Prominent civil rights leader, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, has been announced as the new Chairman of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) Advisory Board, following a board election held over the weekend.
The organisation described Rafsanjani’s emergence as a renewed mandate to intensify its defence of people, public resources, and democratic space across Nigeria and the African continent.
Rafsanjani, who also serves as Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Head of Transparency International in Nigeria, brings decades of experience in anti-corruption advocacy and governance reform. He currently chairs the Board of Trustees of Amnesty International Nigeria, leads the Zero Corruption Coalition, and co-convenes the Say No Campaign.
A founding member of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Rafsanjani has spent over three decades advancing legislative advocacy, human rights, extractive transparency, and civic engagement across West Africa. He previously represented Sub-Saharan Africa on the Coordination Committee of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Civil Society Coalition.
The Advisory Board also includes Akinbode Oluwafemi (Executive Director and Board Secretary), Evelyn Nkanga Bassey (Treasurer), Scott Pegg, Kayode Ogunbunmi, Betty Abah, and Doifie Buokoribo—a team bringing extensive expertise in rights activism, policy advocacy, and community-defence organising.
CAPPA expressed confidence that Rafsanjani’s “formidable experience in anti-corruption campaigns and policy advocacy will strengthen the organisation’s mission at a time when civic space is shrinking, state resources are being commercialised, and communities face economic and environmental threats.”
Speaking after his election, Rafsanjani reaffirmed his commitment to anchoring CAPPA as “a fearless watchdog for the public good,” pledging to strengthen the organisation’s work in public health advocacy, extractive justice, democratic rights, and defence of public services.
The board also issued a cautionary note on the trajectory of Nigeria’s mining sector, warning that the global energy transition’s demand for lithium and other “green minerals” could reproduce the Niger Delta experience—where resource wealth enriched the few but devastated the environment and local livelihoods.
It stressed that while mining’s contribution to national GDP has risen from less than 0.5% a decade ago to about 4.6% today, this growth is unfolding alongside land grabs, displacement, and environmental degradation, calling for stronger regulation, community consent, and transparent governance.
“Nigeria risks replacing one resource curse with another,” the board warned, adding that “there is no just transition if communities do not share in its gains.”
CAPPA called for a people-centred resource governance framework that places land, water, culture, and livelihoods above profit motives, urging citizens to resist development models that “enrich a few while displacing many.”
Reaffirming its mission, the organisation pledged to expand alliances with labour unions, grassroots organisations, women’s groups, youth movements, and community defenders across Africa, stating that “the fight for public accountability and participation is one struggle that cannot be won by scattered voices.”