By Innocent Anaba
Mr Mohammed Fawahimi, eldest son to  late legal icon, Chief Gani Fawahimni, SAN, in this interview spoke on many national issues, including how the family business has been running, since the demise of their father.
He faulted the present reform by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, insisting that Sanusi is pursuing a personal agenda. He also picked holes in the  recent threat by some Northerners, who are opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan running for the 2011 presidential election.
Excerpts:
How has it been running the law firm, since your father passed on?

In the running of the law firm , we have been trying our best.  I have the co-operation of everybody. All the members of staff,  including the lawyers, we are doing our best and I think we are recording victories. We don’t have many clients around, the place has not been busy compared to when chief was alive.

Mohammed Fawahimi

Even when he was sick,  we still had a lot of people coming around  because that confidence was there then, that chief is still alive and he might get better. But immediately after his death, some people came for their case files, while some left theirs and we have been recording victories for them.

How have you been managing your father’s associates?

They have been helping me a lot because I don’t think so far, I have made a wrong move because of their advice. Anytime any one of them calls on me, I quickly responded. As a human being, you can’t know it all and chief being a very complex person, he has many parts and now that he is no more, a lot of his friends know that I will need their guidance and help, so that I don’t fall into any quagmire. On the statement I made to the press over cases that I instituted, they have always been giving me advice on how to do things properly.

How has it been handling and coordinating your father’s family?

We need each other now because together we can make an impact because chief had made impact for all of us. Although I am the head arrow but we still need each other to have a formidable force at least we are all Gani’s children.

What challenges do you face more now that your father is no more?

Public commentary because I have to be well informed before I make a statement, because when my father was alive, you always expected him to make contributions to national debate and his positions were well informed, even if they were controversial. So  I have to read wide to be informed to react to national issues. Secondly, I am hoping that my  younger ones leave school as soon as possible, so that we can all join hands to consolidate on what my father left behind.

Your father finished building an office complex he was supposed to move in before he died. What is the progress on the movement to the building?

We were to move the Chambers, the law publications and book industry to the building as the major headquarter but we had some problems there. There were some leakages even when chief was alive,   sometimes water drops on him from the gallery because some tiles fall off due to sub_standard materials used by the contractor in charge.

But very soon,  we will move to the new building  and happily, the State High Court is on vocation,  this will give us the opportunity to move all the property  because they are enormous.

How is the law report going now that Chief is no more?

All is going on well. We all have to collectively make decisions. When Chief was around,  he was  the one who would form policy today, change it in two weeks with a better policy and change it in 24 hours with the best policy. Chief was the Editor  from the onset,  but now,  we have to put our heads together to know what he would have thought or done in a particular time in relation to an issue. Above all, we are making progress.

Are you getting support from the NGO?

Yes, they supported me and they always invited me to several of their occasions and I always attend the ones I am opportuned to attend.  Like when the Save Nigeria Group had their inaugural meeting,  I was invited by Pastor Tunde Bakare.

Mr Femi Falana always invited me anytime he has anything doing in his chamber. The last was June 12. There is always unification anytime we want to do things. Most of the people that used to be the arrow head then,  have died, such as Senator Abraham Adesanya, among others and  the remaining people, who  are under them now have to find a way of pushing forward their policies to let them know what can be done.

The most important thing for this country is to have the best political system, electoral system , the best administrative system and to ensure that the masses get everything that they are entitled to because there is more than enough money to take care of our needs. We can appreciate the fact that some people have stolen our money, but we are still trying to get the proper system in place through the National Assembly and the judiciary has tried its best to ensure that part of the electoral system is regulated.

At a point  in time,  it was the judiciary that could enforce a lot of these things. We look forward to 2011 elections and we pray that in the coming year, we would have the cause to celebrate another free and fair election in the country after June 12.

What is your assessment of the banking reforms embarked upon by the Central Bank Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi and what is your reaction to his plan to have foreigners buy major shares in our banks?

I think Sanusi has failed and I have been saying it from the onset,  that the reforms he is embarking on, if he continues at the rate he is going,  the financial system will crumble. We can see that he has gone about trying to procure foreign investors to come to Nigeria by virtue of the statement he made in London, recently.  I understand that there are some foreign banks in the country to buy Oceanic Bank.

I believe the more involvement of foreign investors in this sector,  the more detrimental it will be to the nation, I don’t see the banking sector growing and this is an advice to the Minister of Finance. Sanusi should go round and do what is expected of him as the Central Bank Governor and not to sponsor tournament for  Babangida,  whom we believe is his god father and whom we believe   might still want to come back to power  to cause more havoc in the country.

