The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has recounted how he secured his first Court of Appeal victory just 21 days after being called to the Bar, while working under the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
Bakare made the disclosure on Thursday while delivering the keynote address at the Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture 2026, organised by the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of Fawehinmiism.
The event, held at the Airport Hotel in Ikeja, celebrated the life, values, and professional legacy of the late legal icon.
Reflecting on his early legal career, Bakare described Fawehinmi as a mentor who instilled discipline, hard work, and excellence in his associates.
“Chief Gani Fawehinmi was a man who embodied diligence and excellence. Those values shaped my early years at the Bar,” Bakare said.
He noted that the late activist demanded intellectual rigour and professional commitment from everyone who worked in his chambers.
“Under his mentorship, I demonstrated competence very early. Within 21 days of my call to the Bar, I won my first case at the Court of Appeal,” he added.
Speaking on the lecture theme, ‘Integrity Deficiency in the Justice Sector: Whither the Legal Profession?’, Bakare urged lawyers and judges to recommit themselves to ethical standards and professional integrity.
“If we truly desire to restore credibility to the legal profession, we must begin by reviving the values of diligence and excellence and deliberately pass them on to the next generation,” he said.
He also called on members of the Bench and Bar to embrace principled activism in defence of justice.
“The judiciary must recognise its identity as a co-equal arm of government. This requires the kind of courageous activism exemplified by Chief Gani Fawehinmi and jurists like Justices Kayode Eso and Chukwudife Oputa,” Bakare stated.
Also speaking at the event, President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, identified fear, conformity, and favouritism as major threats to justice delivery in Nigeria.
“We have gradually normalised bad behaviour and stopped challenging wrongdoing. Corruption has become routine, while doing the right thing is often viewed as abnormal,” Osigwe said.
He warned that silence and compromise within the profession could erode public confidence in the justice system.
“If this continues, society may begin to question the relevance of lawyers and the courts in delivering justice,” he cautioned.
The Chairman of the NBA Ikeja Branch, Adeniyi Quadri, said Fawehinmi believed the law must actively confront injustice rather than remain neutral.
“For Chief Gani, the law was not just a profession but a tool for social transformation, moral resistance, and nation-building,” Quadri said.
He reaffirmed the branch’s commitment to upholding Fawehinmi’s ideals of courage, fearless advocacy, and uncompromising integrity.
In her remarks, the Chairman of the Occasion, Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie (retd.), praised Fawehinmi for prioritising justice and human rights over personal gain.
“Chief Fawehinmi pursued weightier matters of justice and civil rights, including his defence of the Ogoni Nine in the struggle for environmental justice,” she said.
She urged the NBA to play a leading role in proposing solutions to challenges facing the judiciary, particularly court congestion and delayed justice.
The lecture featured a panel discussion with Dr Sam Amadi, Richard Akinola, and Otunba Olumide Oniyire, SAN, and concluded with the presentation of the maiden Gani Fawehinmi Integrity Prize to Justice Hadiza Hamisu Ali-Jos (retd.)..
