Chief Abdul-Ganiyu “Gani” Oyesola Fawehinmi, GCON, SAN was a well-respected Nigerian author, publisher, philanthropist, social critic, seasoned human and civil rights lawyer, politician and Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Here are ten (10) things you should know about him.
- He was born on 22 April 1938 into the family of Saheed and Munirat Fawehinmi in Ondo State, Nigeria.
- He was the first born and only son out of six children born to his mum.
- He had his early education at Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Iyemaja – Ondo from 1947 to 1953 and his secondary school education at Victory College Ikare, Ondo from 1954 to 1958.
- He dropped out of the Holborn College as a full-time student while studying Law due to financial difficulty. He then took a full-time job as a Toilet Cleaner in Russell Square Hotel in Southampton Row, London.
- During Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime, Gani was deported from Port Harcourt back to Lagos. This is the first of its kind when someone was deported from a state back to his home state.
- His international passport was seized 7 times by security agents.
- He was detained 40 times by security agents.
- In 2008 Chief Gani Fawehinmi rejected one of the highest national honours that can be bestowed on a citizen by the Nigerian government – Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) – in protest of the many years of misrule since Nigeria’s independence.
- He died in the early hours of 5th September 2009 after a prolonged battle with lung cancer at the age of 71 years.
- In 2018, Chief Fawehinmi was posthumously awarded the GCON, Nigeria’s second highest honour.