Home Page of Nigeria's Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.

I am the Secretary General of Movement for Social and Economic Justice, one of the organizations which came together in 1994 to form the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which presently remains an umbrella organization for pro-democracy groups involved in anti-military struggle in Nigeria.

NADECO was formed in 1994 by the members of the then banned Social Democratic Party (SDP) and other pro-democracy and human rights groups, following the banning in 1993 of the political structures by the Mililtary regime. NADECO was organized to defend the mandate given to Moshood Abiola by the people of Nigeria who elected him President on the platform of the Social Democratic Party on June 12, 1993.

I am also a member of Nigeria's National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADL), the International Bar Association and the Human Rights Interest Group of American Society of International Law (ASIL).

I was elected Public Relations Officer of the University of Ife Students' Union in 1984, Senator of the National Association of Nigerian students in 1985, Chairman of the University of Benin Students' Union in 1989 and, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in January of 1990. NANS is the umbrella organization for the student body (in their millions) of all 39 universities, 42 polytechnics (colleges of technology) and 48 colleges of education in Nigeria. NANS, as a frontline pressure group, has been involved in the anti-military government struggle in Nigeria since December 1983.

As Chairman of the University of Benin Student Union and later as President of the NANS, I led Nigerian students in peacefully demonstrating against the discredited political, social and economic policies of the military regime. In response to our organizing, the military regime arrested and detained me for a lengthy period in May/June 1989 and on several occasions in 1990. On one of the occasions, I was arrested and detained with over 200 other student activists. Details of these events are contained in the United States Department of State's Country Condition Reports for the years 1989 and 1990.

The military officers who staged the April 22, 1990 coup in Nigeria, broadcast that same day an invitation to me, in my capacity as President of the NANS, to come and participate in their "government", as a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council, the highest ruling body of the Nigerian government. They wanted me, as president of NANS, to represent Nigerian students and youth in their Council. The military coupists also invited representatives from the Nigerian Labor Congress, the Nigerian Union of Journalists and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to participate in their "government". I, speaking on behalf of NANS, promptly turned down their invitation to participate in the military "government", as I and the organization that I led did not believe in or support the military rule. This response, disclaiming the military invitation, was widely reported in the media in Nigeria.

This military regime was later suppressed by the General Babangida/Abacha-led "counter insurgency attack", leading to the arrest and execution of several military Officers in 1990. The surviving military regime later arrested, detained and interrogated me and several other pro-democracy activists, including Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti (Chairman of Committee for Defense of Human Rights) and Attorney Femi Falana (President of National Association of Democratic Lawyers) in connection with the April 22, 1990 coup. The 1990 US Department of State Country Conditions Report on Nigeria contains a detailed report of these events.

I was also detained in May/June 1991 over nation-wide anti-military protests organized by members of the NANS.

Since graduating from the University of Benin Law School in 1990, I have been actively involved in various political and human rights organizations and movements which include the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, the Campaign for Democracy, the Movement for Social and Economic Justice, the Human Rights and Refugee Project (HRRP) and the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) currently waging a pro-democracy struggle within and outside Nigeria.

I, as a human rights attorney, have also represented and defended in legal proceedings numerous targeted opponents of military dictatorship in Nigeria, including persecuted journalists, student activists, college professors, human rights activists and politicians. They were all victimized for their sincere opposition to military rule in Nigeria.

I have also been active in party politics in Nigeria. I ran as a candidate in the party primaries elections for the Federal House of Representatives (Congress) in 1992. I ran to represent the Oshodi/Isolo federal constituency on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Between December 1992 and November 1993 I worked for the Nigerian National Assembly (Congress) as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Appropriation, Currency and Banking. I left this post when the General Sani Abacha-led military junta staged another military coup and dissolved the National Assembly and all other elected democratic structures in Nigeria.

