HON. JUSTICE RASHEED FAWEHINMI,(1928 -2016): GLORIOUS EXIT OF ANOTHER GREAT JURIST.

(By Remigius Akinbinu)

Like many judges,he was first a practicing lawyer before he became a judge. But to those of us lawyers of this age who knew him as a judge,it was as if he was born a judge.

His mastery of the English language,his confidence on the bench,his deep knowledge of the law and his exposition of its jurisprudence,tradition and history can easily make anyone think he mastered the most noble art of adjudication from the womb.

His coming from one of the most illustrious families in the country never imposed on him any toga of arrogance that could undermine humanity. Rather,in and out of the bench,he preached humaneness ,humility,honesty,prudence and all good virtues that could mark a man out as Godly.

That he was upright as a judge was never in controversy.

That he delivered erudite and just judgements was epitomized by the avalanche of appellate decisions that confirmed his judgements.

That he was unable to make it to the higher bench was easily traceable to the age he joined the bench and probably, judicial politics.

His retirement from the bench twelve years ago was regarded by vast majority of the stake holders in the Ondo state judiciary as the opening up of a big vacuum in the annals of legal practice in the state.

Yet,life to him was like riding a bicycle. To keep the balance,you have to keep on riding. After retirement,he took up seemingly greater challenges which he considered as pastimes but which to the average thinking person were equally tedious vocations.

He became an author,churning out several books and articles bothering on Law and history of his native Ondo Kingdom,as well as superintending over the vast estate and multi million Naira Foundation of his late elder brother,Ibitayo Fawehinmi who was one of the wealthiest Nigerians of his time. The latter being

The Fawehinmis is family of upright and disciplined humans, exact opposite of the Obanikoros' family of looters. What an irony