- Says he was larger than life…
It is hard to speak of Rotimi Fashakin in the past tense on account of his larger-than-life presence.
Rotimi was a humorously rambunctious soul who was loyal to any course he committed to. If it is possible to be loyal to a fault, Rotimi was, as he was a good friend to have, and a bad enemy to make.
I am saddened particularly because he was only 59 and would have turned 60 this month! He had so much more to offer.
I chuckled to myself from time to time that if with an engineering degree, Rotimi was a warrior even to the point of commenting on legal issues with some authority, what was he going to be with a law degree? With a law degree from the prestigious Buckingham University in the bag this December, Rotimi was going to start a second life, having lived his first life as an engineer.
Devoted family man, Rotimi celebrated his family publicly on RoL (Rule of Law WhatsApp Group) space and elsewhere at every opportunity; birthdays, graduations, and every progress made. He wrote poems for his daughter and gleefully published her poems on his birthday.
You would be surprised to know that Rotimi and I never met physically, although he was a classmate at Ife with Obi my brother. However, we talked several times on the telephone, our conversations never lasting less than an hour!
We met on cyber space about 20 years ago, in OurCountryNigeria yahoo group, but to hear us discuss over the phone, you would think that we had known each other all our lives.
He requested my telephone number by email, and that is who Rotimi was, a lover of people, friendly, ever reaching out.
Even though often on opposite sides of the political divide, we shared similar passions – for good governance in Nigeria. We also both had an abiding faith in the deity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, often sharing private messages of spiritual encouragement.
Forgive me for waxing spiritual … but although my blood pressure shot up and a bad headache followed when I read the message from his elder brother Dr. Emmanuel Fashakin, I am mindful of the admonition in holy scripture that we should NOT mourn as those having no hope because those who are in Christ Jesus have hope for the hereafter: and not eternal damnation (1 Thess. 4/13) And if our hope was in this world only and there was no resurrection from the dead, “we are of all men, most miserable.” (1 Cor. 15/19).
Upon these scriptures, I find peace. I pray the good Lord to grant Dr. E.F. Fashakin, and Rotimi’s beautiful family, the fortitude to bear this loss. Amen.
***
Engr Joseph Rotimi Fashakin, MNSE, a former Executive Director at NIMASA, died at Buckingham England on Saturday, September 24, 2022. He was 59 years old. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Busola Fashakin, Asst Comptroller Immigration Nigeria, and Children, Acct James Toluwalase Fashakin, Engr. Daniel Ayomide Fashakin and Sarah Fashakin (Medical Student, Georgetown University).
Funeral arrangements will be announced by the family.
***
Prior to his passing at Buckingham England on Saturday, September 24, 2022, he made this cerebral contribution following the demise of Queen Elizabeth II.
THE CHANGING FACE OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY…
She died on Thursday, 8th September 2022.
Yesternight was her last at the Buckingham palace. The anguish and emotional outpourings were palpably understandable; the agelong edifice had been her home and official residence for more than three score and ten years!
In those 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II excitingly made the British monarchy friendlier and more amenable to the changing times. She cherished her position as the titular Head of the Commonwealth. For instance, in 1986, the leaders of the commonwealth countries met to deliberate on how best to move the condemnation of the apartheid government of South Africa from mere rhetoric to actionable political imperatives. 48 members out of the 49 present voted for sanctions against South Africa. The only opposition came from Britain headed by Mrs. Margaret Thatcher. The Queen was so incensed by Mrs. Thatcher’s government’s action that she considered boycotting one of their weekly meetings. Understandably, the Queen was concerned about the future of the Commonwealth and Britain not being on the wrong side of history.
On July 20, 1986, the New York Times published an article which stated, inter alia,
“The Queen has been described in recent press reports as worried that Mrs. Thatcher’s firm opposition to sanctions threatened to break up the 49-nation Commonwealth. The Queen reportedly also believes that Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative Party Government lacks compassion and should be more caring toward less privileged members of the society, The Sunday Times said.”
After much loud murmurings, on Thursday, 11th February 1993, the voluntary arrangements by which the Queen and the Prince of Wales will pay income tax were revealed. What was still kept secret was the royal fortune from which the income will be taxable!
Nonetheless, eons ago, a British Monarch paying taxes would have been considered sacrilegious.
The first major impudent challenge to the monarchy was on 15th June 1215. It was on that day that the Barons served on King John the 63-paragraph writ that later came to be known as the Magna Carta. The writ was meant to checkmate the reigning king John and ensure more space for liberty, rights, and concessions.
Although the king tried to fight it but the genie was already out of the bottle. He was forced to sign the agreement with much humiliation of his person.
King James 1 was a British monarch who stoutly defended monarchical absolutism. In 1610, he wrote: “Kings derived their authority from God and could not, therefore, be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament.”
After his death in 1625, his son, Charles, became the King. Charles 1 continued in the iron-fisted rule of his father. In 1629, he dissolved the parliament for 11 years.
In 1641, the parliament passed the Triennial Act (otherwise known as the Dissolution Act) which mandated the parliament to sit for at least 50 days in three years!
The culmination of the political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in England inexorably led to the capture and trial of Charles 1, the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. On Saturday, 27th January 1649, the High Court of Justice had declared Charles guilty of attempting to “uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will, and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people” and he was sentenced to death by beheading.
Following the glorious revolution in 1688, King James II went into exile. In 1689, the Bill of Rights 1689, an Act of Parliament was enacted. It was largely based on the political thinking of John Locke, a political theorist, and philosopher. It set constitutional limits to the monarch in terms of seeking the people’s will represented by the parliament. Succinctly put, the Bill straightened Britain to constitutional monarchy with established rights of the parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech. By the doctrine of parliamentary Sovereignty, the monarchical prerogatives became subordinated to the Acts of Parliament. For example, the former British Prime Minister, Theresa May, wanted to use royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty and begin Britain’s two years of talk on formal exit from the European Union. It was the European Communities Act of 1972 that legally formalised Britain’s membership of the EU. It was the reasoning of the UK Supreme Court that the Act needed to be repealed before the UK could formally be divorced from the EU. The attempt by Theresa May’s government was declared ultra vires. This ultimately led to the enactment (by parliament) of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018.
Indeed, times have changed. The subsisting doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty makes the triumvirate of British authority to be subject to the Monarch-in-Parliament.
Truly, the times of monarchical absolutism are over. King Charles III begins another chapter in British monarchical democracy. It is expected, as he has promised, to govern with the enviable precedents set by his mother and the help of God.
God save the king!
Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, FNSE.
Wednesday, 14th September 2022.