I later represented Moshood Abiola, President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (still on trial by the military regime for treason), as one of his defense attorneys, from June 1994 until August 1995 when I fled Nigeria as a result of attempts made by the military junta to further persecute me under the guise of trumped-up allegations of being involved in another coup attempt in July 1995. Several of my colleagues and political associates who were similarly targeted at the same time and who did not escape the Country, including Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, remain in prison to date. These events are also described in detail in the 1995 US State Department Country Conditions Report.

Since arriving to the U.S. in 1995, I have continued my work to expose the anti- democractic and grievous ongoing human rights violations record of the Nigerian military regime. Among other things, I have addressed numerous interest groups and forums concerning the on-going political situation in Nigeria. I have also maintained my day to day involement with the Nigerian pro-democracy organizations I have described above.

On June 7, 1996, I was invited by the Newark Asylum Office in Lyndhurst, New Jersey to train asylum officers on the political and human rights situation in Nigeria.

The military has ruled Nigeria for a total of 29 out of the 37 years of independence from British colonial rule which ended on October 1st, 1960. Civil governments only governed Nigeria between 1960 to 1966 and between 1979 to 1983. Democratic structures elected between 1991 and 1992 were all overthrown by the military on November 17, 1993. This has generated an immense resentment and opposition from Nigerians.

In response, the military has adopted various crude means, including arbitrary arrests, detention, torture, rape and arson to intimidate members of groups opposed to the military misrule of Nigeria. Houses and privately-owned properties of known organizers of the pro-democracy movement like Senator Bola Tinubu and Gen. Alani Akinrinade (both presently living in exile in the United States), have been burnt down in Nigeria by agents of the military junta in the past two years. There have also been numerous reported cases of women political activists being gang-raped by soldiers as a form of political persecution and as part of a grand design to "deter" women activists in Nigeria.

CURRICULUM VITAE

INDEX OF MEDIA REPORTS ON MICHAEL OPEYEMI BAMIDELE

2. Open letter to President Bill Clinton from Michael O. Bamidele, Director of Projects, Human Rights and Refugee Project, regarding the United States and Democracy in Nigeria, April 14, 1998.

3. "Americans March Against Abacha," The News, April 6, 1998. "In what appears to be the first in the series of rallies planned by political activists outside Nigeria, activists who are opposed to self-succession bid by General Sani Abacha and members of the pro-democracy and human rights community in the United States gathered in Harvard Law School on Wednesday, 11 March 1998 to discuss `The Way Forward in Africa' with Nigeria being the main focus of the discussions." "The rally, was conveyed under the auspices of the Harvard Saturday School Programme headed by Prof. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., an African American Law teacher. Key speakers at the rally were Randall Robinson (founder and president of TransAfrica), Ambassador Walter Carrington (former US Ambassador to Nigeria) and Nigeria's Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (a human rights attorney). Robinson's book entitled Defending the Spirit was also launched at the rally."

4. "FG urged to start coup suspects' trial," Tribune on Saturday, December 27, 1997. "Human Rights and Refugee Project (HRRP) based in the United States of America has called on the Federal Government to commence an open judicial trial of all those arrested in connection with the alleged botched coup." "The group stated that in view of the sensitivity of the offence for which the suspects had been arrested and the severity of the penalty for the offence, `it is our contention in HRRP that the military regime owes the Nigerian people and the international community a detailed explanation on the culpability of the arrested men and must offer concrete evidence of their involvement in the alleged plan to overthrow General Abacha'." (Michael Bamidele is Director of the Human Rights and Refugee Project).

5. "Groups in the US hold rally for Yar'Adua," Sunday Punch, December 21, 1997. "Nigerian pro-democracy groups based in the united States last Tuesday held a rally in honour of Major General Musa Yar'Adua, the former Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters who died in jail recently and called for the release of all the detainees." "Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, Secretary of Human Rights and Refugee Project (HRRP) who spoke with our reporter on telephone immediately after the rally, said position papers were delivered at the US Department of State office in Washington and the Nigerian Embassy also in Washington." "Bamidele said: `We called on the United States to impose economic sanctions including oil embargo on Nigeria as well as press for the release of other detainees."

