Clement Nwankwo

Clement Okechukwu Nwankwo (born 9 May 1962) is a lawyer and human rights activist in Nigeria. He is the Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre and convener of Civil Society Situation Room (PLAC). He is recognised as the first Nigerian to establish a human rights organisation. After the establishment of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 1998, in preparation for conduct of elections to return Nigeria to civil rule, Nwankwo founded the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of more than 50 organisations that worked for the return of civilian rule in Nigeria.

Education and career Nwankwo was born in 1962 in Lagos, Nigeria, and received early education at Baptist Primary School, Apapa, Lagos, from 1970 to 1974. He left Lagos for the then Eastern Province and was enrolled in Methodist College, Uzuakoli, (now in Abia State), where he had his secondary education between 1974 and 1979. In 1980, Nwankwo was admitted to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and graduated in 1984 with a law degree. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, graduating in 1985 and was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar the same year.

In 2006, Nwankwo worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), briefly acting as head of its Nigeria office. He was vocal in his criticism of the Nigerian legislature when it attempted to amend the constitution to extend the term of office of the President, from two to three terms. President Olusegun Obasanjo was suspected of inducing legislators to amend the constitution to allow him contest for a third term in office as he drew near the end of his second and final term in office. In 2017, Nwankwo stated that lack of laws is not the challenge against free, fair and credible election in Nigeria but lack of electoral accountability. In February 2019, Nwankwo raised alarm over the safety of foreign and local observers monitoring the 2019 elections after Kaduna State Governor Nasir El Rufai stated that foreign observers who meddle in the 2019 elections would return to their countries in body bags while appearing on a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) programme on 5 February 2019. Nwankwo criticised the governor for such undemocratic statement and called on the Nigerian government to take immediate action to protect election observers. However, the following day, Governor El Rufai said his statement was not a call to violence.

On 9 March 2019, Nwankwo on a live Channels Television programme criticised Nigerian military involvement in elections describing it as dangerous to Nigerias democracy. He underscored that if the military could not take instructions from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) while on election security operation, then it should refrain from getting involved in elections. He also stated that the military was trying to recreate experiences from its 13 years of brutal dictatorship that ended in 1999, in the present democratic dispensation.

Awards

In 1996, Nwankwo received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, he has also received awards from Human Rights Watch and the National Endowment for Democracy.