"Where there is a will, there is a way"
I.K.Thany cut his teeth in activism as a Member of Child Rights Club, Federal Government College, Enugu between 1993 - 1998. He was trained by officials of the British Council Enugu State in Child Rights and Domestic Violence Advocacy and of which he rose to be a Director of the Club. This is as per His Testimonial/ School Leaving Certificate dated 9/8/1999. He was also a Member/Quarter Master of the Nigerian Cadet Force in Secondary School.
He had love for discipline, Law and Order and wanted to be a military officer to help bring about the much desired change and sanity in the Nigerian body polity. Military profession was the rave of the moment as the military was in power. While in SSS 3 in 1998, young Thany sat for and took the 50th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy to join the military. He however never pursued the ambition thereafter. Some of his Colleagues with whom he took the exam are now Senior Army Officers with some in the rank of Colonel and Brigadier Generals in the Nigerian Army having spent 18 years as Officers and 22 years in the military.
In 1998, Thany graduated from Secondary School. He was involved in political meetings in Ward G2 Surulere where he lived and was co-opted into several political programs and activities by the political leaders. Ward G2 covered the house of Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, then Secretary of his Eric Moore Road CDA. The ward meetings were held in the home of Hon. Ayo Oshodi, Member House of Reps, Surulere Constituency situate on Bode Thomas Street, Surulere.
During the run up of return to civilian rule in 1999, young Thany was part of the team of members of AD that welcomed Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ward G2 as a Governorship candidate. Thany was the AD/Tinubu polling agent at polling booth in front of the house of the Black Scorpion himself, Rtd Col. Benjamin Adekunle at Mercy Eleni Street, off Adelabu Street, Surulere, Lagos. There he diligently discharged his duty. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the Governorship election.
Thany returned to school after the election. He was admitted to study law at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State.While in the University, Thany was a Student Union Activist.
With his political exposure, he was of the welfarism school of political thought. He emerged, via a keenly contested election, as the President of Oyo State Students Union in his 400 level. He rejected the popular call to do a second term as President in his 500 level but chose instead to mentor the new President and move unto other things.
He was a Senior Advocate University of Maiduguri. Members of the screening panel for the conferment of the rank included Mrs Charity Fagade (nee Musa), an amazon, herself a Senior Advocate and Student Judge of the University who was a year Thany's senior, a formerSecretary of NBA Ikorodu Branch 2016 - 2018.
Thany was a founding Student Legal Adviser to the new Faculty of Pharmacy of which Pharm. Ibrahim Abba Masta was the Staff Adviser and PDP Chairman Borno State, 2006. A speech writer to the PDP Chairman.
Thany had contested for the Presidency of the Faculty of Law in 2004 in the second semester of his 400 level and was screened out of the race contrary to the provisions of the Law Students Association (LAWSA) Constitution. He petitioned the University management and prayed for directives restraining the conduct of the election pending the determination of his petition. The management saw reason with him and in an unprecedented manner not only restrained the conduct of the election but postponed it indefinitely till the first semester of his final year. At that material time, Thany lost interest in the election but choosed to face his studies and graduation.
His final year project was on Fundamental Human Rights with topic "A Critical Comparative and Analytical Study of Fundamental Human Rights under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 vis-a-vis the Sharia". This was based on his past experiences and in a bid to equip himself for the future.. It was a well researched work which he finds handy and useful till date. Thany also mobilized his fellow students to several human rights and advocacy workshops organized by NGOs and Government Departments while in the University.
Thany was the Southwest representative in the Southern States Students Assembly (SSSA) University of Maiduguri. Mr. Temple was the Southeast Representative and Mr. Eba Alphonsus Ogar, the present PDP Chairman, Cross River State was the South South Representative (also a Senior Advocate and Thany's classmate) The Assembly was a movement on campus for the promotion, protection and defence of interests of Southern States Students in the University. Welfare of Southern States Students was the primary objective of the Assembly. Thany discharged himself of his responsibilities to his Southwest and Southern colleagues in no small measure. Subsequent events in the University saw him at the forefront of struggle for protection of rights of his Southern brethren and all students in general.
At the apogee of the struggle, Thany was issued a 'Letter of Warning' by the University management regarding utterances and calls for justice he made directed at the University Management after they fundamentally flawed and brazenly rigged SUG elections in 2005 of which he was the Legal Adviser/Chief Returning Officer to Mr Abubakar Usman Terrang, the then SUG Presidential Candidate, now Senior Officer in the Nigerian Custom Service. The warning letter is dated 8th June, 2005. Thany himself and Mr Terrang were served a copy addressed them..
