Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi// ⓘ, GCON, SAN (22 April 1938 – 5 September 2009)[1] was a Nigerian author, publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights lawyer, and politician.
[2] His father, Chief Saheed Tugbobo Fawehinmi, the Seriki Musulumi of Ondo, was a successful timber trader, philanthropist, civic activist and muslim chieftain of the Yoruba people.
[2] Fawehinmi gained prominence when he took on the case of a factory worker, Bala Abashe who alleged that the Secretary to the government of Benue-Plateau State, Andrew Obeya had an affair with his wife.
However, in 1981, Fawehinmi was queried by a disciplinary committee and told to explain himself within fourteen days why he was touting himself through advertisements in a weekly publication contrary to the ethics of the bar.
In 1984, when the new Buhari administration enacted the Recovery of Public Property decree, the NBA under the presidency of Bola Ajibola directed its members not to represent any of client in a military tribunal.
Fawehinmi flouted the directive because he believed the accused should be made to disgorge any money stolen as a result his name was placed in NBA's dishonour roll.
In 1986, while Chief Gani Fawehinmi was Dele Giwa's Lawyer, the latter was killed in a bomb blast under suspicious circumstances.
His books were confiscated by the Federal Military Government and his library at Surulere, a suburb of Lagos, were set ablaze.
His law Chambers at Anthony Village, Lagos State, were invaded by persons suspected to be agents of the government.
[11] His supporters have called him "the scourge of sphygmomanometer with which the blood pressure of dictators is gauged, the veritable conscience of the nation and the champion of the interests and causes of the masses".
It housed over one million collections on books and non-books materials on various subject ranging from law, politics, biographies, religion, and social sciences, and almanacs and encyclopedias.
This prize, named in honour of Bruno Kreisky, is awarded to international figures who advance human rights causes.
[17] In 2008 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.