‘Why Gani opposed Obasanjo on UN seat bid’
A
Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana,
has given reasons why he teamed up with the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi to
thwart former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s bid to become the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Obasanjo, who was Nigeria’s military
ruler between 1976 and 1979 following the assassination of General
Murtala Muhammed, failed in his bid to become UN Secretary-General in
1991.
Falana said they decided to tow that
line in view of the earlier undemocratic activities of the former
President. Specififically, he said Fawehinmi and himself hinged
Obasanjo’s inappropriateness for the post on the fact that he
(Obasanjo), at that time, had a detention camp on his Ota Farm, where he
was detaining people illegally.
He said this while urging lawyers to
uphold public interest litigation during the First Gani Fawehinmi
Colloquium on Wednesday in Lagos.
Falana explained that Fawehinmi fought
for the democratisation of law in defence of the masses and protested
the excesses of government officials when necessary.
He said, “There was a time the former
President Obasanjo sued us – Gani and I- for libel. He wanted to go to
the United Nations as secretary-general. We met against that and we
produced a pamphlet, which Gani felt was the best in that circumstance.
“I was sent to submit a copy of the
pamphlet at the UN Secretary-General’s Office in New York and other UN
offices in other countries, which I did. The pamphlet was to explain
that Obasanjo was not a fit and proper candidate for the post of the UN
secretary-general.
“And what was the issue? The issue was
that he had a detention camp on his farm, where he was detaining people
illegally. And of course, that was then. So, President Obasanjo stood up
and sued us for libel.”
culled from:
July 11, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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