The Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) on Saturday joined in mourning “the departed kind, strategic and impactful high achiever, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma”, describing his death, on of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) on April 3, 2021, aged 55, as “a big loss to humanity”.

“Our departed comrade, Innocent, channeled his physical, mental and intellectual resources to the cause of humanity. His contributions in different spheres of human rights protection and promotion especially to police reform in Africa and Nigeria in particular speak for themselves.

“Innocent rose to the peak of his career and recently retired meritoriously having successfully led the Ford foundation to numerous achievements in its interventions in the African continent.

“Beyond his achievements at work, his kind support to the development of many at individual and organizational levels are on record and worthy of commendation,” PRAWA said in a statement signed by the Deputy Director, Ogechi Ogu Esq.

The statement described PRAWA as “a beneficiary of the support of our dear brother Innocent who at several occasions attended and supported PRAWA’s activities. He also demonstrated his love for PRAWA and the work we do by providing us with the resources to write the history of our organization to enable us showcase our little contributions and also for the story to serve as an encouragement to other upcoming organizations in terms of building the requisite resilience and commitment required for successful and impactful engagement in development work in an environment ridden by scarce resources.”

The statement quoted PRAWA Founder/Executive Director, Dr. Uju Agomoh, as testifying to the support of late Innocent Chukwuma thus: “I came in contact with our dear Comrade early in my career as a development worker and I appreciatively attest to his kind support and encouragement to me personally as I built the organization.”

Continuing, PRAWA said in the statement: “Our dear Comrade, a lot of positive things have been said about you from your student days of activism, your sojourn and impact at Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) to your founding of CLEEN, NOPRIN and most recently Ford Foundation, we can only say that humanity has taken note of your positive contributions and believe that you have solidly written your footsteps on the sands of time.

“We therefore pray that posterity remains kind to you and the family you left behind.

“May the Almighty Rest your beautiful soul and May your Supportive wife, beloved children and the entire Chukwuma family be comforted and consoled.”