20th Memorial Anniversary: Keep Beko Ransome Kuti’s Legacies Alive, Debo Adeniran Charges Activists 

By Joseph Sunday 

The National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR, in Nigeria, Comrade Debo Adeniran has charged the Human Rights Activists in Nigeria to keep the standards and the legacies left behind by the Late Dr Beko Ransome Kuti alive and intact.

The recent re-elected National President of the CDHR, Comrade Debo Adeniran dropped the message while delivering his speech at the 20th Memorial Anniversary of the Late Dr Beko Ransome Kuti held at the Rights House and organized by the Lagos State Branch of CDHR on Tuesday.

Delivering his speech, Comrade Debo Adeniran hammered on the importance of maintaining the ideals left behind by the Late Dr Beko Ransome Kuti which focuses on exhibiting courage in the courtroom, vigilance in the streets, advocacy in the media, and integrity in personal conducts. 

Adding, he emphasized the need for human rights activists in Nigeria to call themselves to introspection. 

He also charged the Civil Society Organizations in the Country to stay on cause, remain independent, maintain principles and be united. 

Debo reminded the leaders of civil society organizations in the Country not to forget the Late Beko’s stance on division, complacency, and the temptation of compromising injustice, but stick to his believe that activism must be anchored on integrity and sustained by solidarity.

Debo Adeniran equally appealed to rights activists in the Country to continue to build their alliances across ethnics, religious, and ideological divides, thereby nurturing young activists and encouraging collective actions.

Quoting from Comrade Debo Adeniran’s speech, he said, “If Beko is alive today, in the face of the current security challenges, economic hardship, and moral uncertainties, he would not retreat into cynicism, rather, he would organize, mobilize, demand accountability and insist that insecurity, whether from banditry, terrorism, or state excesses, is fundamentally a failure of governance. 

Continuing, Debo said, “Beko would have challenged the economic policies deepening inequality and impoverishing the citizens in the Country. 

“He would have reminded us that corruption is not merely a financial crime but a human rights violation that steals dignity and opportunity from the people”.

He however call out organizations like the Nigeria Medical Association, the Campaign for Democracy, the Centre for Constitutional Governance, the Citizens Forum, Labour and Civil Society Coalition, LASCO and the Management Board of Lagos University Teaching Hospital LUTH among others to join hands in strengthening the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and helped in institutionalizing the struggle for civil liberties in Nigeria, and noting that human rights issues are not privileges granted by the state but inalienable entitlements of every citizen. 

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