Lagos – The Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said it will confer an award on the Vice Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Osinbajo will be honoured alongside late lawyer and human rights activist, Mr Bamidele Aturu, who died on July 9, 2014.
Mr Adeyinka Fasika, Chairman, Organising Committee of the 11th Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture, announced this on Wednesday while briefing newsmen in Lagos.
Fasika said duo would be conferred with the Gani Fawehinmi Integrity Award at the programme which is being organised by the NBA, Ikeja branch.
He said the award was inaugurated two years ago in recognition of what Fawehinmi, a renowned human rights activist, stood for.
According to him, the awardees were chosen after a vigorous and painstaking search, as men who exemplified very high integrity.
“We know what Gani stood for all his life. He hated corruption with a passion. He was all for the upliftment of the standard of living of the Nigerian poor masses.
“This award is given to men and women of very high integrity in a society where such people are few and far between,” Fasika said.
He noted that the topic of the lecture, ‘Ethnicity, Religion, Illiteracy: Promises and Illusions of Democracy in the Struggle to Uplift the Masses from Impoverishment’, was very apt.
According to him, this year’s event is very unique in the sense that it is coming less than a month to Nigeria’s general elections.
He said there would also be a launch of a collection of all the lectures delivered at the annual Gani Fawhinmi Lecture/Symposium from 2005 to 2014.
Fasika said the book, which is entitled, “Stand Up for What is Right” would be presented by a human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN).
He added that the lecture would be chaired by Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie while Dr Alex Otto and Dr Said Timehin would be the speakers.
