19 Facts About Clement Nwankwo

Clement Okechukwu Nwankwo was born on 9 May 1962 and is a lawyer and human rights activist in Nigeria.

Clement Nwankwo is the Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre and convener of Civil Society Situation Room.

Clement Nwankwo is recognised as the first Nigerian to establish a human rights organisation.

Clement Nwankwo received early education at Baptist Primary School, Apapa, Lagos from 1970 to 1974.

Clement Nwankwo left Lagos for the then Eastern Province and was enrolled in Methodist College, Uzuakoli, where he had his secondary education between 1974 and 1979.

In 1980, Clement Nwankwo was admitted to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and graduated in 1984 with a law degree.

Clement Nwankwo proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos graduating in 1985 and was called to the Nigerian Bar the same year.

Clement Nwankwo was the Executive Director and founder of Constitutional Rights Project founded in 1990.

Clement Nwankwo was a member of the Academic Council on the United Nations Systems, International Board of Human Rights Internet, Canada, International NGO Advisory Committee and Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard University, Boston, USA.

Clement Nwankwo was the Editor-in-Chief, Constitutional Rights Journal, from 1990.

Clement Nwankwo is a Fellow, Ashoka Innovators for the Public.

Clement Nwankwo is a Fellow of the Centre for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law of Stanford University, California.

In 1990, Clement Nwankwo left the CLO and founded another non-profit organisation, the Constitutional Rights Project, which monitors Nigeria's laws and government's actions regarding international agreements and human rights.

In 2002, Clement Nwankwo handed over the leadership of CRP but continued as a board member.

In 2006, Clement Nwankwo worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, briefly acting as head of its Nigeria office.

Clement Nwankwo criticised the governor for such undemocratic statement and called on the Nigerian government to take immediate action to protect election observers.

Clement Nwankwo underscored that if the military could not take instructions from the Independent National Electoral Commission while on election security operation, then it should refrain from getting involved in elections.

Clement Nwankwo 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.

Clement Nwankwo then called on the Nigerian legislature to amend the constitution to stop military involvement in elections if the Nigerian democracy was to survive.