Gani, the Icon

He has always been a thorn in the side of many a government in Nigeria . A tireless human rights campaigner and “senior advocate of the masses”, colleagues, ordinary Nigerians pay tribute to Gani Fawehinmi on finally being recognized by his peers and becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. But who is he really?

By Bayo Ogunmupe

IT WAS A HOT AFTERNOON. THE TEENAGE PRI-mary school boy sat at the bank of a river in Ondo. He had a bowl of gari mixed with water on hand. As he was doing justice to the meal, a senior student came around to bully him.  “Get back to school because the bell had just rung,” the senior student said. But the youngster stood his ground. He would not go until he had finished his meal.

While the argument continued, a snake fell on the young boy’s head. Without any hesitation, the boy grabbed the snake and threw it at the senior, who ran for his dear life. The young boy is now the controversial lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi. That radicalism has continued as the hallmark of Fawehinmi, the radical Lagos lawyer who was made a senior advocate of Nigeria in July. He will be conferred with the title, September 10 in Abuja .

His  path to greatness as a crusader for the public good started in February 1969. For a moment Nigerians forgot they were fighting a civil war. They became engrossed in one of the juiciest scandals inNigeria ’s history. The young lawyer sued the secretary to the Benue/Plateau State government, the late Andrew Obeya, on behalf of a factory-hand, Abashia who said Obeya had an affair with his wife, Hannatu,in a car parked along the Jos/Zaria Road , Jos.

Although this should normally be a private tussle between two citizens, the state government got involved on behalf of its official. The governor, the late Joseph Gomwalk made efforts to get Fawehinmi to withdraw the case. When that failed, attempt was made to kidnap him. “That also came to nothing,” said Fawehinmi at an interview with Newswatch last week.

He was later clamped into jail under a detention decree that allows people to be detained without trial. To ensure he was kept away, the military government later charged him to court for illegally bringing arms to a local government area.

“I was not tried but moved from place to place inNorthern Nigeria . I was in prison for seven months. It was when I was in jail that I heard of the birth of my first child, Mohammed. By the time I was released, the six separate suits I had filed against Obeya had been struck out by the courts,” he recalled.

Two years later, Benjamin Adekunle, popularly called “Black Scorpion” during the civil war era and now a retired brigadier-general, caused the detention without trial of one Amos Ayodeji. Again, Fawehinmi filed a suit in a Lagos high court to secure Ayodeji’s release. He succeeded. In retaliation, Adekunle ordered the detention of Fawehinmi himself.

In 1971, crisis engulfed the University of Ibadanover a peaceful demonstration by the students against the excesses of the university authorities. The police invaded the university killing one of the students, Kunle Adepeju. The nation rose against the Yakubu Gowon regime.

Gowon set up a commission of inquiry headed by Justice Boonyamin Kazeem of the Lagos high court. The students hired Fawehinmi as their counsel. When the report of the inquiry was released, more than 80 percent of the students’ demands were met.

Also in 1978, Fawehinmi sued the federal government for banning the National Association of Nigerian Students and detaining its leader, Segun Okeowo. In the course of the case, Fawehinmi was arrested by the police and charged with stealing a camera.

When he obtained bail, he filed an application ofhabeas corpus on behalf of Okeowo. He won and Okeowo was released after 43 days in detention. Of course, Fawehinmi was himself acquitted and discharged of his trumped-up charge by a magistrate.

Again, during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida,the irrepresible  lawyer was detained in a bizarre twist to a case in which he was trying to bring officialdom to book. On June 17, 1988, he was arrested at his Anthony Village chambers together with two old but vociferous men – the late Tai Solarin, a famous social critic and Michael Imoudu, an old trade unionist whose advocacy of socialism in Nigeria has marked him out as a subversive in the eyes of every government since he organised Nigeria’s first general strike against the colonial government at the end of the World War II.

They were arrested at Fawehinmi’s chambers when they turned up at a conference offering alternatives to the government’s structural adjustment programme, SAP. SAP had become very unpopular causing a riot in which 12 people were killed. While in detention, Fawehinmi was flown from prison to prison, “igniting hypertension and ill health for me,” he said.

Fawehinmi also showed himself as a crusader for justice in the murder of Dele Giwa, founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch in 1986. He relentlessly attempted to institute a private prosecution for murder against the nation’s topmost intelligence officers at that time, Halilu Akilu, director of military intelligence and A.K. Togun, deputy director, state security service, SSS. He charged them for the murder of Giwa by parcel bomb. Giwa had been interrogated by the intelligence services two days before his death. Fawehinmi who had been his lawyer and friend strongly suspects that the security agencies sent the bomb.  The lawyer is still pursuing the case at the Oputa panel on human rights abuses.

Fawehinmi has indeed faced many trials and triumphs in his crusade for social justice. He toldNewswatch last week that he has been imprisoned 29 times. He has lived in 15 prisons and eight police cells across the country. He has been charged to court 13 times and his chambers searched 15 times.

Because of his human rights crusade for the masses, students of the Obafemi Awolowo University gave him the title of Senior Advocate of the Masses, SAM. All the people who spoke to Newswatch last week said he richly deserves the SAN title now bestowed on him by the Legal Practitioners Privilleges Committee of the Nigerian Bar Council.

Fawehinmi’s mother, Muniratu, in her 80s, supports him. She does not see anything wrong with her son disturbing the government because she believes that if government does what is wrong,  he will surely disturb them. She said Gani resembles his father in character and appearance. She told Newswatch that his father was fearless and if anyone did anything wrong and his father got wind of it, he would make sure justice was done.

She added that it was God’s time for Gani to become a SAN. She said they had denied him the title in the past because of his radicalism. “As a mother, I feel worried and bad whenever Gani is detained, I caution him sometimes. But I cannot stop him from doing what is right,” she said.

Adebayo Adefarati, governor of Ondo State said that Gani had not changed much, that Gani was his “boy” in secondary school. He described Gani as a very rascally boy who was very bold. “Where his seniors were afraid to talk, Gani will stand up and tell you what he feels about a situation,” he said.

Adefarati said that Gani had always been fearless, which was why his seniors advised him to study law.

