is logically the best way to begin to write about the life of Mr. Femi Falana, the internationally -renowned lawyer and human rights campaigner and defender, because his dream of becoming a lawyer and rights advocate and defender was as a result of one man, Gani, as Chief Fawehinmi was fondly called by both his admirers and detractors.Young Falana, whose ambition when he was admitted to the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), in 1977, was to read English, and eventually become a journalist, changed his mind during the famous 'Ali Must Go' nation-wide students' protest, seeking the removal of then Federal Commissioner for Education, then Colonel Ahmadu Ali.Upon seeing the great and un-paralled role the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi played to defend and secure the rights and freedom of all the students that became victims of the arbitrary reaction of the government, using his own resources and his profession, young Falana, the following year, opted to read law. From that moment his life and that of Gani became inter-woven until Fawehinmi passed on in 2009. As a lawyer thoroughly bred in Fawehinism, it is not surprising today that Mr. Falana is not only a lawyer to many students' organizations, but also to some individual students who were victims of arbitrariness. He is also a lawyer to many less-privileged people all over the country.He tells the story better: 'I was a first- year under-graduate English Student at the then University of Ife, Ile-Ife. My ambition was to become a journalist. But the Ali Must Go crisis of 1978 changed this or influenced my decision to opt for law. I was enormously impressed by the public-spirited role of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, defending students' course for free education, taking up the case of students who were illegally rusticated and who in the course of defending the students, was himself charged with stealing his own camera. For sure, Gani was my role model and mentor in my pursuit as a lawyer'.But unknown to most people, of what Gani was to him, the fact that he was regarded as the other side of the same coin with Gani, the 'Younger Gani'(Falana), neither served in Ganis Law Chambers nor worked in the Chambers as did by many other progressive lawyers.Instead, he served and worked in the Chambers of late Dr. Alao Aka-Basorun.This decision, however, was a collective one reached by a group of ex-student activists with the full blessing of Gani.His words: 'We had a group called the Lagos Group, made up of former student activists, which took a decision that I should work in the law firm of Alao Aka-Bashorun. This was with the full blessing of Chief Gani Fawehinmi'.Falana had his first baptismal test as a lawyer during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme with the Public Complaint Commission in Ibadan, when he defended some University of Ibadan students charged with attempted murder of the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olajuwon Olayide, before Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Kolawole.After the arraignment of the students, young Barrister Falana applied for their bail, but the Magistrate refused on the ground that they were charged with capital crime for which his court lacked jurisdiction. The Chief Magistrate rejected Falana's argument that since he had no jurisdiction, he lacked the power to detain them. Sensing greater danger to the students, Falana ran to his lawyer-father, Gani in Lagos, who advised him on what to do and also assisted him in drafting a paper for the High Court, to upturn the decision of the lower court.The High Court, after listening to his argument, overruled the lower court decision, and he won the case.Falana said he was elated by the High Court's ruling because the decision became a record in the history of judicial pronouncements in Nigeria:'I handled the case and I won the case. For the first time, a court in Nigeria decided that a Holden Charge was unconstitutional. That decision was handed down by the late Justice T. A. Ayorinde, who later became the Chief Judge of Oyo State,' he said.This landmark judgment, fueled by this young lawyer, triggered off a bigger explosion in the whole of the defunct old Oyo State as the state Police authorities and the state government were totally displeased with it.In their arbitrary response, the Police orderly of Justice Ayorinde was withdrawn by the state police authority while there were plans to arrest Falana, but they failed.The state judiciary protested the withdrawal of Ayorinde's orderly by voluntarily sending away all the orderlies of other judges in the state. 'The entire judges in Oyo State met at the instance of the (then) Chief Judge, the late Justice Emmanuel Fakayode where a decision was taken to send back all the orderlies of other judges, because according to them 'a threat to one of us is a threat to all of us'.The crisis was eventually restored when the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Adewusi waded in by ensuring that the orderly of Justice Ayorinde was restored'.Again as a fallout of that case, Falana's N.Y.S.C discharged certificate was withheld by the authorities. He received it 18 years later, courtesy of the Justice Oputa Panel in Abuja. The authorities that be, apparently wanting to treat him like they treated his 'lawyer-father' Gani, who was only awarded the distinguished Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title just a few years to his death, was only a few days ago honoured with the title, notwithstanding the over-whelming belief that he long deserved it.Just as they did to Gani, the masses had long before this year's award, crowned Falana with 'Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM), becoming the second person after Gani. For this legal icon, who has handled too numerous cases, too many to list, two cases stand out among cases he has handled that he could not easily forget.Expectedly, they all bordered on human rights abuses. The first was the case of Maroko evictees, majority of whom decided to re-locate to the Abesan Housing Estate built by the Lagos State government in 1991. After re-settling there, the then Military Government of Alagbe Rasaki sent men of the Mobile Police Force to again eject them. In order to avert further disaster to the people, the human rights lawyer headed to the High Court, praying the court to stop their ejection as it was only the court, no individual or authorities was vested with power of ejection.The Court under Justice Ade Alabi, who later became the State Chief Judge, granted the prayers and the people were saved from another round of ejection and the accompanying trauma.'Yes, these people were squatters, but the government could not resort to force. They have to be given quit notices, if they failed to leave, the government had to file an action in Court, because no authority or individual has the right to take the law into its hands '. With that, we were able to save the people from further calamities, the people are still there till today,' he recalled.The second one was the celebrated alleged case of the 12 kid-robbers sentenced to death by the Lagos State Fire Arm Tribunal contrary to the provisions of the Criminal Code. When the tribunal refused all plea to set aside the judgment, in order to save the lives of these kids who were between the ages of 12 and 15, Falana having been approached by the late rights activist, Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti filed an action before Justice Eniola Longe, seeking and ex parte order to stop their execution, as a date had already been fixed for that, not withstanding the fact that an appeal against the death sentence was pending.Falana himself completes the emotion ' laden story: 'The Hon. Justice Eniola Longe presided over the matter. He listened to my prayer for an ex parte order to stop the execution to allow the hearing of the appeal against the sentence, which had been filed. The order was obeyed. By the time the then Director of Public Prosecution, (DPP) the late Samuel Manuwa came to court, his hands were tied, he had no choice than to concede that the execution could not go on until the appeal was determined. So we saved the lives of the kids. When the Michael Otedola administration came, he committed the death sentences to jail terms and the boys were later released to be of good behaviours'.Falana says he has little or no time for recreation and that he recreates by working harder. He was a fan of the late Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Femi, who was born to the late Chief Joseph Falana and Madam Julianah Falana enjoys Iyan (Pounded Yam) and Efo Riro (Vegetable) with Eran-Igbe (Bush-Meat).The 'Gani Junior' is married to Funmi, herself a human-rights advocate, and they are blessed with three children, one boy and two girls. Two of the children are lawyers.On how he wishes to be remembered, the indefatigable lawyer said: 'That would not be my business, because I would have gone. It is for people to draw their own conclusions about me. I am only interested in contributing my quota to the development of humanity and to leave my society better than I met it'.
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