Innocent Chukwuma, one of Nigeria’s prominent civil society activist and founder of the CLEEN Foundation, has died.
He reportedly died of leukaemia at the age of 55 on Saturday night.
His death was announced in a statement by CLEEN Foundation on its Twitter handle on Sunday.
“We are extremely pained to announce the death of Innocent Chukwuma on April 3. He was the founder and pioneer Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation,” read the statement signed by Professor Etannibi Alemika on behalf of the foundation’s Board of Trustees.
“Until February 2021, a few weeks ago, Innocent Chukwuma was the West Africa Representative of Ford Foundation.”
The foundation described its late founder as a patriot, who throughout his years, struggled for a Nigerian nation where peace, justice and development are attained and sustained.
The late Chukwuma was one of the students within the National Union of Nigerian Students (NANS) platform that opposed the arbitrary powers of the military rule in the 1980s.
He continued the struggle as a member of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), where he led research and advocacy on police reform.
In 1989, Chukwuma established the Centre for Law Enforcement of Education in Nigeria registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as CLEEN Foundation.
He was renowned for his advocacy in the area of police reforms, public safety, and justice, amongst others.