Adefarati said after Fawehinmi was named a SAN,he wrote him a letter of congratulations, “where I  noted how extremely productive he had been. That Gani had contributed immensely to the practice of law in Nigeria is widely acknowledged,” he said. “All I can add on Gani is to acknowledge his courage and sagacity in public affairs. If more Nigerians had Gani’s courage, Nigeria would have been the greater for it,” he stated.

Newswatch watched Gani in his chambers and among his associates for two days. He arrives office at about 11.00 a.m. each day. A deluge of calls, letters and heavy mail are found waiting for his personal attention. Later in the afternoon, political associates, members of the National Conscience Party, clients seeking legal advice and legal assistance stream into the chambers. Despite its remoteness from the city centre, the chambers is a beehive of activities as late as midnight every day.

Yet, Fawehinmi attends to everyone, including foreign visitors, those from the remote corners of the nation, from his native city of Ondo , lawyers from other chambers seeking legal consultation and from people seeking financial assistance from him personally.

In the basement of his chambers are case files of thousands of cases he has handled and the current ones which he is handling. Named litigation section, it also houses bound copies of all the newspapers in circulation in Nigeria , including foreign ones.

Fawehinmi told Newswatch that his guiding legal principle was taken from the words of Nigeria ’s first lawyer, Sapara Williams who admonished every lawyer  “to live for the direction of his people and the advancement of the cause of his country.” Because of his passion for justice, having been imprisoned and beaten by the police unjustly in life, Fawehinmi compassionately renders free legal services for the members of his self-defined constituency – the poor, the oppressed, the cheated, the ignored and the persecuted.

He has indeed changed the course of legal practice in Nigeria . Never in the history of law has one man done so much for the legal profession. He practises law, writes law and publishes law. His Nigerian Weekly Law Reports, NWLR, comes out regularly with more than 250 pages every week. He is the editor-in-chief and founder of the NWLR. He is author or editor of various law reports and journals totalling 20.

Fawehinmi has also won landmark judicial pronouncements and cases in Nigeria . In December 1987, the Supreme Court determined the right of a private prosecutor to institute a private prosecution for murder. The credit went to him. “There are so many constitutional cases, which I am personally the plaintiff establishing so many principles,” he said.

Other notable cases won by Fawehinmi in the course of his crusade for justice in Nigeria include:Fawehinmi versus Shonekan; an action which exposed the illegality of Ernest Shonekan’s interim national government, ING, after Babangida “stepped aside.”

Edwin Anikwem, deputy head of Fawehinmi Chambers, told Newswatch last week that  “Gani Fawehinmi inspires us very much here at chambers. He is very caring, kind.  He gets work done.”

Some people claim that Fawehinmi is a slave driver, but Anikwem denied it. “I dare say, he is no slave driver. But he does not suffer fools gladly. Working with him is an experience. He motivates us to attain greater heights. We have come to imbibe his philosophy of using law for the betterment of society,” he said.

He continued:  “This runs in the veins of every member of staff of his chambers. Gani encourages people to succeed as a lawyer. He makes everything available to you, money and materials. There are many advantages in working with him. For instance, we benefit from information on law available in his chambers and his sister companies. Moreover, it is the only place I know where you are considered on merit. He gives you opportunities to excel. He is a driver in the sense of getting maximum efficiency, of obtaining perfection. Gani is very thorough as a professional. He is an exacting leader.”

For Tunde Adeleye, presiding bishop of the Anglican Church, Calabar diocese: “I appreciate Fawehinmi’s contributions to social criticism. I also appreciate his boldness. He has suffered greatly in the hands of government. His defence of the poor, the needy is commendable. I see him as a formidable social critic, man of learning and one who has become an icon and philanthropist.”

Odia Ofeimum, social critic and chairman, editorial board of TheNews magazine had this to say on Fawehinmi: “Whether he gets the title or not, every Nigerian in the law profession knew that Fawehinmi was bigger than whatever he could be given.  In fact, the very system of having SAN was doing itself a favour when it finally had Fawehinmi applying to become a SAN. That he is getting it after so many people he is intellectually superior to, actually shows a man who was more prepared to give than to receive. You don’t need to be a lawyer to appreciate Fawehinmi’s genius as a barrister. He has become a personification of radical law in Nigeria . Through his law reports, Fawehinmi has advanced the course of law more than any other lawyer in Nigeria . He has a strong sense for the defence of public morality.

“But Fawehinmi is not always right. I remember during the struggle for June 12, he took some positions which surely he will reverse today. He was requesting for the soldiers to intervene. That was extremely naive. There are other times when, honestly,  you would wish as a social critic, Fawehinmi was a little slower in responding to an issue because that way he would be able to get all the information before acting.”

Ofeimum went on: “Fawehinmi has not been a great builder of organisations. He has built a fantastic law firm tapping the skills of other lawyers. But as a politician, there are so many things which he does which I consider inimical to the survival of his political party. Thus, he is a better advocate than administrator.

“On Bola Tinubu, the Lagos State governor, Fawehinmi over reached himself. His emotions got the better of legal knowledge for not knowing that Tinubu has immunity and that the issue of Tinubu’s integrity bordered on morality not legality.”

Ebele Eko, a professor of English and deputy vice-chancellor, University of Calabar believes if Nigeriahas had more crusaders of Fawehinmi’s ilk we might have been spared that many years of military rule.

Ugochukwu Egesi, physician at the University Teaching Hospital, Calabar, said “Fawehinmi is the greatest advocate on the lawyers’ roll in Nigeria .”

In the opinion of Ogbadu Zakari of the federal inland revenue department, Lagos , “Gani Fawehinmi is truly the advocate of the masses for his penchant to defend the poor freely. But if he wants to rule this country, he must be ready to accommodate other people’s views. He should respect the viewpoint of others because no one has a monopoly of wisdom,” he said.

Williams Adebayo, a legal practitioner based at Ojodu, Lagos , said this of Fawehinmi: “Gani is a very successful lawyer and human rights crusader. His profound knowledge and understanding of the law has enabled him to use the law and the courtroom as instruments of protest and social change. Today, his success has been in the advancement of justice and the enhancement of human rights.”

