Sound Sultan honoured at 4th Gani Fawehinmi Awards

Sound Sultan, the late Nigerian rapper, was honoured at the 4th Gani Fawehinmi Awards.

The 4th edition of the Gani Fawehinmi Impact and Integrity Awards (GFIIA) was held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Present at the award event were Femi Falana (SAN), human rights lawyer; and Habeeb Abiru, also a lawyer.

The award honoured twelve distinguished personalities across Nigeria and the diaspora.

It followed after a five-month public process of nominations, shortlisting and voting.

Sound Sultan, Mohammed Fawehinmi, and Ayotunde Alao were presented with lifetime awards.

Emmanuel Eluu, a staff of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited and driver at Muritala Muhammed Airport, who found and returned $40,000 belonging to a passenger, was also honoured.

The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), the organiser, in a statement signed by Olanrewaju Suraju, its chairman, said the 4th Gani Fawehinmi Awards started on July 13, 2021.

“[It started] with a public call for a nomination following which 271 nomination entries were received,” it said.

“21 persons were shortlisted for voting in the four categories: six for Outstanding Impact, eight for Outstanding Integrity, four for Valuable Whistle-Blower and three for Nigerians-In-Diaspora Integrity Ambassador.”

HEDA said the top three nominees in each category were honoured, including ‘The Outstanding Integrity Award’ won by Olasupo Abideen Openyemi, an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

The runner ups are Tonye Clinton-Jaja, former chairman of the governing board of the Nigerian Copyright Commission; and Molik Sherifdeen, a member of the Junior Chamber International (JCI).

Paul Alaba Lawani won the ‘Valuable Whistle-Blower Award’ while Akinyemi Ojo Adebayo and Tukur Muazu emerged as runner ups.

Baba Muhammad Dzukogi, former national secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors, won the ‘Outstanding Impact Award’.

The runner ups are Chineke Cajethan Goodluck, founder of the United Organisation for Education and Sports Development, and Nwaocha Ogechukwu, professor of Religious Studies and 2022 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Onuike Ifeoma Chinenye, a girls’ rights activist, won ‘The Nigerians in Diaspora Award’.

“The overall objective of the Awards is to take the fight against corruption beyond the usual naming and shaming and to step outside the box,” the HEDA Resource Centre added.

“[This is by] ensuring that those who… have taken to a life of transparency, honesty and integrity are identified, duly recognized and honoured, as a form of inspiration for a greater number of people to follow.”