Dare Babalola
Former senator and activist, Shehu Sani, has shared a deeply personal account of his imprisonment under the late military regime of Sani Abacha, using the experience to caution Nigerians on the legal implications of their public actions and statements.
In a reflective message he posted via Facebook on Thursday, Sani recalled that in 1995, while detained at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos over allegations of treason and an attempt to overthrow the Abacha government, he wrote letters seeking help from prominent rights activists and lawyers, including Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana, and Beko Ransome-Kuti.
According to him, while Fawehinmi and Falana—both seasoned lawyers—chose not to make the contents of his letters public, they instead organised mass protests demanding his release and that of other detainees. However, Ransome-Kuti, a medical doctor and activist, took a different approach.
“Dr Beko acted differently by calling a press conference in his Lagos office and showed the world the letter I wrote to him, and he also mobilised a national protest for our release,” Sani recounted.
Sani said the decision by Ransome-Kuti to publicise the letter led to his immediate arrest. The activist was subsequently detained and brought to Kirikiri prison, where he was charged as an accessory to treason.
Both men were later sentenced to life imprisonment and spent four years in detention until the death of Abacha in 1998 paved the way for their release by the succeeding Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Reflecting on the incident, Sani expressed regret over the consequences of his actions, noting that Ransome-Kuti suffered imprisonment partly because of the letter he wrote.
He emphasised that while not everyone may be a legal expert, a basic understanding of the law is crucial in guiding public conduct, especially in sensitive matters.
“The moral of this message is that you don’t have to be a lawyer, but you need that basic knowledge of the law to guide you in what you do, utter or post publicly,” he said, warning that many individuals inadvertently create legal problems for themselves through careless actions.
Sani’s account offers a glimpse into the risks faced by activists during Nigeria’s military era and underscores his broader message on the importance of legal awareness in civic engagement.