In 1994, Fawehinmi formed the National Conscience Organisation as a human rights movement. “As an organisation, National Conscience is fighting for the economic rights of the down-trodden in Nigeria . The National Conscience transformed into a political party in October 1994 in defiance of a military order banning the formation of political parties,” Fawehinmi told Newswatch.

According to Fawehinmi, the National Conscience Party, NCP, was formed with two main objectives. Firstly, to rally public support for the actualisation of June 12 presidential victory of Moshood Abiola in 1993. Secondly, to provide a platform for the emancipation of Nigerians from economic, political, social and cultural slavery.

In pursuance of his political goals, Fawehinmi promises to be more committed to the ideals of justice. “First, justice is in two parts, you have legal justice relating to the courts and social justice relating to the masses. Social justice cannot be attained without economic fundamental rights.Nigeria today has no respect for the economic rights of the mass of our people,” he said.

Henry Akunebu, a lawyer, believes Fawehinmi has built a great name for himself and that politics should be his next vocation. “He has so distinguished himself as an advocate and defender of the poor that no Nigerian can boast of any higher ties with the Nigerian people. If he plans well, the presidency ofNigeria is within his grasp in the near future,” he said.

In the opinion of Akunebu, “if Fawehinmi is serious in his presidential ambition, he should reach out to other parts of Nigeria . He must establish a newspaper, radio or television in order to propagate his gospel of justice to the masses. It is essential that Fawehinmi reorganises NCP so that people other than Yoruba can take up its membership.”

Ayo Obe, lawyer and president of the Civil Liberties Organsation, CLO, told Newswatch, “that the recognition of Fawehinmi as a SAN is a well deserved honour.” But she doesn’t see it changing his crusading spirit. “I don’t see the honour changing him. I think Fawehinmi will continue to be SAN and senior advocate of the masses together.”

Brady Nwosu, a Lagos-based political consultant commended Fawehinmi for his courage, steadfastness and dogged devotion to noble ideals. “Gani Fawehinmi is a special gift  to mankind, particularly to Nigeria . He remains a personality in law you cannot ignore. Fawehinmi has long remained a lone voice in Nigeria ’s devious political firmament,” he said.

Olufemi Adekoya, a lawyer, described Fawehinmi as a brilliant, ferocious and rugged legal practitioner. “You know, it is not enough to be a lawyer, you must be willing to risk your life in the course of your profession. Fawehinmi is the only man in this country that has put his life on the line in the course of practising his profession,” he said.

Adekoya told Newswatch that Fawehinmi was the first human rights activist in Nigeria , which was why students gave him the title, senior advocate of the masses. He said he hated Fawehinmi’s excesses. One of which was his recommendation, on television  that Obasanjo should reduce the price of petroleum to six kobo per litre, which was unrealistic.

The lawyer also explained that sensational advocacy was unethical and that it should be avoided. But in the opinion of Adekoya, Fawehinmi is always emotional in the matter of Dele Giwa at the Oputa panel which was an unprofessional act. He said the SAN was delayed because of Fawehinmi’s style of advocacy.

Fawehinmi is also a philanthropist. Because of his experience of financial deprivation as a student, he instituted his own scholarship scheme in 1971. Every year 40 students receive scholarship awards from him.

For Fawehinmi’s family life, you need to visit his serene home at Ikeja  GRA. His home stands on a large expanse of land covered with flowers. There are three buildings in his courtyard, two duplexes and a guest chalet. Fawehinmi lives alone in the first building. His family lives in the other.

He has two separate areas for rearing chicken and goats. They are about 90.

The walls of his sitting room are covered by glazed newspaper headlines of Fawehinmi‘s travails. He told Newswatch the windows were not covered so that Abacha’s henchmen would not miss their target if they wanted him. He said his desire for the safety of his family informed his decision to live all alone, separate from the family.

Tolulope Fashipe, Fawehinmi’s younger sister, said her brother is a wonderful person.  She said Fawehinmi treats her with loving kindness and that he is a good family man. Fashipe said she is very happy for Fawehinmi, for the SAN honour.

For Fawehinmi’s elder brother, Wahid, a general merchant, “Gani is the dean of the family. He is just like our father, hates injustice. As a brother, he is very supportive, a good family man, responsive to our needs at all times.”

Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi was born on April  22, 1938 , at Ondo, Ondo State . He was educated atVictory College , Ikare; the University of London, England and the Nigerian Law School , Lagos .

He was called to the bar in 1965. He has practised law since then. He also wrote columns in the Daily Sketch, the Nigerian Tribune, and The Chronicle.

Fawehinmi won the American Bar Association Award in 1996, and Bernard Simons award from the International Bar Association in 1998. He was given the traditional title of Lomofe of Ondo in 1978. He is married to two wives and has 14 children.

