By Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) and Idayat Hassan
The Board of Trustees, Members of the Advisory Council and staff of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) wish to commiserate with Nigerians on the death of an erudite scholar, a selfless personality and brilliant political scientist, Prof. Abubakar Momoh, who was a Member of our Advisory Council and Director-General of the Electoral Institute until his death.
While we condole with the family, friends, academic world and the entire country on the loss, we do not only recall and commend the memorable and outstanding technical supports we enjoyed from the deceased, but also recount his laudable contributions to humanity, academic world and nation’s democracy through persistent advocacy and public outcry for social justice and good governance.
As a founding member of CISLAC, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and other Civil Society Organisations, Prof. Momoh had excelled by voluntarily offering holistic and tremendous supports for the establishment and sustenance of the Centres. He largely contributed to their present track records in advocacy for transparency, accountability and good governance within and outside Nigeria.
Serving as Director-General of the Electoral Institute of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he was at the forefront advocating for free, fair, credible and participatory electoral system through research, capacity building for the staff of the Commission, and engagement of vigorous voter education activities.
Also, as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Lagos State University, LASU and member of Executive of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Momoh was prominent for his doggedness in maintaining high level integrity and professionalism, and selfless defence of staff and students’ welfares, as well as strictly adherence to ethical standard on addressing issues that affected staff and students.
Apart from serving as a member of several technical teams of the African Union Commission (AUC) and election observer to several African countries on behalf of ECOWAS and African Union, Prof. Momoh had served on several government technical committees including being member and coordinator of “Foreign Policy” Subcommittee of Federal Republic of Nigeria “Vision 20:20” Technical Committee; and policy on “Peace Support Operations (PSOS) for the Federal Government.
CISLAC and CDD are presently consulting the immediate family of the deceased and will announce a public event in honour of the great scholar.
Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)
Executive Director, CISLAC
Idayat Hassan
Executive Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
