Giving an insight to the wish of Gani, Akinola said, "I must tell you that Chief Gani Fawehinmi is one Nigerian that really appreciated the love of God and His goodness over his life. His life of faith in God is a challenge to many who know him. He exhibited the kind of faith that places total trust in God. And he learnt not to ask the; Why me question that many of us are tempted to ask when facing tragedies.

"I learnt a lot of lessons from Gani in the area of faith. He kept talking about his faith in God, his faith in God. He said all the challenges he faced in life were God's own way of making him better. He had a lot of trouble. When was tempted to ask why me, he would reason that he has seen more positive things than negative and after such rationalization he would appreciate God. That was the kind of life of faith that he was living"

Talking about challenges in life, he faced a lot and rather that moan about these challenges he would rather thank God. "When he was down with Cancer, a lot of men of God including Pastor Enoch Adeboye and the some Anglican Bishops prayed for him. It was after the visits of the men of God that I went to visit him and he told me that he would be willing to come and testify to God's goodness in his life at the Redemption Camp. He told me that if he was able to get out of the sick bed he would come to the Redeemed Camp to give testimony. I was hoping that the sickness would be the turning point for him. Before I left that day we prayed together and he joined me in the prayers saying amen.

Akinola who is a pastor at the Powerline Bible Church and who had written several books on Fawehinmi said the late lawyer never discriminated against the Christian faith. "He allowed his children to be what they want to be and he never forced his own faith on any member of his family. His wife is a Christian and some of his children too."

On why he was not buried the Islamic way, he said, "He had given that instruction that he should not be buried immediately. What we must understand is that burying people immediately after their death is also a Jewish custom because of the desert land they live. If you leave a dead body for more than necessary the body will start decomposing because of the hot sun. He had said that he would not want that form of immediate burial and that was why it took some time before he was buried."

On the impression he has of the late lawyer he says, "Gani had built himself up as a fighter and a forensic advocate. Covering some of the cases was quite impressive. He was a dogged person who never compromised. He had a unique style. No case was too small for him. He took all cases very seriously. It is total preparation for him. For him it is like going to war. Lawyers were kept back in the office whenever he had to appear in the court and he took the business seriously. There was no case he treated as second class case. Every case for him was a serious one."

He said Gani was the one who actually commissioned him to do his first book about 20 years ago. "I had a column then in Vanguard Newspapers in the early eighties tagged "from the law court." There was this particular case which led to the resignation of David Jinadu. Gani was a lawyer on the other side. I did a comprehensive report in my column and he was impressed about the report and said it should be done in a book form.

"He wrote me officially to do that book and commissioned me to do the book titled, Salute to Courage, the story of Justice Yaya Jinadu which was launched in 1989. So 20 years after I decided to honour him with a book titled, The legal struggles of Gani Fawehinmi. I decided to honour him with that book because he was the one that gave me a break in the book publishing world. I have written 16 books so far after the first one. Beyond that we are in a society where people forget things easily. Since the beginning of this year he has been quiet which means that the ailment was eating into him.

Unfortunately nobody asked questions. I did the book the Gani Fawehinmi Classics which was launched on July 24, and the one titled, Gani's books of quotation."

"I was with him about three weeks before he died. He was in the hospital and he was quite appreciative of my efforts. He saw me off to the gate. That was my last encounter with him."

Akinola, a veteran journalist and chairman of Centre for Free Speech among several other organizations said further that "It is wrong to be discriminatory about people who don't share the same faith with us. And I keep saying one thing that there will surprises in heaven. For all I care Fela may be in heaven, Bob Marley may be in heaven. When Fela was alive he detested orthodox medicine. But he changed his philosophy about life at the point of death. And who knows whether he made amends with God at the point of death.

"When Otokoto people (those who were caught using human beings for money rituals in the east some years ago) were being executed one of them gave his life to Christ and when he was being interviewed when he was tied to the stake he said he had met with the Lord.

And somebody said in the crowd that the person was going to heaven because he died by appointment. Those who died by appointment might have made peace with God. I don't like to judge people. People should not condemn people and think they cannot make heaven based on what they know of them. God is a God of mercy. We should emphasize more of his love and mercy."