As a Man Thinketh by Bayo Ogunmupe

THERE are various laws of success. The first for mention is that life is spiritual. “Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven,” Mat 18:18. This means that you have to convince the spiritual powers in heaven that you deserve greatness before you can enjoy wealth on earth. And if you obtained riches by hook or crook, they aren’t going to last, neither would they be enduring.
Two, there is the law of sowing and reaping. It is what you sow that you reap. And yet there is another, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Because thoughts are things, when thoughts are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence and a burning desire, they become even more powerful. However, if you want to succeed in life prepare well. Any enterprise built by wise planning becomes strong,” Proverbs 24:3.
What happens when you are not prepared? Your hopes wont materialize. The dividing line between winning and losing is preparation. The great Tennis champion, Arthur Ashe said, “The key to winning is self confidence and the key to self-confidence is preparation.” Your wishes of becoming a star wont make your dreams come true. You’ve got to prepare adequately to gain laurels. If you plan to keep growing, preparation must become your way of life. You must never stop asking, Jehovah, what do you want me to do? What will it cost me in time, effort and resources? What obstacles must I overcome? With that mindset, you are well on your way to fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. A good leader thinks ahead, your success in life is determined by how important you regard your goal and your ability to prepare for victory. Alexander Hamilton, a founding father of the United States, said, “Men give me credit for genius, but all the genius I have lies in this – when I have a subject at hand, I study it profoundly.” So if you want to succeed, prepare well.
Besides, your road to greatness lies in having a cause greater than yourself. How could David stand up to a giant? Because his people were being threatened and he cannot run away. A survey was conducted among centenarians, people who lived to be over 100 years. You will expect exotic diets, miracle drugs and strenuous exercise.
But no. the things that all these centenarians had in common was purpose. They had a compelling reason to rise every morning.
God created you for a purpose. At 12, Jesus said, “I must be about my father’s business,” Luke 2:49. Twenty-one years later, dying on the stake, He announced, “It is finished,” John 19:30. Those statements frame a fulfilled, God glorifying life. So ask Jehovah to reveal to you His purpose for your life. Until you find God’s purpose for you, you have not succeeded. As you go through life you discover there are many ways to gain wisdom. One, by writing down, reflecting on what you have learned through experience. Two, gleaning from the collective knowledge of others. “By pride comes nothing but strife, but with well-advised is wisdom,” Prov. 13:10. Three, thinking outside the box. Four, not rushing to closure. Growth is always a work-in-progress. Creativity is untidy and unnerving. The ability to stay focused with faith in the midst of change is the hallmark of maturity.
But the ultimate source of wisdom is Jehovah. A young executive told his secretary he didn’t want to be interrupted. But his boss needed him and walked in. when he found the young executive on his knees praying, he withdrew quietly, and asked the secretary, “Is this usual?” “Yes,” she replied. “No wonder I come to him for advice, said his boss. If you need wisdom ask God. “For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” Proverbs 2:6. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and it will be given to him,” James 1:5. “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hyprocisy,” James 3:17.
Our champion for today is Mark Elliot Zuckerbeg, the Jewish American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site. Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president. Facebook was co-founded by Zuckerberg and his classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University. In 2010 Zuckerberg was named Time magazine’s Person of the year. As of 2011, his personal wealth was estimated to be $17.5 billion.
Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York to Karen, a psychiatrist and Edward Zuckerbeg, a dentist. He and his three sisters were brought up in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Zuckerberg was raised Jewish, but he has since described himself as an atheist.
In High School, Zuckerberg excelled in classics before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy where he won prizes in science and classical studies. At a party in his sophomore year, Zuckerberg met Priscilla Chan, a Chinese-American from Boston, Massachusetts. They have dated continuously ever since and in 2010, Zuckerberg invited Chan, now a medical doctor to move into his rented house. By the time he began classes at Harvard, he had already achieved a reputation as a computer prodigy. He studied computer science and built Facemash site. But Harvard shut it down because its popularity had overwhelmed Harvard’s server and prevented students from accessing the Internet.
President Barack Obama had aprivate meeting with Zuckerberg when the President dined with technology business leaders in California in February 2011. Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room in February 2004. He left Harvard without a degree, he didn’t complete his studies. He moved to California with Moskovitz and other friends. In July 2010, Zuckerberg reported that Facebook reached 500 million-user mark, agreeing that Facebook could earn more income from its phenomenal growth. In 2007, Zuckerberg was named by MIT Technology Review as one of the top 35 innovators in the world. A lawsuit filed by Eduardo Saverin against FAcebook and Zuckerberg was settled out of court. In the settlement, Facebook affirmed Saverin’s title as co-founder of Facebook. Saverin signed non-disclosure contract after the settlement. All in all, Zuckerberg affirmed that pursuit of paper qualifications is the purview of employees of industry, that life rewards creative entrepreneurs such as Zuckerbeg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others, certificate or no certificate.

Sucess Secrets of of Champions

Ogunmupe: Success Secrets Of Champions

By Bayo Ogunmupe

RESEARCH has shown that people who become champions, the men and women who make it to the top of their career are those who accept that they and they alone are in charge of their own lives. They win by dreaming big, setting tough goals, putting plans on the table and damning the consequencies. Their pedigree is character, dedication and the pursuit of excellence.
Champions serve to demonstrate that winners are ordinary people who never have anything to prove.

So, what is holding you back? Three keys to living without limits are clarity, competence and concentration. Clarity means that you are absolutely clear about who you are, what you want and where you are going.   You write down your goal and you make plans to accomplish it.   You do something everyday to move toward your goal.   Competence means that you are very good in your chosen field.   You apply the 80/20 rule to everything you do, focusing on becoming outstanding in the 20 per cent of tasks that contribute to 80 per cent of your results. You dedicate yourself to continuous learning and self improvement. You must realise that excellence is a moving target.

Concentration is the discipline to force yourself to focus single-mindedly on one thing and stay with it until it is finished. Concentration is perseverance without distraction, keeping to your goals, when you apply yourself to your dreams, thinking in terms of possibilities you move ever closer to the realisation of your dreams. However, how badly do you want success? You can achieve anything if you want it enough. It isn’t so much whether you can win, it is much more a question of whether you are willing to pay the price. Paying the price may mean years of low income from part-time jobs, to give you the time to acquire the knowledge and skills that will allow you to live your dreams.

It might mean leaving your family and friend by moving to a new area, perhaps halfway around the world, where your talents are in demand. Whatever the price, you must decide if you are willing to pay the freight. Winners always accept paying prices willingly.

Once your dream is in place, the next step in your championship journey is to develop the dream into a vision. The vision is a more focused concept of how the dream will become reality. All great champions have a clear vision of how far their talents can take them. Goals are the fuel of desire. A winner’s next step is to break the vision down into manageable goals that will create and maintain maximum desire. The first step in creating burning desire is to decide exactly what you want.

Goal setting is essential for success. Goals, unlike dreams, follow a special set of rules. The power of goal setting should never be taken lightly in the making of champions. Setting goals allows you to focus your conscious and subconscious energy on a distant flag keeping you motivated along the way. Smart goal setting follows specific rules. They are: Specific, motivational, attainable, relevant and trackable.

A specific goal is to be the greatest journalist of all time. That is a long term goal. This can be broken down to short term goal of being the winner of the Cable News Network African Journalist of the year. This serves to boost your confidence in winning other laurels.

