Jude Ohanele
Jude Ohanele is a human rights defender from the South East of Nigeria. He is the founder and program director of Development Dynamics, an organization that works to protect the human rights of the people of the South East and Nigeria.
He has continued to lead the protection and promotion of the right to life and protection from violence, right to credible elections, and the participation of the people in public governance and decision making processes. His working environment is further challenged by the ongoing agitation for self determination in the South East of Nigeria. In the course of his work, he has been threatened several times and has been harassed.
HRDs and journalists in Nigeria are at risk of harassment and intimidation for their work. Those who work to document human rights abuses by security forces and government corruption are particularly at risk. The authorities have taken little to no action to prevent these risks and in some instances have used the judicial system to arrest, detain and prosecute HRDs. There are serious concerns about the impartiality and independence of Nigeria’s criminal justice system as wealthy individuals, police, state security forces, and government agencies have all repeatedly used it to target HRDs and journalists who have exposed corruption.
