Gani Fawehinmi’s Family Rejects Jonathan’s Centenary Honour

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, read the content of the letter below:

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 allegedly masterminding the death of journalist Dele Giwa, he 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 themselves standing on the same podium with Babangida to receive an award.

“We want to 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 FG was the name of former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, who as military president, 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 his inhuman 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 unjustifiable 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”.

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.