Two, the goals you set must have the motivational power to excite you enough to enable you invest time and effort necessary to realise your goals. That is why champions set big goals, because only big goals have the power to make them work harder to gain their objective. Three, although your goal must be lofty, it must be attainable given the time required with your dedication. Someone must have achieved goals near to it if it is attainable.

Four, your goal of becoming a champion must be relevant. For example, Nigeria is now in the throes of poverty and unemployment, an ambition to win the Nobel Prize for Economics, in order to pull off  an economic miracle of widespread prosperity would be a most relevant ambition.

Finally, for a goal to be trackable you must have a way of knowing if you are moving closer to your long term goal. That is, you must have past champions upon whose achievement you can build on. For your ideas to be on track in the field of economics for example, you must build on the works of development economists such as Karl Marx, John Mayuard Keynes and Amartya Sen.

Our champion for today is Robert Schuman, the French statesmen who founded the European Coal and Steel Community and worked for the establishment of the political and economic unity of Europe culminating in the European Union. Born in Luxembourg in June 1886, died in Metz in September 1963, Schuman was a member of the French National Assembly from 1919 till he was arrested by the Gestapo after the German occupation of France in 1940. He became a minister just before he was arrested and deported to Germany. He escaped in 1942 to France where he rejoined the French resistance.

After the war, Schuman rose to great prominence. He was Minister of Finance, then Prime Minister from 1947 to 1948 assuring parliamentary stability in a period of revolutionary charge and partisan insurrection. He led the Third Force, a coalition of intellectuals opposed to both the Communists and the Gaullists: forces intent on changing the French constitution by intimidation rather than the ballot box.

In the last days of his first premiership, he proposed plans that later resulted in the Council of Europe and the single market-European Economic Community. Become Foreign Minister in 1948, he retained the post in different governments till 1953.

As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Schuman was instrumental to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Schuman was a signatory to the statutes of the Council of Europe; the Treaty of Washington even though the French National Assembly declined to ratify it. He later served as Minister of Justice before becoming the first President of the European Parliament, which bestowed on him by acclamation the title: “Father of Europe”. He was one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

In 1958 he was given the Karlsprecis, an award by the German city of Aachen to champions of European peace, commemorating Charlemgne, ruler of what is today France and Germany, who resided and is buried at Aachen. Celibate and modest, Schuman was very religious, a Bible scholar and revolutionary thinker.

He was also a courageous political activist. In May 2004, he was being considered for beautification as a prelude to being declared a saint. A social science university was named after him at Strasbourg, France and the administrative headquarters of the University of Limerick is named Robert Schuman Building in Ireland.

His unalloyed testament was that he initiated and implemented the law paying social security benefits to the aged and the unemployed in France from 1947.

Sucess Secrets of of Champions

Ogunmupe: Success Secrets Of Champions

By Bayo Ogunmupe

RESEARCH has shown that people who become champions, the men and women who make it to the top of their career are those who accept that they and they alone are in charge of their own lives. They win by dreaming big, setting tough goals, putting plans on the table and damning the consequencies. Their pedigree is character, dedication and the pursuit of excellence.
Champions serve to demonstrate that winners are ordinary people who never have anything to prove.

So, what is holding you back? Three keys to living without limits are clarity, competence and concentration. Clarity means that you are absolutely clear about who you are, what you want and where you are going.   You write down your goal and you make plans to accomplish it.   You do something everyday to move toward your goal.   Competence means that you are very good in your chosen field.   You apply the 80/20 rule to everything you do, focusing on becoming outstanding in the 20 per cent of tasks that contribute to 80 per cent of your results. You dedicate yourself to continuous learning and self improvement. You must realise that excellence is a moving target.

Concentration is the discipline to force yourself to focus single-mindedly on one thing and stay with it until it is finished. Concentration is perseverance without distraction, keeping to your goals, when you apply yourself to your dreams, thinking in terms of possibilities you move ever closer to the realisation of your dreams. However, how badly do you want success? You can achieve anything if you want it enough. It isn’t so much whether you can win, it is much more a question of whether you are willing to pay the price. Paying the price may mean years of low income from part-time jobs, to give you the time to acquire the knowledge and skills that will allow you to live your dreams.

It might mean leaving your family and friend by moving to a new area, perhaps halfway around the world, where your talents are in demand. Whatever the price, you must decide if you are willing to pay the freight. Winners always accept paying prices willingly.

Once your dream is in place, the next step in your championship journey is to develop the dream into a vision. The vision is a more focused concept of how the dream will become reality. All great champions have a clear vision of how far their talents can take them. Goals are the fuel of desire. A winner’s next step is to break the vision down into manageable goals that will create and maintain maximum desire. The first step in creating burning desire is to decide exactly what you want.

Goal setting is essential for success. Goals, unlike dreams, follow a special set of rules. The power of goal setting should never be taken lightly in the making of champions. Setting goals allows you to focus your conscious and subconscious energy on a distant flag keeping you motivated along the way. Smart goal setting follows specific rules. They are: Specific, motivational, attainable, relevant and trackable.

A specific goal is to be the greatest journalist of all time. That is a long term goal. This can be broken down to short term goal of being the winner of the Cable News Network African Journalist of the year. This serves to boost your confidence in winning other laurels.

Two, the goals you set must have the motivational power to excite you enough to enable you invest time and effort necessary to realise your goals. That is why champions set big goals, because only big goals have the power to make them work harder to gain their objective. Three, although your goal must be lofty, it must be attainable given the time required with your dedication. Someone must have achieved goals near to it if it is attainable.

Four, your goal of becoming a champion must be relevant. For example, Nigeria is now in the throes of poverty and unemployment, an ambition to win the Nobel Prize for Economics, in order to pull off  an economic miracle of widespread prosperity would be a most relevant ambition.

Finally, for a goal to be trackable you must have a way of knowing if you are moving closer to your long term goal. That is, you must have past champions upon whose achievement you can build on. For your ideas to be on track in the field of economics for example, you must build on the works of development economists such as Karl Marx, John Mayuard Keynes and Amartya Sen.

