Felix Morka: Untold Story of A Pro-Democracy Activist 

Felix Morka: Untold Story of A Pro-Democracy Activist

By Ken Bienose

Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Felix Morka is a man of many parts. Long before his current role as Spokesman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), he already etched his name on the pages of history through selfless services to the nation and humanity.

As Executive Director of the Social, Economic Rights and Action Centre (SERAC), a not-for-profit organisation he founded in 1995, he continues to formulate and implement far-reaching programmes that respond to threats and violations of economic, social and cultural rights as well as build capacity of local communities to participate in decision-making on policies and programmes that affect them.
Significantly, SERAC won the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institution in 2010 in recognition of its work on behalf of Nigeria’s urban poor community.

Morka also leads the Urban Spaces Initiative (USI) where he implements innovative urban policies and programmes designed to expand access of the urban poor to affordable housing and promote micro-economic enterprise.

In 1997, he served as Chairman of the United Nations Expert Committee on Development-Based Displacements, Geneva, Switzerland, that drafted the International Comprehensive Human Rights Guidelines on Development-Based Displacements.
Again, he chaired the Body Shop International Human Rights Award Jury and served as member of the Project Steering Commitee, Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project (a $200 million World Bank-Funded Project); Board of Advisors, Niger Delta Legal Engagement dubbed Dawn In The Creek (a Project of the Governmwnt of the United States of America), among numerous other high-level engagements.

At the outset of his stellar legal career, Morka served as Legal Director with the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) between 1991 and 1993. He supervised CLO’s legal operations that offered legal services to victims of human rights violations across the country, and also coordinated the Legal Assistance Network (LANE), an outreach programme that aimed at mobilizing lawyers for human rights cause.

Not surprisingly, CLO, under the charismatic leadership of Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti (of blessed memory) and Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, morphed into a veritable platform for the campaign for the restoration of democracy in the wake of the June 12, 1993 presidential election annulment.

Following an offer by the International Human Rights Law Group, Washington, D. C, Morka relocated to the United States of America in 1993. As Legal Officer for Africa, he designed and implemented the organisation’s rule of law programme in Africa aimed at strenghtening institutions of civil society, including courts, legislatures, bar associations, non-governmental organisations, and so on. While on this beat, Morka travelled extensively across Africa between 1993 and 1994. He coordinated a major study of Ethiopia’s judicial system and recommended a comprehensive reform in post-Mengistu Ethiopia.

Leveraging his expertise and experience, Morka coordinated the Nigerian Human Rights and Pro-Democracy Community in the United States between 1994 and 1997. In his role as Coordinator, he offered strategic direction for Nigeria’s pro-democracy coalition that vigorously campaigned for imposition of sanctions on Nigeria to pressure the then military junta to return to the barracks and pave the way for democracy to flourish.

To his credit, Morka coordinated extensive campaigns and lobby within the United States to sway international opinion and action against the Nigerian military dictatorship. His efforts to advance the struggle climaxed with his presentation of testimony before the Sub-Committee on Africa of the US Congress in December, 1995.

Back home in Nigeria, Morka’s campaign against his fatherland in the US did not escape the radar. The establishment was so riled and rattled by his audacity that he soon became a marked man. In 1998, unknown to him that he was on the wanted list of the Department of State Security, Morka was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed Airport and, subsequently, detained.

His insatiable quest for better platforms for service propelled him into politics. As a pioneer member of the APC, he played key roles in the formation of the party in his Delta State in 2014.

At the March, 2022 National Convention of the Party, Morka was unanimously elected as the National Publicity Secretary. Since then, he has continued to inspire awe and reverence as he creatively blends elegance, eloquence and finesse in the discharge of his national assignment.

With a robust pedigree steeped in pro-democracy activism, coupled with his subsisting leading role in interpreting and defending the policies and programmes of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, there is no denying the fact that Morka’s recent recognition and national award of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) is a befitting icing on his cake of meritorious career.