How Fawehinmi opened up space for Nigeria’s political parties – Uba Sani

Governor Uba Sani weekend said the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s most consequential contributions to Nigeria was his determination to keep the political space open.

He recalled that the late pro-democracy activist spear-headed the struggle against the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to roll out stringent conditions for political associations seeking to be registered as  political parties.

 The governor, who noted that most human rights and pro-democracy  activists were  deeply disillusioned at the time, made this known at the public presentation of a book titled: ‘’Gani Fawehinmi And Uba Sani, A Tale Of Mentor And Mentee’’ in Kaduna.

“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.

“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,’’ he argued.

Governor Sani said  Fawehinmi and Alhaji Balarabe Musa  went to court and the legal battle lasted more than two years before the Court of Appeal delivered judgment.

“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,’’ he added.

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state pointed out that the verdict “opened the political space in Nigeria and paved the way for the emergence of more political parties.’’

“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,” he said.