Uba Sani Is Right About Gani Fawehinmi, And The Timing Is The Point
Kaduna · Monday 7 September 2026
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna has said the late Gani Fawehinmi's most consequential contribution to Nigeria was his determination to keep the political space open. He pointed specifically at Fawehinmi's fight against INEC's stringent conditions for political associations seeking registration.
That is a precise piece of history, and it is being recalled in a month when party registration is a live argument again.
What Fawehinmi actually won
The case matters because of what existed before it. INEC had set registration requirements that only a handful of large organisations could realistically meet, which in practice meant the commission decided who was allowed to be a political party at all. Fawehinmi challenged that as an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of association.
The result was a Nigeria in which small parties can exist. Everything that has followed from that, including the platforms currently being used by opposition candidates who left larger parties, runs through that principle.
Why a serving governor saying it is interesting
Praise for Fawehinmi is safe now. It was not safe when it mattered. The people who opposed him then were the state, and the state is the institution Uba Sani currently represents in Kaduna.
The activist becomes uncontroversial at exactly the moment the fight he started is being had again by somebody else.
The live version of the same argument
Nigeria is heading into 2027 with an opposition split across platforms, candidates who have changed parties since 2023, and a commission with discretionary power over registration, recognition and the publication of candidate lists. Those are the exact levers Fawehinmi spent his career forcing open.
The tribute is deserved. The useful question for anybody offering one is whether they would take the same side today, when the cost is real and the person paying it is not yet a national memorial.
Reporting: Daily Post, Punch and Kaduna State Government statements.
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