A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has responded to Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s condolence message on the death of the Ogun state former senator, Buruji Kashamu who died from COVID-19 complications at Lagos hospital on Saturday.
This comes after the ex-President said the life of the late senator is a lesson for all, stating that the deceased escaped justice but could not evade death, in a letter to the governor of Ogun, Dapo Abiodun. Falana reacted to the condolence message in a statement on Monday and described Obasanjo’s statement as an insult to the collective intelligence of Nigerians.
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“Some people have said that it is against the African culture to speak ill of the dead. That is far from the truth. In the past, Africans spoke ill of the dead and exposed the dead if they were found to have engaged in abominable activities that brought shame to a community. In fact, the bodies of dead men and women who were found to have brought pestilence to a community were buried in the bush.
“Therefore, Chief Obasanjo has not abused the African culture by attacking the late Senator Buruji Kashamu for allegedly manipulating the law to escape justice at home and abroad.
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However, it is the hypocrisy of his message that should be criticized because it is against the African culture to aid and abet a criminal suspect in his lifetime only to turn round to attack him in his grave,” said Falana in the statement.
The human rights lawyer said that the letter revealed hypocrisy and he accused the former president of assisting the deceased’s activities when he was alive, but spinning back against him after his death.