Our champion for today is Robert Schuman, the French statesmen who founded the European Coal and Steel Community and worked for the establishment of the political and economic unity of Europe culminating in the European Union. Born in Luxembourg in June 1886, died in Metz in September 1963, Schuman was a member of the French National Assembly from 1919 till he was arrested by the Gestapo after the German occupation of France in 1940. He became a minister just before he was arrested and deported to Germany. He escaped in 1942 to France where he rejoined the French resistance.

After the war, Schuman rose to great prominence. He was Minister of Finance, then Prime Minister from 1947 to 1948 assuring parliamentary stability in a period of revolutionary charge and partisan insurrection. He led the Third Force, a coalition of intellectuals opposed to both the Communists and the Gaullists: forces intent on changing the French constitution by intimidation rather than the ballot box.

In the last days of his first premiership, he proposed plans that later resulted in the Council of Europe and the single market-European Economic Community. Become Foreign Minister in 1948, he retained the post in different governments till 1953.

As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Schuman was instrumental to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Schuman was a signatory to the statutes of the Council of Europe; the Treaty of Washington even though the French National Assembly declined to ratify it. He later served as Minister of Justice before becoming the first President of the European Parliament, which bestowed on him by acclamation the title: “Father of Europe”. He was one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

In 1958 he was given the Karlsprecis, an award by the German city of Aachen to champions of European peace, commemorating Charlemgne, ruler of what is today France and Germany, who resided and is buried at Aachen. Celibate and modest, Schuman was very religious, a Bible scholar and revolutionary thinker.

He was also a courageous political activist. In May 2004, he was being considered for beautification as a prelude to being declared a saint. A social science university was named after him at Strasbourg, France and the administrative headquarters of the University of Limerick is named Robert Schuman Building in Ireland.

His unalloyed testament was that he initiated and implemented the law paying social security benefits to the aged and the unemployed in France from 1947.

Walking In Wisdom

By Bayo Ogunmupe

OUR true rewards in life depend on the quality and amount of contribution we make. From the scriptures to science, psychology to business, the documentation is the same. As we sow, we reap. You should know them by their works. You get out what you put in. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These are all sayings of the scriptures—and of the wise.

The way we can build self-reliance is to recognize alternative choices we have in a free society.

Earlier in my columns, I wrote about three great fears, namely, the fear of rejection, fear of change and fear of success. A good way to conquer fear and build self-reliance is to realize that we all are God-created but self-molded. That we are given love, spiritual leadership, divine rules and laws to help us understand how we cause our own effects by our own decisions. To build self-reliance, you must replace fear with knowledge and action.

We are only victims of our own fears. We are victims of habit and group conformity. Indeed, each of us becomes a hostage of our own making. To be self-reliant, we need to be different if it means being cleaner, and better groomed than the others. The greatest risk in life is to depend upon others for your security. The greatest security is to plan and act and take the risk that will make you independent. Carry this motto in all your teaching: Life is a do-it-yourself project. Become role models for your peers and always model yourself after people you respect. Never make excuses for anything. If a commitment cannot be met, always call immediately with the reason. Never make excuses after the fact. Procrastination leads to the rationalization of failure. Never make excuses to the people you are leading.

In ancient Rome being a sculptor was a popular profession. Really, you were not considered a celebrity if your home or office didn’t have several statues of the gods adorning it. As with every industry, there was good and bad quality statue. Occasionally when a sculptor makes a mistake in carving a particular statue, the crack would be filled with wax. Then, sculptors became so good at remodeling with wax that people could not tell the difference with the naked eye.

If anyone wanted quality statue, he would go to artisan market place and look for good statue makers, marked sine cera – without wax. In sine cera booths reside the real statue. Thus, more than any other virtue, we look for in people, we value sincerity – without wax. Previously, I have written about responsibility as understanding Jehovah’s great law of cause and effect. Here, we are dealing with how to walk in wisdom. Wisdom is the combination of honesty, intuition and knowledge applied through experience. Wisdom is honest knowledge in action. The application of knowledge with intuition is known as sagacity – practical wisdom. There is no greater example of the law of cause and effect than that which is demonstrated in the results of a person’s honesty or dishonesty, over a period of time. There can be no real success without honesty. Some day, the person’s house of wax will melt to reveal the fraud inside.

It is not enough to think the truth. You must act the truth and speak the truth. To be able to do this is to succeed in life. To be wise leaders, we also must consider the impact of our decisions on other people in our lives. The ability to anticipate the effects of our decisions on other people’s lives as well as on our own life is wisdom. When we honestly consider the wellbeing of others, before we decide to profit ourselves, we become truly rich and sagacious.

In life, however, knowledge makes the difference. According to the University of California (UCLA) Brain Research Institute, the power of the human brain to create, store and learn is limitless. The great Russian scholar, Ivan Yefremov, has told the Russian people: “Throughout our lives we use only a fraction of our thinking ability. We could without difficulty learn forty languages, memorise a dozen encyclopedias and complete the required courses of dozens of colleges.” However, one painful reason is that people don’t believe they are worth that much. This is why low self-esteem is such a devastating growth inhibitor. It is sad that people have an aversion to doing more than is necessary to get by.

Peter Drucker, the famous management expert, admonishes: “Today, knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement. Scholars are not merely on top, they are on top.” Human engineering research over a century indicates that one of the most important aptitudes for success is that a large vocabulary – which implies broad knowledge characterizes the more successful persons, regardless of their occupations. Brain is becoming more and more the master of brawn. It should please you to know that reading is the best way to gain knowledge and a greater vocabulary.

Our champion of today is Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, the Russian statesman who became the president of Russia in 1990. The architect of Russian Republic, yeltsin became the first popularly elected leader in Russian history in 1991, guiding the new republic into freedom through breaking up the Soviet Union until his resignation on 31 December, 1999.

He was born February 1, 1931, in Russia, attended Urals Polytechnic and worked in construction from 1955 to 1968. He joined the Communist Party in 1961, becoming the first secretary of his region’s party in 1976. Thereafter, he came to know Mikhail Gorbachev then his counterpart in the city of Stavropol. In 1985 Gorbachev chose Yeltsin to clean out the corruption in the Moscow party and elevated him to the Politburo in 1986. As Moscow’s mayor, yeltsin proved an able and determined reformer. But he estranged Gorbachev by criticizing him for the slowness of his reforms.

