KADUNA, Nigeria – Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has described the late human rights lawyer and pro-democracy campaigner, Chief Abdul-Ganiyu “Gani” Oyesola Fawehinmi, SAN, GCON, as the pivotal figure whose legal determination dismantled institutional barriers and opened Nigeria’s political space for opposition parties and political plurality, state officials confirmed in Kaduna on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
Speaking at the public presentation of a new biographical work titled “Gani Fawehinmi and Uba Sani: A Tale of Mentor and Mentee,” authored by Fawehinmi’s daughter, Basirat Fawehinmi-Biobaku, Esq., Governor Sani reflected on the historic struggles that expanded party politics beyond the narrow boundaries set during the inception of the Fourth Republic.
Okay News reports that the book launch, convened at the Abba Kyari Banquet Hall inside Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna, brought together veterans of Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement, legal luminaries, academics, and political leaders to examine how private mentorship shaped contemporary public governance.
Recalling the contentious post-military democratic transition, Governor Sani noted that civil society activists were plunged into deep frustration after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) established stringent, near-impossible guidelines for registering new political associations as recognized political parties.
“At a serious meeting, we told Chief Fawehinmi, our leader, that we were beginning to lose faith in democracy. But he would not permit frustration to become despair,” Governor Sani recounted. “He told us to have faith in the judiciary, faith in the rule of law and faith in democracy itself. Rather than abandon the democratic process, we would use the democratic process to defend democracy.”
The governor detailed how Fawehinmi joined forces with the former Governor of old Kaduna State, the late Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, to challenge the electoral umpire’s restrictive rules through the legal system.
“The legal battle lasted more than two years before the Court of Appeal delivered judgment,” Governor Sani explained. “I recall that the ruling was delivered by Justice Dahiru Mustapha in 2002. INEC appealed to the Supreme Court, but in January 2003, the Supreme Court again ruled in our favour.”
Governor Sani maintained that the landmark Supreme Court verdict fundamentally transformed Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence, permanently preventing regulatory gatekeepers from restricting the democratic rights of citizens to organize politically.
“Therefore, whenever we celebrate political plurality in Nigeria, whenever new parties emerge and whenever citizens exercise their rights to organise politically, we should remember those who fought to make that space possible,” Sani said. “Many of those proudly identifying with all sorts of political platforms today, may not know that the freedom they exercise was secured through difficult struggles by people like Chief Gani Fawehinmi. Democracy has a history, and every freedom has a cost.”
Beyond courtroom battles, the governor highlighted Fawehinmi’s pan-Nigerian commitment to human capital development, recalling how he entrusted him 26 years ago with serving as the Northern Coordinator of the Gani Fawehinmi Scholarship Foundation during its inauguration at Arewa House in Kaduna.
Through that philanthropic initiative, Fawehinmi awarded higher education scholarships to more than 1,000 indigent students across tertiary institutions in Northern Nigeria, many of whom have advanced into accomplished careers in medicine, law, engineering, and academia.
Urging current political actors and civic leaders to periodically convene to honor national heroes who put their lives on the line for constitutional rule, Governor Sani affirmed that his administration’s social welfare and judicial reform policies remain guided by Fawehinmi’s core injunction never to forget the underprivileged and vulnerable masses of the country.
