Around 2016/2017 an agile not very tall friendly man came to the office asking about my head of litigation, Aminu Sadauki, at the reception. After they had a long chat and banter and he left, my HOL asked ‘you read the case of Aminun Kano v. Nigerian Army in the law school?” I anxiously answered in the affirmative. Then he said to my greatest shock: “that was Brig. Gen. Aminu!” (of course I only read the principle/s of condonation in line with S 171 AFA as established in the case not its entire history). My HOL took time to tell me a lot about the history of the case and the doggedness and the strong upright principle which late Aminun-Kano stood for.
I was shocked yesterday (30/11/19) when I first read about his death (8/11/2019) via an article written by one Abdullahi Dan-Asabe published by Daily Trust Newspaper on 30/11/19.
Aminun-Kano was represented in his locus classicus case by a Dikko and Mahmoud’s team led by its managing partner, AB Mahmoud SAN. Forget about the fact that he was been represented all through by a team led by someone I see as one of the most talented, advocate Nigeria has ever made, the late General had a lot of confidence in the course he was fighting. I remember how his namesake, my HOL, was demonstrating how the General was beating his chase in confidence and making comments like “we will show them this is not a lawless country/banana republic”(paraphrasing). No wonder, his then commander, Brig.Gen. SA Owuama mentioned that the late General had been “in the eyes of the storm” since when he was a Major in the Nigerian Army. Indeed, by Abdullahi’s article he had been in the eyes of the storm since from the military school Zaria.
To justify the accolades rained on him, here’s the snippet from his case with the army:
Aminun-Kano was the Commander of the Nigerian Army School of Finance and Administration (NASFA) in Lagos. In the course of his duties, he came across the records of about 5 senior officers, one of whom is Brig. Gen (then, Col.) PA Toun who allegedly claimed to have obtained a HND certificate at NASFA which in reality was not true. Aminun-Kano therefore wrote letters to various institutions and the army higher command to disclaim such results. It’s a known fact that the Nigerian factor of the untouchables has cut across several sectors including the military. The action of late Gen. Aminun-Kano did not go down well with the then Military top commandos. He had apparently touched the untouchables. He was first forced to withdraw his letter which he refused, but was later forced to write an apology letter which contains ‘no remorse’, as acknowledged by his commanding officer. That being not enough, he was court martialed and convicted on a 7 count charge bordering on disobedience and issuances of false documents (i.e. his disclaimer letters) around 2005. That was what set him on a journey to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court who both quashed the conviction of the Court Martial. Even though, the decision of the Supreme Court, the lead judgement of which was delivered by the current CJN, IT Muhammad was based only on two live issues of jurisdiction, going through the fact of the case one must agree that the decision of the court would have remained the same if at all their lordships chose to delve into the other issues bordering on whether he was right to have exposed the alleged falsification of results by those senior officers.
I think I can remember not less than 3 visits of the late General to our office with his very friendly posture. I developed so much liking for him from the story of his doggedness in the midst of wolves and his humility in the midst of civilians. No wonder, as Mr. Abdullahi wrote, he was found trustworthy enough to be part of the Presidential committee on probe of the arms deal.
Late Brig Gen. Aminun-Kano Maude has fought a good fight as a self made fearless General and has also fought a good fight in sick bed. He has written his name in the Nigerian legal history till eternity. May Allah make the test he has gone throughout his life an expiation for his shortcomings; protect his family; and grant him jannatul-firdaus.
Indeed, heroes die, but their names never die. I hope beyond this requiem, writers and authorities will find a way of immortalising his name.
Hussaini Hussaini could be reached at [email protected].
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.