Gorbachev kicked him out of Moscow’s leadership in 1987 and from the Politburo in 1988. He was demoted to deputy minister of Construction. However, yeltsin staged a comeback. Through his advocacy of democracy and reform he became popular. He took advantage of Gorbachev’s policy to contest and win a seat in the new Russian Parliament in 1989. In 1990, he was elected President by the Russian Parliament against Gorbachev’s wishes.

Thereafter, yeltsin publicly called for the dissolution of the Soviet Union and then quit the Communist Party. His victory in the direct election of Russian President in 1991 he saw as a mandate to assert the independence of Russia from the Soviet Union. He won global acclaim by casting himself as a democrat and defying the August coup attempt in 1991. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union that December, Yeltsin transformed Russia’s socialist command economy into a free market economy by implementing price liberalization and privatization programmes.

In 1994, Yeltsin sent troops into Chechnya, which had seceded from Russia in 1991. The army was unable to suppress the rebellion. This further eroded Yeltsin’s declining popularity. In another spectacular comeback, however, Yeltsin defeated his Communist challenger in the second round of voting for this second term in office in 1996. He spent the months after, recovering from a heart attack. On 31 December 1999, he made a surprise announcement of his resignation, leaving the presidency with his chosen successor, the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he said Russia deserved new leaders in the new millennium. Yeltsin maintained a low profile after his resignation, making no statements or appearances. Boris Yeltsin died of heart failure in April 2007 at the age of 76.

BEYOND THE SUMMITT FOR NIGERIAN RENEWAL

By Bayo Ogunmupe
ECONOMIC summits are a yearly jamboree bringing together chief executives, topnotchers of the private sector and senior government officials to discuss how best to develop and monitor the Nigerian economy.
The main focus of the summits is to develop policy directions in the short and medium term, of the priorities of Nigeria’s national economy in the context of the evolving world economy.
The worst recession in a generation is how the Encyclopaedia Britannica online described the recession that hit the world recently. The economic downturn that started in the United States in 2007, so severely affected many countries including Nigeria. It has been given the unique name, the Great Recession.
That was why the 17th Economic Summit was organised. The summit started at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on November 10, it ended on November 12, 2011, its theme was: Attracting foreign direct investment through global partnerships. At the confab, delegates were treated to a dialogue with President Goodluck Jonathan, sectoral policy dialogues and a forum for emerging leaders was forged.
Yes, Nigeria should attract more and greater investment. But the incentives are not there. The Boko Haram unrest cannot invite investors, for they are attracted by economic stability, a stable currency and the purchasing power of the people.
The best way out of our impasse is to imitate another emerging economy. For me, I would want Nigeria to ape India. Just as Nigeria is the largest country in Africa, India is the largest economy in the Commonwealth. But in spite of these similarities, both countries have differing development patterns. In the latest global competitiveness report, the World Economic Forum (WEF), placed Nigeria at 127th position in the world. Others are the indices rating by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which do not present cheering news. Insecurity, dilapidated infrastructure and socio-economic paralysis have coalesced to stymie Nigeria’s democracy.
For India, the statistics are bright. Even with a huge population of 1.2 billion, as against Nigeria’s 167 million, India’s per capita income and gross domestic product (GDP) still towers above that of Nigeria. The World Bank ranks India as the 10th largest economy in the world by GDP and the fourth by purchasing power parity. In the midst of such impressive indicators of development, India still has its fair share of poverty like Nigeria.
However, unemployment and public sector corruption define the Nigerian reality. And unlike Nigeria, the Indian government and people, having identified their challenges, are tackling them headlong. How India was conquering their problems was the thrust of a recent confab held at the Lagos Business School.
Though the forum was to seek ways of fostering Indo-African relations, it became a roundtable to share experiences and create a future through competition. As it is, the Nigerian authorities should not sweep aside the lessons the Indian community in Nigeria is teaching us. One remarkable lesson from India is the role of diplomacy in entrepreneurship building. India’s High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mahesh Sacdev, is passionately growing Indian businesses in Nigeria.
Nigerian envoys abroad should borrow a leaf from India and grow brand Nigeria wherever they find themselves. It is obvious from the foregoing that India walked the same path as Nigeria. But unlike Nigeria, this South East Asian giant broke free from the manacles of underdevelopment. The Indian government showed the way by evolving policies, which birthed a regime of free enterprise. Working closely with the private sector, the Indian government promoted investments in technology and education. The result is that New Delhi became the outsourcing capital of the world. Indian graduates in areas of medicine and communication technology compared favourably with global brands like Harvard University, the London School of Economics and the University of Geneva. Complex medical cases are being referred from the United States hospitals to India with amazing results.
Yet another lesson is the fiscal frugality and patriotism, which underline the Indian socio-economic work ethic and value system. Indians buy India. Indian government officials use vehicles made in India. Even with a population of eight times that of Nigeria, you will not find the type and number of expensive and exotic cars on Indian roads as you will find in Nigeria.
Nigeria can imitate India in education, ICT, infrastructure, steel, power and healthcare. But first we must mould our warped value system that promotes ostentation. We must learn to invest in our tomorrow. Government insincerity must stop. Let us sell all the refineries with government retaining 30 per cent of the equities in them. They will certainly perform effectively thereafter. Let us promote import substitution industries by requiring all foreign companies in Nigeria to manufacture their goods locally - within five years or be blacklisted. More than 75 million Nigerians are below the age of 18, we must evolve a means of guaranteeing them a better tomorrow. President Goodluck Jonathan must introduce social security for the aged, the unemployed and all tax payers, our economy can withstand it. We do not need the culture of private jets for bank executives or the exotic jeeps of public office holders. Nigerians must imitate India by buying and using Nigerian products, locally sewn clothes and attires. Electricity is the harbinger of economic and industrial prosperity. For lasting economic renewal in Nigeria, we must fix our power sector. Privatisation is the high road to prosperity. The main focus of the government should be the stabilisation of the power sector. To wit, we should adopt one of several models extant in the world today.
As a member of BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, countries similar to Nigeria were in dire need of power in the 1990s. But by 2010, these countries now generate electricity far more than their needs. That was not by magic but by realistic planning that involved every segment of their societies.
However, each of these countries has her own methods of ownership of electric companies. In Brazil, electrical companies are listed at the Stock Exchange. The state owned 52 per cent, residents owned 22 per cent while the remainder is owned by the Brazilian public funds. For Chile, CORFO, the Chilean National Development Corporation is the prototype of our PHCN. Here, electricity is totally privatised. CORFO was initially financed by pension funds but it is now owned by investors. Thus, we should adopt varying strategies to organise our own electricity generation and supply.