6. "Enahoro, Soyinka, Akinrinade meet," Sunday Punch, December 14, 1997. "Members of various Nigerian pro-democracy groups in the United States, American activists and the Amnesty International in Washington will on Tuesday mark the eighth day anniversary of Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua's heath and call the world's attention to human rights situation in Nigeria." "In its statement, the Human Rights and Refugee Project through Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, called for the immediate release of all political detainees including Chief Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections."

7. "US pressure group praises CD, other for honouring Carrington," Sunday Punch, October 5, 1997. "Human Rights and Refugee Projects, an advocate group based in the United States has commended the Nigerian human rights community for honouring the out-going U.S. envoy, Walter Carrington in spite of the police disruption that marked the farewell reception last month."

8. "Intensify campaign for freedom, Nigerians told," Nigerian Tribune, September 28, 1997. "The United States of America based Human Rights and Refugee Project (HRRP) has called on Nigerians to intensify campaign for freedom of detained prisoners of conscience in the country just as it paid special tribute to Dr. Fredrick Fasehun who clocked 62 last Sunday while yet in detention." "The statement signed on behalf of HRRP by Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele reads in part: `We salute other prisoners of conscience, human rights activists, democratic lawyers, journalists, students and all those fighting on the side of the oppressed people of Nigeria."

9. Letter from Julius O. Ihonvbere, Ph.D. of the Ford Foundation to Robert Sable, Esq. of Greater Boston Legal Services on behalf of Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, Esq., August 26, 1997.

10. "Worlds apart, Nigerian man fights for freedom," Concord Monitor, October 14, 1996. "In the past decade Michael Bamidele has been jailed several times in his native Nigeria, because, he says, of his efforts to bring democracy and human rights to the country of 101 million." "Today, Bamidele's struggle continues from an improbable location worlds away from his troubled homeland: a small apartment on Mountain Road in Concord." "Bamidele, 34, came to Concord just over a year ago, and recently earned a master's degree in intellectual property at Franklin Pierce Law Center." "A lawyer back home, he didn't move to Concord solely to enhance his legal education. In fact he wouldn't be here if he had not fled Nigeria last August on foot in a dangerous pre-dawn escape across the border." "He left because the government was looking for him yet again, he says, and he feared another arrest might mean a permanent end to his personal freedom -- and possibly his life."

11. "Trial of Abiola begins in Abuja today," Daily Times (Nigeria), July 5, 1994. "Trial of Chief M.K.O. Abiola, on charges of treasonable felony will begin in Abuja this morning." "Ahead of today's hearing, securitymen stormed the Wuse High Court yesterday to assess security arrangements in the premises. Also at the court yesterday in anticipation of the trial were Abiola's senior wife Kudirat, Abuja Lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Opeyemi, and Aka-Bashorun."

12. "Abiola not yet arraigned," The Guardian, July 6, 1997. "On the defence team to assist Ajayi and Aka-Bashorun were Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, Mr. Dare Ogunade and Mr. Uyi Ozedegbe, chairman of the Abuja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)."

13. "Abiola weeps for Nigeria," Weekend Vanguard, July 9, 1994. "Last Wednesday, acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun M.K.O. was charged to a Federal High Court specially created for the purpose of his trial by a yet to be released decree in Abuja. Bashorun Abiola was arrested eighteen days ago in his residence in Moshood Abiola Crescent Ikeja Lagos." "Those who appeared for Bashorun Abiola were Chief B.O.K Ajayi (SAN) (who later returned to Lagos to attend pressing matters) Alao Aka-Bashorun, former president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele,..."

14. "Judge steps aside in Abiola's case," Vanguard, August 17, 1994. "Chief Ajayi, leading 62 other lawyers including Alao Aka-Bashorun, Ikeazon Chimezie, Fred Agbeyegbe, Ope Bamidele, L.O. Olorundare, Ayoka Lawani, Uye Ogedengbe, Ayo Demowo, Ikechukwu Okorafor and Bassey Effiong, expressed regret at the judge's decision."

