Clement Nwankwo

The focus of Clement's human rights work is repairing the damage done to the independence of the judiciary and other institutions by years of military tribunals and rule by decree.

With Nigeria preparing for a return to democracy after years of military rule, there is great need to create conditions that will strengthen constitutional law and democratic institutions, and to create an atmosphere of public awareness of human rights to sustain these institutions.

Clement co-founded the country's first human rights organization four years ago, which undertook the litigation and published an annual report recording human rights abuses. However, Clement increasingly saw the need for other approaches as well. Just over a year ago, he started a new organization, the Constitutional Rights project, especially aimed at providing in-depth information and analyses of crucial constitutional issues, both to members of the law and government-related professions and also to the press and public.

Clement's ultimate goal is to strengthen the country's re-emergent democracy by undoing the harm caused to judiciary courage and independence. He hopes to do so by strengthening constitutional law, by exposing present weaknesses and gaps so they may be rectified, and by drawing more legal practitioners into involvement with pro bono work.

Since independence, Nigeria has had more years of military rule than of democracy, resulting in ignorance of, and resignation towards, constitutional law and the separation of powers of government. Both the public and politicians have become accustomed to executive decrees and tribunals which have taken over large areas of civil matters with the justification that they provide quick justice, though the accused have almost invariably been found guilty.

The morale of judges has been severely undermined by a variety of interferences, including methods of appointments and removal, while lawyers who take controversial cases and stands have been detained and penalized in other ways. Though the print media have retained an amount of independence, self-censorship has been a price paid. University teachers and students have been harassed and removed for outspokenness and political activities, and intimidated into silence and apathy.

In short, most of the groups and mechanisms which should interact in order for democracy to exist have been demoralized and undermined. The awareness and attitudes, particularly of people in law and government, must be changed if the coming democracy is to thrive in the near future.

In addition to taking up litigation which highlights its areas of concern, the Constitutional Rights Project concentrates on two different publications as vehicles of public and professional information. One is a small newsletter to present and react to urgent issues demanding an immediate response. The other is a quarterly journal that is the first publication of its kind in the country.

The journal is aimed at making a key sector of society — judges, lawyers, law enforcement and government officials, journalists, and university teachers — well-informed about legal processes, decisions, and implications through methodical investigation and analysis of legislation and judiciary actions. Each issue has a central theme that is explored through a number of perspectives, including the militarization of justice and the situation of the universities. Copies of the publications are distributed to government officials and agencies, as well as to the general public.

Clement's concern is not only the abrogation of justice and law, but also the state of laws themselves, their enforceability, the gaps and the loopholes that exist, and their need to be corrected. Legislators in the future government are another major target for his publications.

His project has also formed a lawyers' committee that approaches other lawyers not directly engaged in human rights work to get them to participate in other ways. They are encouraged to identify new cases, draw public attention to cases being tried, donate the use of their staff to get papers ready, discuss strategies, and act in an advisory role. A key purpose of the committee is to create a wider pro bono commitment among lawyers.

Finally, Clement intends to interest and organize university students to support his project by encouraging members of pre-professional associations to take an interest in human rights work through student union cases and the setting up of students' chambers.

Since childhood, Clement has always been a determined individual. To this day, Clement vividly remembers discovering as a schoolboy that he could fight back and did not need to submit to victimization from the senior boys. Growing up amidst the trauma and hardships of the civil war also made an indelible impact on him.

During his year of national service upon completing his law degree, Clement's legal aid work with prisoners interested him in defending those who otherwise could not afford legal representation. Shortly after joining a senior lawyer's chambers, the two of them founded the country's first human rights organization. Clement has derived his greatest satisfaction so far from having created the first organizational vehicle for articulating human rights issues in Nigeria.

He has had to practice business law since setting up his own chambers, but human rights work is his life commitment.