THE COSMIC LAWS OF SUCESS

N previous articles in this column, I have outlined steps to wealth creation based on the true understanding of the workings of the cosmic. These Cosmic Laws of success, form the essence of this teaching. When you incorporate this knowledge into your consciousness, it will give you the ability to create unlimited wealth effortlessly, as you experience success in every endeavour, success in life is the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realisation of worthy goals. Success is the ability to fulfil your desires with ease.
Success is a journey not a destination. However, material abundance makes the journey more enjoyable. But success includes good health, enthusiasm for life, creative freedom, a sense of well-being and peace of mind.
The first of these seven cosmic laws is the law of potentiality. The source of all creation is consciousness, or pure potentiality seeking expression from the cosmos.
When we realise that our true self is one of pure potentiality, we align with the power that manifests everything in the universe. The law of pure potentiality is based on the fact that we are sentient beings. How can we apply the law of potentiality? In order to gain access to this law, you have to adopt the daily practice of silence, meditation and non-judgement. Spending time in nature gives you access to infinite creativity, freedom and bliss.
Practising silence means taking time to meditate, to simply Be. Experiencing silence means withdrawing from the activities of speech, watching television, listening to the radio or reading a book. Never giving yourself the opportunity to experience silence for an extended period of time creates turbulence in your personal life. And every once in a while, you should experience silence for such a time as a full day, two days or even a whole week.
What happens with your experience of  silence? Initially, your internal dialogue becomes turbulent. You feel an intense need to say something. A sense of urgency and anxiety suddenly comes over you! But as times go on, your internal dialogue begins to quieten. Soon the silence becomes profound, when the self discovers you are not going to speak. Then you begin to experience the stillness of pure potentiality.
The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Knowing God this way can only be accomplished through meditation. Another way to access the field of potentiality is through the practice of non judgement. There is a prayer that says, “Today I shall judge nothing that occurs.”
Non-judgement creates silence in the mind. Through silence, meditation and non-judgement we access the law of potentiality. Thus, stillness nurtures creativity, which the law propagates.
The second cosmic law of success is the law of Giving. As you give so you receive, so the law commands. The more you give, the more you receive, because the miraculous effects of giving recoups in abundance. Don’t accumulate money in banks or shares. It will fail you as it did to me. My shares in more than 20 companies have been wiped out by this depression we are in. if I had invested them in friends and neighbours, I would have been happier than I am now.
The third cosmic law of success is the law of Karma. “What you sow is what you reap,” explains this law best. Thus, Karma implies the action of conscious choice – making. Bad Karma may be hindering your progress now. Because the law of Karma says no debt in the unwerse ever goes unpaid. There is a perfect accounting in the universe. The way to avoid bad karma is to choose rightly; conscious that if you hurt others you have to pay for it.
The law of Least Effort is the fourth law of success. When you harness the force of harmony, joy and love, you create success and good fortune effortlessly. Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love. When you are motivated by love, you create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth.
To win, don’t struggle against the moment. Two, take responsibility for every thing you do. All problems contain the seed of opportunity, so transform your problems into opportunities by accepting them. Reality is an interpretation. Interpret your world correctly. When you remain open to all points of view, your desires will flow with nature and gain success.
The law of desire is the fifth law. inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfilment. In life, conscious change is achieved through two paths, attention and intention. Attention energises and intention transforms. Whatever you put attention on, grows. Intention organises its own fulfilment. Intention is the power behind desire. Put this law into effect by listing your intentions, wishes and desires and surrender it to your subconscious before you sleep at night. Do not allow obstacles to consume and dissipate your intention.
The law of detachment is the sixth law. In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty. The freedom from the past creates the willingness to step into the unknown. In order to acquire anything, you have to relinquish your attachment to it. This does not mean you should abrogate the intention or abjure the desire. You give-up your attachment to the result. Combining one-pointed intention with detachment enables you to have your desires. Attachment comes from poverty, detachment is synonymous with wealth. Attachment to money creates insecurity. The search for security is an illusion. The solution is to accept insecurity as the essence of life. The search for security is an attachment to money. Without uncertainty, life is just a stale repetition of outworn memories. Detachment accelerates evolution. Alertness in the face of uncertainty allows you to seize every opportunity culminating in good luck. Every problem is an opportunity to secure greater benefit.
Finally, we have the law of purpose, Everyone has a purpose in life with a unique gift of a special talent to give to others. When yen blend this talent with service to others you experience the ecstasy of your own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals. The first component of law of purpose is that we come to discover and fulfil our spiritual self. The second component is that we come to express our unique talents. The third component is that we come to serve our fellowmen. Which is why the pertinent question is “How can I help others?” It is not” what’s in it for me”. So begin to focus on your true purpose in life. That enables you to get what you want, where you want it.
Our champion this week is Felipe Gonzalez, the Spanish lawyer and statesman who was prime minister of Spain between 1982 and 1996. Born in March 1942, the son of a livestock handler. Gonzalez was the only one of five children to attend university.
He studied law at the University of Seville and in 1964 joined the outlawed Spanish Socialist Party. Gonzalez practised law at Seville and by 1974 had risen to Secretary-General of his party. His moderation and appeal to the youth helped him gain a sweeping victory in the 1982 elections. He became at age 40, Europe’s youngest head of government.
As premier, he took Spain into the European Union in 1986, remained in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. His pragmatic policies reduced inflation and integrated the Spanish economy into a boom by 1990. By then he had reduced unemployment to less than 10 per cent. He was defeated for his fifth term in office in 1996. Now, 69, he is married with three children.