A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said the late public secretary of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, late Yinka Odumakin, was committed to the institutionalisation of democracy in Nigeria.
He recalled how Odumakin started the struggle against injustice right from his university days when he approached his chambers to help fight for some students detained for protesting against the killing of four of their colleagues.
Falana disclosed this during the 2nd anniversary of the Comrade Yinka Odumakin Lecture and Book Presentation, held at the Sheraton hotel, Ikeja Lagos on Sunday, April, 2nd 2023.
“Yinka led some students to our chambers at Ebute Metta, the Aka-Bashorun Chambers, to ask for our intervention in respect of those students. ABU students killed, Nsukka students locked up, Ife students came to Lagos to mobilise lawyers. Aka-Bashorun said, ‘Femi, you have to go to Nsukka’. The late Aka-Bashorun provided logistics for me to go to Nsukka and with an instruction: If those students are not released, don’t come back to Lagos,” Falana said.
He said even after they secured the release of the students, Odumakin still ensured that their expulsion from their school was overturned through the engagement of lawyers.
Praising the deceased for fighting for justice till the time of his death, Falana said, “If you are going to investigate Yinka till eternity, you may challenge his position politically, but he can never be found wanting in terms of integrity.”
Delivering his goodwill message, Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, said he missed his organisation’s former spokesperson.
He described Odumakin as a fearless and courageous person who never tarnished his integrity all through his struggle, unlike the activists of today.
“Today, when you are active and relevant, people know you. But by the time you are given dollars, you change mouth. Not Yinka,” he said.
In her remarks, the President, Oluyinka Odumakin Foundation, Joe Okei-Odumakin, said her husband was heavily committee to the soil of his birth until his death.
“He never wanted an ethnic Nigerian. He wanted a restructured Nigerian. He never advocated for a break throughout his lifetime and was always willing to give everything he had for the struggle,” she said.
Others who graced the event included former Lagos State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Jimi Agbaje; the founder of Guaranty Trust Bank, Fola Adeola; Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi; and a former Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State, Zacchaeu Adelabu.
