Tunji Braithwaite, 1936 – 2016

Nigeria’s community of iconoclastic progressives was reduced recently with the death of Dr Tunji Braithwaite in Lagos after a brief illness. A lawyer, politician and social crusader, Braithwaite was until his death at 80 years of age, one of the few Nigerian politicians of the progressive hue who remained faithful to their convictions, no matter […]

Nigeria’s community of iconoclastic progressives was reduced recently with the death of Dr Tunji Braithwaite in Lagos after a brief illness. A lawyer, politician and social crusader, Braithwaite was until his death at 80 years of age, one of the few Nigerian politicians of the progressive hue who remained faithful to their convictions, no matter the swing of political fortunes, with respect to the direction they desired for the country. 
A man from a privileged background yet of altruistic convictions, Tunji Braithwaite enjoyed national prominence for his principled stand for social justice especially to the underprivileged and marginalized, even as he advocated the imperative of the rule of law holding sway in society. This personal disposition guided his numerous engagements in the practice of law, social crusading and political activities.  In spite of his privileged background by Nigerian standards as the scion of a rich family, a situation which should have made him an apologist of the elite class, he believed that the country’s potential can only be realized through reforms. He embarked on a personal crusade to challenge the entrenched inequities in the Nigerian society through sustained advocacy for an egalitarian system of governance.
He also stood for the eradication of all forms of corruption in national life.  This personal anti-corruption stance was demonstrated publicly in 1976 when he caused a national stir by citing moral grounds to turn down the request of his late friend and iconoclastic Afro beat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who wanted Braithwaite to facilitate at a mass marriage ceremony between Fela and 27 of his female singers. Braithwaite turned down the request on the grounds that Fela was already legally married at that time and was therefore barred from consummating a fresh marriage to twenty seven new wives. 
His personal disposition towards promoting social justice and equity earned for him advocacy roles in landmark court cases like the 1962 treason trial of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, where he served as one of the youngest defense lawyers. However Braithwaite’s stature as a national figure was ultimately established with the formation of the Nigeria Advance Party (NAP) in the Second Republic. Although it failed to get registered in 1978, FEDECO registered it in 1982 and it was the only new party that was allowed to join five political parties to contest the 1983 general elections. NAP paraded a reformist political agenda having as its main goals the establishment of free and compulsory primary education for all Nigerian children and free education up to the university level.
Although NAP failed to win any elective office throughout its years of existence, its founder Tunji Braithwaite remained faithful to his convictions and along with a few associates kept the vision of the party alive through several political dispensations in the country, until it was deregistered on December 27 2012, along with all other parties that failed to win any seats at both state and federal tiers of government. Even with the eclipse of NAP, Braithwaite remained a true apostle of reforms in the Nigerian society and did not fail to seize any opportunity that offered itself to advocate change in the nation’s status quo. 
His death comes at a time of profound national challenges, especially with respect to securing for the ship of the state a sustainable direction. This is more so now that the present All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has come to office on the platform of a change mantra, with which the likes of Tunji Braithwaite should find common cause. It is in that context that his death is a colossal loss not only for his family but to the country he loved and worked assiduously to reform. May Almighty God grant his family and friends the fortitude to bear the pains of this irreparable loss.