ON TUNJI BRAITHWAITE
At 82, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite was not young, but one could be forgiven for thinking he would still be around for a long while. He was young at heart as evidenced in his mode of dressing, manner of speaking, and the company he kept.
He was Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's lawyer at the Justice Anya Tribunal where it was said that "unknown soldiers" burnt Fela's home in the infamous state assault on Kalakuta Republic in the 70s.
In the run up to the 2nd Republic, he founded the Nigerian Advance Party, which caught public attention with its promise to rid the country of rats & mosquitoes, described as vermins threatening public health.
The establishment press sought to portray him as a joker who was more interested in hugging the limelight than in espousing a fresh political ideology.
Later, he amended his promise to read waging war against the human rats & mosquitoes that were sucking Nigeria dry.
An old student of CMS Grammar School, he studied Law in the UK. He was a delegate at the 2014 Nigeria National Conference where he canvassed for a Confederal Constitution to replace the 1999 Constitution.
“Let the word go forth that there are a number of brave, honest nationalistic persons in this conference that, hopefully would be able to reconstruct Nigeria in a way that the blessings, peace and prosperity rightly deserved by the peoples of this country would be guaranteed by a New Confederal Constitution".*
He saw Nigeria's six geopolitical zones as uniquely different developmental problems for which a single one-size-fits-all solution can never work, given the reality of Nigeria’s diversity.
You may not always agree with him, but he walked his talk. May his soul rest in peace.
*Quote courtesy Akin Fatunke
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