The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has described the death of the renowned civil society leader and former head of Ford Foundation West Africa, Innocent Chukwuma, as a big blow to the civil society community in Nigeria and Africa.
Chukwuma, 55, died on Saturday, April 3, 2021, after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood.
Chukwuma was one of the students within the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) platform that opposed the arbitrary powers of the military in the 1980s.
He continued the struggle as a staff of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) where he led research and advocacy on police reform and in the Centre for Law Enforcement of Education in Nigeria (CLEEN Foundation) which he founded in 1998.
He joined Ford Foundation in 2013 as its head for West Africa.
In a statement issued in Lagos, CAPPA said that Chukwuma’s passing would leave a huge gap that would be hard to fill for a long time in view of his immense contributions to the growth of the civil society movement in West Africa and Nigeria in particular, and his campaigns against the Nigerian military when it seemed suicidal to do so.
CAPPA Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi stated: “Chukwuma’s death is not only shocking, but it also comes at a time when the civic space has shrunk badly due to civilian misgovernance and in need of critical voices like his again. He will be particularly remembered for his extensive work and active roles as a political activist and community organiser against Nigeria’s military dictatorships of the 1980s and 1990s.””
Oluwafemi said that the late activist, along with others at the CLO inspired many young Nigerians to continue the struggles to fight injustice and ensure the rights of citizens are not unduly violated.
“We use this opportunity to extend our condolences to his immediate family and pray that God will strengthen them at this time of grief. As we mourn with them, we also want to use this time to reflect and interrogate those issues that Chukwuma stood for, lived for, and died for,” the statement read.