15. "On the Judiciary...Lawyers react" (by Opeyemi Bamidele), Third Eye Newspaper, August 21, 1994. "The trial of Chief M.K.O. Abiola before Justice Abdullahi Mustapha's federal high court sitting in Abuja is nothing more than a sham and a clear abuse of the judicial process by the military junta of General Sani Abacha."

16. "The June 12 formula," (by Opeyemi Bamidele), The Punch, August 15, 1994. "Some of us have watched with keen interest and patriotic attention the macabre dance of a nation which for the past one year has been sitting on a keg of gun powder. As if inevitably destined to doom, everyone appears to have watched it helplessly drift apart. Those who steer the ship of the state pretend that all is well. Even those who should know better prefer to mislead the innocent public into believing in alternative prescriptions for their selfish interest."

17. "Abuja court adjourns hearing in suit against Tempo correspondent," The Guardian, July 21, 1994. "Magistrate Abubakar Talba yesterday adjourned till July 27, further hearing in the trial of Mr. Alex Kabba, the Abuja Bureau Chief of The News/Tempo magazines who is alleged to have demanded a gratification of N125,000 from Mr. A.A. Kure of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDN)." "Kure, the complainant and the first prosecution witness was cross-examined yesterday by Kabba's lawyer Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele who led Mr. Austin Inya, Mr. Lawrence Adeosun and Mr. Afu Bernard Afu."

18. "PRC sued over confab," Nigerian Tribune, May 19, 1994. "Five Nigerian youths below the age of 35 have dragged the Provisional Ruling Council, to court over the age criteria for the election of delegates into the forthcoming constitutional conference." "In an application filed on their behalf yesterday by Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele at the Kaduna High Court, the applicants are seeking the court to declare the exclusion of all persons below the age of 35 years from the confab delegates as invalid, arbitrary and unconstitutional."

19. "Enahora, Adebayo in Abuja - Lawyer," The Punch, August 21, 1994. "The whereabouts of detained edlerstateman, Chief Anthony Enahoro and former governor of Kwara State, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, has now been confirmed." "Speaking with The Punch in Abuja yesterday, an Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Opeyemi, said the men were being detained at the headquarters of the State Security Services (SSS) in Abuja." "Mr. Opeyemi said the SSS had assured him that they would be prosecuted by the police before the end of the week." "Mr. Bamidele, who said he had gone to the SSS office with the plight of his client, Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele, said apart from the two men, the NUPENG Secretary- General, Mr. Frank Kokori, was also in Abuja, despite the police assertion as recently as last week that he was still being wanted."

20. "The News corespondent resists arrest at Abuja court," The Guardian, June 7, 1997. "A mild drama ensued yesterday at a Karu Magistrate Court, Abuja, where Mr. Alex Kabba, The News magazines Abuja Bureau Correspondent, standing trial on a three- count charge, resisted a police rearrest on the ground that he had been granted bail last April." "Kabba, charged, among others, with demanding and receiving gratification from Mr. Kure, an engineer with the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to the tune of N125,000, appeared in court yesterday with his lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Opeyemi." "Opeyemi objected to the information, arguing that the attitude of the state counsel was `not only unfair to the court but inimical to the proper administration of justice.' He emphasised that the same reason was adduced last April by the Attorney-General's representative."

21. "16 Abuja Students to Enforce Fundamental Rights," Nigerian Tribune, June 19, 1994. "A federal high court sitting in Jos, Plateau State last Friday has granted 16 students of Abuja University leave to enforce their fundamental rights to personal liberty, following their arrest and detention since April 7." "A motion, ex-part, had earlier been filled on their behalf by their solicitor, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele with an affidavit in support, sworn to by Messrs. Ezenwa Nwangu and Baba Aiyelabola, the vice president and public relations officer respectively of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NAN).

22. "TheNEWS: People," TheNEWS, October 3, 1994. "Bamidele Opeyemi is fast becoming the scourge of those in power wherever they manifest authoritarian tendencies. Opeyemi has a weapon: the law. When the authorities of the university of Abuja were planning to sack 58 students of that beleaguered institution, Opeyemi got a reprieve for the students without charging any fees."

