The newly elected National President of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Comrade (Dr.) Ambassador Kehinde Prince Taiga, has called for what he described as “correction and historical accountability” over years of constitutional violations and leadership crises that have plagued the organization.
In a strongly worded statement titled “Call for Correction and Historical Accountability,” Taiga said the CDHR — once Nigeria’s foremost human rights movement, lost its moral compass due to acts of impunity and disregard for the organization’s constitution.
According to him, the root of the crisis dates back to the 2019 Annual General Conference (AGC) held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where Dr. Osagie Obayuwanna, a serving member of the Board of Trustees (BOT), was elected National President, an act Taiga described as “a flagrant violation of the CDHR Constitution and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.”
“Under our Constitution and under CAMA, a Trustee cannot hold any executive position within the same organization,” Taiga stated. “When a Trustee becomes President, the line between accountability and authority collapses, and that was the beginning of our institutional decay.”
Taiga further alleged that the process leading to Obayuwanna’s emergence was endorsed by the then BOT Chairman, Femi Falana, SAN, and facilitated by Barr. Malachy Ugwumadu, who was then serving as National President. He accused both men of “knowingly violating” the group’s governing documents.
“These acts were not born out of ignorance but of deliberate manipulation, personal ambition, and cabal-driven politics,” he said. “It was a betrayal of the values that CDHR was founded upon.”
Taiga also faulted Comrade Debo Adeniran, another BOT member, for “unilaterally declaring himself as Factional National President” after Obayuwanna’s tenure expired, without resignation or due process.
Calling the 2019 and subsequent leadership claims “unconstitutional, null and void,” Taiga urged all parties to respect the outcome of the 2025 Unity Annual General Conference held in Ogun State, which he said produced a “legitimate and constitutionally recognized National Executive Committee (NEC)” now leading the organization.
He specifically appealed to Comrade Debo Adeniran to “immediately hand over all CDHR properties, documents, and instruments of authority” to the newly elected NEC, and called on Femi Falana, SAN, to help “correct the historical wrong” of 2019.
“You cannot defend the Constitution in court and violate it in CDHR,” Taiga declared, addressing Falana directly. “Peace cannot be built on falsehood, and unity cannot stand on injustice.”
The new CDHR leader emphasized that his mission was not one of vengeance but of truth, reconciliation, and institutional restoration. He pledged to withdraw all pending court cases over the organization’s internal disputes once the handover is completed, describing it as a gesture of “peace, fairness, and maturity.”
Taiga reaffirmed his commitment to rebuilding CDHR into a credible, law-abiding human rights movement once again united under the rule of law.
“No organization can fight for justice while living in injustice,” he said. “The crisis in CDHR was not caused by outsiders but by internal impunity, manipulation, and disregard for the law, and today, that impunity must end.”
The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, founded in 1989, is one of Nigeria’s oldest human rights advocacy groups, known for its activism during the military era and continued advocacy for democracy and social justice.
