Gani: How Falana, Sowore, Others Marked 13th Memorial of the Peoples Lawyer

The venue of the event, St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Toyin Street Ikeja Lagos initially looked like nothing would happen on Monday September 5th morning.
But by 11am youths in their numbers began to troop in and most noticeable of them were supporters of the convener of the Revolution Now Movement in Nigeria and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.
As his supporters trooped into the fairly large premises of the church so were others who had come to witness the celebration most would call the “Peoples lawyer.”
Others at the event were the Social Democratic Party of Nigeria (SDP) Presidential Candidate, Adewole Adebayo, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Barrister Femi Falana, Barrister Affiong L. Affiong, Gbenga Komolafe, Richard Akinola and others.
The program commenced with a speech by seasoned journalist and activist, Richard Akinola, reminiscing and narrating his last experience with the late Fawehinmi before he passed on.
He described him as a “unique human being” with diverse ways. He also said that if Chief Gani were to be alive, he would have been tired considering the current state of the country.
“If Gani were to be alive today, he would have been tired because his BP (blood pressure) would have risen beyond normal level, because he won’t have imagined that we could be in the present state that we are right now. That’s the unfortunate situation we are in today,” He said.
Akinola urged Nigerians to set aside their differences and come together as one to embrace and advocate for a better government and to also help themselves.
“The time has come for us to forget our own differences and fight the common enemy because the enemy we are up against, forget about all the insults in the newspaper, at night they are together, whether the PDP, APC or Labour Party, they are all together.”
He said political gladiators have notice that the greatest problems among those who want the best for the country is in coming together to speak with one voice.
“Let us try to come together, that is our major challenge now. It is time for us to come together and fight the common enemy. Let’s be our brother’s keepers. You don’t have to be a multi billionaire before we help one another,” Akinnola urged.
Barrister Affiong, a lawyer and author, commended the Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Organization (GAFAMORG) for being able to successfully organize the memorial event annually over the past years.
“Even when there is no money to organize, yet they organize. Organizing with zero budget, through rain and sun.”
She discussed the 1st lecture which was themed; “A Reflection of 23 Years of Electoral System and Democracy in Nigeria. Which way forward?”
She stated that the problem is way beyond just the leaders but with the system and that citizens do not pay attention to the system of things in the country.
Barrister Affiong highlighted that there are only two ethnic groups in Nigeria- the oppressor and the oppressed, urging Nigerians to have the basic understanding of the issues affecting the nation.
Pointing out that America, Europe are what and where they are today because of the exploitation of Africa.
“America is America because of the exploitation of Africa, Europe is Europe because capitalism was built on African slave labor, that is how the world economy is developed and sustained
She urged the masses to think of how to destroy the system that continues to take the nation into poverty,
“The ruling class as it continues, will force the masses into revolution. The only problem now is, it needs to be an organized as opposed to a disorganized type of revolution,” she added.
Advising Nigerians on the need to become involved and participate in the struggle to have a solid understanding of politics and to not lose themselves to the phantasm of democracy.
“We have to begin to have a broad perspective of our struggle because if we have a very isolated understanding of our struggle, the ruling class can crush us anytime, any day.”
“Let us not be lost in the illusion of democracy, even as we go through the process of democracy and ballot system, we must have the issue of system change as a fundamental issue on the agenda in our minds”, she stated.
The Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Sowore, who was hailed by his supporters, said, “We are tired of all these leaders who use Aso Rock for hospitals.”
He described this as a major cause of the country’s underdevelopment.
“I am in my familiar territory, I am back to Lagos after three years to commence the total takeover of Nigeria from the nonchalant leaders that have been running Nigeria for the last 52 years, particularly those who have been in charge in the last 23 years.” Sowore said.
Falana, who later addressed the gathering, veered off politics but went straight to the issues of the economy zeroing in on the lingering issue of oil theft.
Nigeria’s main economic backbone is the oil. There are reports of daily theft with the crushing effects on the economy.
Falana said, “We say it with profound respect that it is a shame that Nigeria is the oil producing country in the world that imports fuel and other petroleum products.
“Secondly, we want to say this publicly that the NNPC acquired a software seven years ago to monitor and track every tanker loading fuel in Nigeria and that software was installed with about 50 billion Naira.
“You are told that 400 barrels of crude oil are stolen daily in Nigeria. Nigeria is the only oil producing country that has refused to install a metre to know how much oil is produced daily. The government of smugglers has refused to install the necessary technology.
“Why the government has refused to be modern is this: if they install the technology, there won’t be stealing.
“So we are saying here today that the NNPC must disclose to Nigerians why the software acquired seven years ago has been disabled by the government so that tankers can take out fuel.
“Fuel is taken out by tankers not by Okadas. So you will need at least 2000 tankers to take out the quantity of fuel that they are saying is smuggled out of the country and that is not possible.
“We are also challenging the government to install the machine, the meter, that allows the government to know the quantity of fuel that is produced daily.
“There is an international shipping company. Every ship that takes fuel from anywhere in the world is monitored. The way our oil is stolen. The point of taking out oil, the ship is loaded and the criminal taking out the fuel will determine how many litres of fuel is being smuggled then collect money.
“Between January 2011 and Feb 2014, it was discovered that crude oil left Nigeria to Philadelphia port alone and not recorded in Nigeria was 62 million barrels valued at 12.7 billion Dollars. Your National Assembly people, including the people from Lagos, are not asking questions.
“So when we leave here, they must be sensible in each of their constituencies. You must ask questions why they are making this fraud. If we can start with Lagos, we can do that all over the country.”
Above all, it was another day to examine the many challenges facing the country both in politics and the economy.