‘I DON’T LIKE AMOTEKUN BUT…’ – Barr. Charles Ajiboye
by OKI SAMSON, Trek Africa Newspaper
Barr. Charles Ajiboye, Executive Partner, The Penthouse Law
- Says ‘I want to speak where it matters’
- Has a word for young lawyers who want to be like Gani Fawehinmi
The Annual Gani Fawehinmi Lecture is a success story. Now in its 16th edition, the lecture which has become a melting pot of ideas for the polity of the country as always did chart a course forward for the nation. Organized by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch since inception, one of the men at the center of the success story is Charles Ajiboye, Executive Partner at Penthouse Law who doubles as the Publicity Secretary of the professional body at the branch.
He was on ground at the event and did grant an exclusive interview with Trek Africa Newspapers.
Read!
Trek Africa: What is the take home from the 16th Gani Fawehinmi Lecture?
Barr. Charles Ajiboye: The take-home is that there is still hope. What is left for us is for us to choose to make a difference. If Nigeria will get better, individuals must arise. We talk about institutions determining the fate of a nation but the truth is that it is individuals that build institutions. Where the individuals will not rise, the institutions will not exist. Gani Fawehinmi is a single person.
One of the reasons why I and others at NBA do what we do is that if someone like Gani can stand to take a position on the issues of the nation and human rights, and years after he has left, we are still celebrating his legacies, then it means that institutions will do as well as individuals because individuals eventually constitute institutions, which can then make the country work.
Trek Africa: What do you have to say concerning the Southwest Security Network code-named Operation ‘Amotekun’?
Barr. Charles Ajiboye: when things fall apart, even the center will not hold again. Human beings are like water, we will find our way. Nigerians are resilient; the fact is if we can’t get what we want from you, we will find a way to sort it out ourselves. I and you provide power, water, and security. We have taken the responsibility upon ourselves, only that we have taken it statewide now. The governors of the Southwest have realized that if we must be safe, then it must be a personal effort. You can now talk about the legality or otherwise and compare it with JTF and others.
But like I use to say in a proverb ‘let the princes that make laws for slaves be very careful because one day the law they made for slaves will be applied on the prince’ and so the law is like animal farm, we have all come to submit our sovereignty to authority not because we cannot be rude, unruly or violent but for everybody’s sake. However, if the law does not pay us, people will ask if there is something else that can be done. Things have gone bad so the governors are seeking ways. Do I like ‘Amotekun’? No, I wish the government can secure everybody but when we cannot all be safe, we must find a way rather than do something illegal.
Trek Africa: What’s your advice to young lawyers like you who wish to take after Gani Fawehinmi?
Barr. Charles Ajiboye: I will say, for young lawyers who want to be like Gani Fawehinmi, tread with caution. I will quote Mr. Femi Falana, someone I am very close to, he said ‘even the military government respected the rule of law more than the civilian government we have’ and so to be like Gani Fawehinmi you have to be very careful because you may be hit by something worse than the military. What I will advise is not to be like Gani Fawehinmi but to build a better legacy than his. They should determine their own activism in such a way that the government will be forced down to its knees. People have done it all over the world, there has been a social media revolution; there are new ways to go about it. Why are they coming out with Social media bill and Hate speech bill, it is because they are afraid that the new generation and new kind of activism will not be like Gani Fawehinmi but will yield more results. That’s what I want our youths to look at, don’t try to go on the roads, they will lock you up, silence you like Sowore. Use a new kind of activism and you will deliver more results than Gani Fawehinmi
Trek Africa: We hear you are vying for a role at the national level of the NBA, why?
Barr. Charles Ajiboye: You can choose to stay afar and throw stones while you can enter and make suggestions on the table that matters. The truth is you cannot change the password of a device to new unless you input the old one. What we are trying to do is ensure that we are on the table so that when you speak you are talking to the right people.
And that’s why I am running for Assistant Publicity Secretary at the national level of the NBA. I want to speak where it matters. I want to speak to people that can hear me. Whether the change will happen or not is a matter of time. But it is better to speak from inside than outside.
