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Sometime last year, the Senate of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, notified human rights activist Chief Gani Fawehinmi of its desire to confer on him an honourary doctorate degree. The ace lawyer, not known to be keen on awards, many of which he had dismissed as frivolous, accepted this particular one, as it came from his home state.
But, on September 8, 2008, the Senate sent a letter to Fawehinmi, informing him of its decision to withdraw the award. Smelling political intrigues from the office of the then Visitor and Governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Agagu, Fawehinmi lambasted the man in his characteristic no-nonsense manner. He equally dismissed Agagu’s feeble attempts to exonerate himself. In support, many Nigerians condemned Agagu for the withdrawal.
Two weeks ago, the new Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, led many dignitaries at a special convocation of the institution to confer on Gani the same award that was earlier denied him. It was, a time for joy and “a sense of what will be will be,” to use the words of the Chancellor to the University, Oba Gbadebo Bajowa, the Rebuja of Osooro, at the two-day event. The first day, Wednesday, witnessed the convocation lecture, delivered by Dr. Oladipo Fashina, a former national chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (OAU).
This was followed by a stage play, “Rage of corpses”, performed by Theatre Arts students of the University of Benin, Edo State (UNIBEN). Among those in attendance was the wife of a former governor of Ondo State, Deaconess Adetutu Adefarati, who represented Mimiko. Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE after the play, she described Gani as “a worthy son of Ondo State as well as an epitome of emancipation of the masses.” She was glad the university was honouring him.
On Thursday, the convocation proper, the campus was very rowdy as various groups and Labour Party supporters came to show solidarity with the awardee and the governor who was visiting the university town for the first time since his inauguration. In his speech, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Philip Abiodun, described Gani as “an erudite scholar, an accomplished legal icon and a philanthropist par-excellence.”
He added: “We are happy that the occasion of the award of the Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) honoris causa has come at last.”For the Visitor, it was time to appreciate members of the community for standing by him through his travails at the courts while trying to retrieve his mandate. As soon as he entered the hall which was filled to capacity, with the outside overflowing as well, shouts of Iroko! Iroko!! rented the air. The same thing happened when he was to give his address, such that he had to plead for calm.
Mimiko said the state was proud to celebrate the awardee as he is a prophet to be celebrated in his home. He also described him as a role model for the younger generation.Promising to “adequately fund AAUA as well as create a befitting infrastructural setting for it”, he urged students to make discipline their watchword. Mimiko commiserated with them on the recent death of six students in an auto accident. President of the West African Bar Association Mr. Femi Falana, who also addressed the convocation audience, said he was delighted the new governor recognised the contributions of Fawehinmi to the society. According to him, he had wanted to sue the institution when the award was earlier withdrawn.
Though Fawehinmi could not make it due to health reasons, he was represented by his first daughter, also a lawyer, Mrs. Basirat Fawehinmi-Biobaku. In her acceptance speech, she expressed gratitude to Mimiko for “giving to my father what was denied him by the former administration”. She added that her father had donated books worth N5.5million to the university, in addition to two copies of the Weekly Law Report which will be donated weekly. She ended by requesting for prayers for her dad who is in England receiving treatment.
Many students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, expressed happiness at what they unanimously described as the “righting of a great wrong done to a worthy son of the state by the Agagu administration.”
The former President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Olamide Nadeco, described Gani as the epitome of the struggle to improve the lot of the downtrodden in Nigeria.
There was, however, a side attraction. Some pre-degree students staged a protest, displaying placards asking the governor to come to their aid so that they would be admitted by the institution.
