By OLUSOJI DAOMI
Pause.
Let nobody rush this matter.
Today is a birthday…
But the celebrant is not here.
Or is he?
Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN.
Senior Advocate of the Masses.
The man who did not practise law…
He fought with it.
Tell me…
Do men like this die?
Or do they simply change location?
Haaaa!
If you were here today…
What would you have said?
What would you have done?
Would you have kept quiet?
You?
Impossible.
Because silence and Gani Fawehinmi…
Were never friends.
Let us remember.
June 12.
That season when truth was expensive.
When democracy was not a theory… but a struggle.
You stood.
Not behind.
Not beside.
But in front.
With men of conviction.
Including one Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Yes.
That same man.
Now look again.
Time has turned the table.
The comrade of yesterday…
Is now the captain of the ship.
President.
By God’s arrangement… or democratic arithmetic.
And you?
You are not here to cross-examine.
Not here to object.
Not here to file processes.
Because if you were here when that “Emilokan” doctrine was preached…
Tell me honestly…
Would you have smiled?
Or would you have headed straight to court?
Ah!
Let us not pretend we have forgotten.
Toronto certificate matters.
Your pen was not shy.
Your voice was not neutral.
You questioned.
You challenged.
You insisted.
So today…
What would you have said?
And then…
Another name enters the file.
Muhammadu Buhari.
Your friend?
Your client?
The same man whose military government in 1984 dealt with politicians like files without appeal.
Yet you defended him.
Why?
Because to you…
Justice was not selective.
Years later…
He returned.
As a democrat.
We hoped.
We believed.
We endured.
Eight years.
Now we stand again…
Between memory and expectation.
Hoping.
Waiting.
Watching.
Haaaa!
Chief Gani Fawehinmi…
We are still here.
I’m still navigating this same Nigeria.
Still arguing.
I’m still hoping for that coast of success.
Tell me…
From where you are now…
Do you see what we see?
Do you understand what we are facing?
Because down here…
Things are not simple.
We remember you as a Muslim who feared God.
A lawyer who feared no man.
A citizen who refused to sit down when the truth was standing.
So we say:
If advocacy continues beyond this world…
Then continue.
If prayers travel across realms…
Then send some.
If influence exists where you are…
Then, use it for us.
Because Nigeria still needs voices.
Not echoes.
Voices.
Haaaa!
Chief Gani Fawehinmi…
Happy posthumous birthday.
You are missed.
Not emotionally alone…
But structurally.
So again…
Has he gone?
Or has his silence become louder than our noise?
Remain blessed, sir.
Even in quietness.
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