Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has inaugurated a park in honour of the late human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who died exactly a year ago.
Fashola also inaugurated a public law library and gallery, whose construction was initiated by Fawehinmi before his death on Sept. 5, 2009. The structures were completed by his family.
Fawehinmi’s statue is erected in the park built by the state government at Ojota, Lagos.
The multi-million naira library will contain law books and will be open to the public, while the gallery is expected to contain some of the personal effects of Fawehinmi.
Both the library and the gallery are located at Agidingbi, Ikeja.
Fashola said that the park was a memorial for Fawehinmi, adding that it was comparable with Abraham Lincoln’s Memorial Park in Washington DC, the U.S.
He promised to make the park, library and gallery tourist attractions.
Lagos State Government will ensure that that the library and gallery become part of our tourist attractions that would be visited by any tourist coming into the state.
Fashola said government named the park after Fawehinmi as a token of the government’s appreciation for his selfless service to mankind.
The state government is trying to demonstrate to others that it will not forget its heroes in the belief that some new leaders will be inspired to rise up and continue from where Fawehinmi left off.
Chief Gani’s patriotism was not whimsical but a devotion of a whole lifetime.
It was an arduous devotion to a cause from which many have derailed. It is never easy to stand up from principles, especially when you stand alone.
Gani committed a lifetime of 40 years of the prime of his life to this arduous devotion.
Fashola said He used the law, the civil rights movement, the media and politics as his tools to liberate the people he cared so passionately about from ignorance, repression and poverty.
In his remarks, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State commended the Lagos State Government for honouring Fawehinmi.
Represented by Osagie Obayuwana, Commissioner for Information, Oshiomhole said every Nigerian needed to be guided by the examples set by the late human rights campaigner.
The President of the Campaign for Democracy, Joel Okei-Odumakin, said the greatest memorial that Nigerians could give Fawehinmi would be to imbibe the virtues he lived and died for.
She urged Nigerians to be interested in how they were being governed, while ensuring that they voted for credible candidates in the 2011 elections.
National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Lai Mohammed described Fawehinmi as a humanist who sacrificed his all for the today of the average Nigerian.
He described the ceremony as a milestone in the history of the human rights family in Nigeria, saying Fawehinmi was an exemplary activist who stood on the side of the masses till his death.
In his vote-of-thanks, Fawehinmi’s son, Muhammed, said the gesture was a great honour to the entire Fawehinmi family.
Fawehinmi’s widow, Ganiat, and her three other children were present at the event alongside some members of the National Conscience Party, which the late legal luminary founded.
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