23. "Grand plan to destroy Abiola," Toplife, July 14, 1994 "Prior to June 12, political pamphleteering was not a common phenomenon in Nigeria. But the cancellation of the landmark June 12 election has introduced the practice of pamphleteering into Nigerian politics." "Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, an Abuja-based legal practitioner told Toplife: `The implication of this kind of pamphleteering is more political than legal. From a legal perspective, a statement cannot be taken seriously where one considers that there is no organisation known to law a Arewa Patriotic Front. Again, the statement is rather amorphous and too irresponsible to be taken cognisance of by the law. However, it has bar-reaching political implications because it would appear as if people from the North are gathering together under one umbrella to attack those from the South. It also appears to confirm the fear that the North is not ready to relinquish power, especially when an attempt is made to link Abiola's political ambition with the southern political interest. To me, neither of these is the case, it is rather an orchestrated plan by a few to further divide the ranks of the democratic forces both from the North and the South. I am not one of those who subscribe to the idea of North/South dichotomy."

24. "Reflection: Thoughts at Christmas," (by Opeyemi Bamidele), Vanguard, December 25, 1993. "For us in Nigeria, however, the universal expectations of a Christmas day cannot be safely assumed. for if Christmas has come to have a standard definition and contents, then the applicability of same to the Nigerian situation of today can only be with extreme caution." "No greater Christmas `message' may also proceed from the government to the people at this crucial moment than a sincere acknowledgment of a breach of faith and honour by successive regimes and the state of penury this has come to put the vast majority of the people." "Next would be a reassurance to the people of the preparedness of the new set of leaders who have placed the responsibilities of governance on their shoulders to demonstrate enough patriotism, sobriety and discipline to move the nation forward and re-define our national destiny along the lines of justice, patriotism, democracy and equitable sharing of our God-given collective wealth."

25. "Three student activists missing," The Punch, December 12, 1988. Three student activists at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have been reported missing as the entire student body successfully boycotted the students' union election scheduled to last Saturday at the Ugbowo and Ekenwe campuses of the university." "Declared missing are Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, the chairman of the students' caretaker committee, Ogaga Ifowodo, the out-going secretary general and Nosa Osaikhuwu, the secretary to the electoral commission." "The university registrar in a circular letter ref. R.E.G./RO/C:136/Volume 111 dated December 9, said: `as far as is known, nothing has been done by the university authority to impair the free movement of the three students namely Ogaga, Bamidele and Nosa or any other students of the University of Benin'."

26. "Four UNIBEN student activists defy varsity order," The PUNCH, December 9, 1988. "The University of Benin (UNIBEN) has summoned four students activists before the Students Disciplinary Committee." "The students are Mr. Bamidele Opeyemi who was acting as the chairman of the caretaker committee of the dissolved students union, pending fresh elections." "The students, according to the registrar, Mr. R.A. Williams, were charged with illegal assembly of the general students' body and threat to peace, law and order in the university'." "The latest problem at UNIBEN was the result of a disagreement between the students body and the authority on the latter's regulation guiding the fresh students' election scheduled to hold tomorrow."

27. "Uniben students boycott lectures," The PUNCH, May 29, 1991. "Students of the University of Benin yesterday boycotted classes to protest the alleged arrest of three of their leaders." "The associations warned that the only condition for peace in the present circumstances was the unconditional release of the students." They gave the names of those detained as Bamidele Opeyemi, Bola Tajudeen both of the Law School, Bamidele Aturu, Fola Odidi and Kola Odetola from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Kayode Olatunji (Ondo State University, Akure) and the president and social secretary of University of Ilorin."

28. "Students urge FG to probe UNIBEN," PUNCH, December 21, 1988. "Students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have called on the Federal Government to create a panel of enquiry into the affairs of the institution in the last few years." "Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of UNIBEN Students Union made the call yesterday in Lagos at a Press Conference. Other Union Executives were also present." "He said that the proposed panel should look into `what is actually wrong with the administration of the institution'.

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