Thany spoke truth to power. The letter was a prelude to several sinister plots and machinations of the school management and an attempt to trample upon the political rights of majority of students by foisting a management candidate on the rest of the student populace. The SSS was involved in the manhunt for Thany and Terrang and after several invitations and attendance at SSS office Maiduguri, the matter was laid to rest.
The University management could not wait for Thany's graduation. However, he was one of the brightest and best law students the University produced and mobilized to the law school that year. Both the Vice Chancellor and the Dean Faculty of Law, Prof Isa Hayatu Chiroma (now DG Law School and Secretary of Council of Legal Education), issued to Thany a personally signed certificate of conferment of rank of Senior Advocate at graduation time.
Afterward, he found himself at the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Law School in 2006. Thany was sponsored to the Nigerian Bar by Otunba T.O.Benson, SAN and Mrs. Funke Adekoya, SAN.
After law school in 2007, Thany mobilized to serve the country vide the mandatory one year NYSC program in Sokoto State and off he went.
At Youth service, Thany was elected by majority votes as the President of the NYSC Legal Aid Clinic, Sokoto in a keenly contested election; he went on to use the Clinic as a reform and redress machine for human rights abuses and violations. He collaborated with the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Sokoto State through the State Coordinator, Mr Joshua and the then Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Aisha Sanni and the Attorney General, Mr. Inuwa Abdulkadir who became the Minister of Youth and Sports Development under President Goodluck Jonathan and now a National Officer of the APC.
Thany and the Clinic represented the indigent in courts and rendered pro bono services to the indigents. A lot of cases were struck out and/or dismissed and the Clinic got not less than 10 Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) freed from Marina Prisons Sokoto. Relief materials by way of toiletries, clothes and foodstuff were freely given to indigents and ATPs in prison custody. School outreach/mentorship programs were carried out in several secondary schools in Sokoto by the Clinic under Thany as a Community Service intervention project. Colleagues of Thany in the Clinic included Mrs Samira Otu (Vice President), Mr. Segun Adebayo (Secretary), Mrs Gloria Okhajaguan of Festus Keyamo, SAN & Co., Mr. Abiodun Aikomo, SA (Youth) Presidency, Abuja and Mr Auwal Muhammad Haruna (Taraba State Civil Service) and others.Upon the completion of his NYSC program in 2008, he returned to Lagos.
After a job interview session,Thany became one of the two employed by the Nigerian Law Publications outfit/law offices of Chief Gani Fawehinmi, as a proof reader,a grueling interview of several Applicants. Coincidentally, Thany had a letter of employment from the law office of Chief B.O.Benson, SAN where he had done his law office attachment in Law School. He decided to resume the job as an Associate Counsel in the law office of Chief B.O.Benson, SAN ( an activist and philanthropist, in Surulere, Lagos)
Chief Benson has a registered foundation for assisting the less privileged in the society. Thany has been lucky to be mentored by the former Secretary and President of the NBA (the only person to have held both offices at one and the same time in the history of the NBA).
Thany has been the founder and Principal Counsel of I.K.THANY & Co., Ikorodu, Lagos since year 2010, upward of over ten years and has continued in the tradition for which he is adequately equipped and has received mentorship over the years. He continues to renders pro bono services to indigents till date and continues to participate in NBA activities in a bid to make the Bar work for the welfare of its members and protection of the rights of less privileged members of society and advancement of the cause of society to better society for present and coming generations.
Thany is presently a Chairmanship candidate of the NBA Ikorodu Branch in the election scheduled for June this year.
He loves the NBA Ikorodu Branch and his love for the Branch saw him choose the Branch since his call in May, 2007 despite being based in Sokoto State then. Thany has fulfilled his obligations to the Branch till date, wherefore remittances from his Bar Practicing Fee for the past 13 years are made. He has never defaulted in paying his Branch dues since he registered with the Branch and has rendered services for and made contributions to his Branch in several capacities.
Thany's desires an opportunity to render greater service to the Branch at a higher level. That is why he is offering himself for service as Chairman of the Branch. His vision is encapsulated in his manifesto being a 15 point program of action.
His vision is: "to make the Ikorodu Bar more vibrant and to retain its numero uno position in Nigeria".
A vote for Thany is surely an investment in unprecedented glory for the NBA Ikorodu Branch.
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