God forbid a situation where N500  will exchange for a dollar or N1000 for a pound. I read in one of the dailies that wonder banks were responsible for N107billion of the disbursed  funds missing. This shows clearly that the CBN Governor has not been doing his job and if such amount of money is missing, we are even more worried that all he has to tell us was that there is a report.

Looking at the five banks that he has taken over and you will realise that they were owned by the Southerners. We can appreciate the fact that a lot of them were allegedly using depositors money to do business for themselves but I cannot say categorically that  I have heard of any bank run by a Hausa man as a Managing Director,  being victimized.

I think it is a Southern thing. And I stand to be corrected, that this man is  doing  business for himself and he is using few people in the banking industry, who  I believe are behind him so that he can gain his peculiar advantage, when he is on his way out as the CBN Governor.

I think President Goodluck Jonathan should look into this and he should try to salvage what is left of our banking sector and put in proper reforms,  not this charade of reform that we are seeing. Also I believe there are banks laying off people now and it shows that we are still in for more trouble and I think there shouldn’t be any laying off of workers especially at this stage where we are going to be 50 years.

Because the more workers that are laid-off, it  will surely bounce back on the banking industry,  because these people will look for a way of making money and given that they are used to a larger image, if I were in that position, I will look for the quickest way to replenish my pocket and you know what that means for the society.

What is your reaction  to the recent happenings in the House of Representative?

I think it is a show of shame. This same thing happened when Etteh was the Speaker of the House and I think the Houseof Representatives should reform and repackage themselves because they are representing constituencies.

There are ways of doing things. Even if what the Speaker did was wrong and I am referring particularly to the member, who raised the point of order, it should not be done violently because he is representing a very large constituency,  which is Kogi State. Now that he is not in the House and the others are suspended,  that means whatever the House is doing now,  the affected constituencies where their leaders are suspended don’t have representatives.

Also the Speaker should review that suspension in the light of the fact that the Lower House has the larger constituency to cover and a large range of people and they are the first point of contact to the people.  The Senate which is the Upper House involved mostly in the policy making and they also have some emergency power under the constitution.

I think the Speaker should have a total rethink. He should not look at the involvements, interests or take sides,  rather he should think of larger constituency,  which these people represented.  If you are going to screen them,  you invite them on floor, the Ethics and Privileges Committee is there,  let them bring the charges before them but they shall still be in the House performing their duties.

Some Northern leaders threatened to pull out of Nigeria,  should president Goodluck Jonathan contest the  2011 elections. What is your reaction to this?

Let them pull out. We are tired of these Northern elders. We know what the agenda is and that is to bring Ibrahim Babangida back in power. I think if I am to be involved,  I will support the groups calling on  Jonathan to run.

Jonathan is a Nigerian and he is entitled to run. And this is the only formula, but they have their own formula.  Were they able to secure the life of late President Umaru Yar’Adua?. Even though he  was a sickler when he was sworn in as President, what did they do to secure his health?

The Northern elders did not think of telling their governors to provide proper health facilities so that Yar’Adua can be taken care of in this country, only for him to die and their representative in the Senate was saying that he is a Muslim, they don’t need to look into that. Is Yar’Adua not public property since he was sworn into office? His death should not be forgotten like that and now that everything is forgotten, it is an embarrassment. And these people are talking about zoning formula, what kind of dirty zoning formula is that?

The man who was there representing the interest and the interest of Nigerians, his life cannot be secured, no proper health facility  could be secured to make sure that he is alive. Please they should not waste our time, Jonathan should run and remain there.

In view of the poor performance of the national team at the just concluded world cup, what do you think the country needs to do urgently to save our football?

I recommend initially that we should have indigenous coaches. In this country,  we have former foreign based players,  who are no longer playing and who have also tried their hands on coaching and we have seen the result.

When Eguavon was the coach,  he did a far better job and if I am to score him,  I will score him 90% and I will score Lagerback 20%.  Largerback can perform better with his people just like Dunga did  excellently well with the Brazilians and Maradona with the Argentines. On my own part, I believe a Nigerian, who is competent enough should be allowed to function in the capacity of a coach.

What is your reaction to the appointment of a new Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, chairman?
Prof Attahiru Jega  initially was not my own choice, but let’s watch and see how far he would go and he has competent people with him like Prof Ola Olorode, whom I have known for over 20 years and he is absolutely competent.

Someone  I was surprised that the President Jonathan dropped is Mike Igwe but I don’t know his reason for doing that. But with what I have been hearing about Jega, I believe he will be able to put things in place.

We are praying for a  free and fair election. Justice Uwais report have not been made public, which is an entitlement of every Nigerian because Nigerians are going to be involved in the election. We are the electorate, whose votes have been manipulated over the years because of some factors. But I think Dr  Jonathan has made a good choice.