From the classrooms of Imo State University to the corridors of international human rights advocacy, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has built a career around one enduring idea: that the law should protect people and hold power accountable.
A lawyer, professor, writer and human rights advocate, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has spent decades working at the intersection of law, governance and human rights in Nigeria and across Africa.
His career has taken him from teaching law in Nigeria to working with international organisations, advising major institutions, litigating human rights cases and leading Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission.
Today, he is Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He has also chaired Nigeria’s Truth, Justice and Peace Commission, a transitional justice initiative focused on addressing the legacies of violence and agitation in south-east Nigeria.
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Growing Up In A Teachers’ Home, Finding His Path In Law
Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu was born in Ihiala, Anambra State, into a family of teachers. His parents, Augustine Chukwuma Odinkalu and Anthonia Ihunna Odinkalu, were educators who helped shape his early years. Although born in Anambra, he hails from Orlu in Imo State.
His academic journey soon began to distinguish him.
At Imo State University, where he studied law, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu emerged as the best graduating student of the School of Legal Studies in 1987. He was also awarded the Chief FRA Williams Prize for Best Student in Legal Drafting and Conveyancing in 1988.
He went on to obtain an LL.M from the University of Lagos in 1990 before earning a Ph.D. in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
But for Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, education was never simply about collecting qualifications. It became a foundation for a career that would take him deep into some of Africa’s most difficult questions about justice, rights and governance.
From Teaching Law To Defending Human Rights
After being called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu began his professional journey in academia as an assistant lecturer at the University of Ibadan.
He later joined the Civil Liberties Organisation, where he became involved in litigation, advocacy and strategies aimed at defending civil liberties.
The political atmosphere of Nigeria in the early 1990s would further shape his work.
The 12 June 1993 presidential election and the political crisis that followed placed human rights activists under enormous pressure. Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu was among those involved in the struggle for civil liberties during the period.
His work eventually took him outside Nigeria. In the United Kingdom, he served as Africa Legal Officer at INTERIGHTS, while his growing experience in human rights law brought him into contact with international institutions and some of Africa’s most challenging justice issues.
A Career That Took Him Beyond Nigeria’s Borders
Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu’s work has never been confined to one country.
In 1998, he served as a Human Rights Adviser with the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone, working in a country emerging from devastating conflict.
He later joined the Open Society Justice Initiative, where he served in senior legal roles focused on Africa.
His work included human rights litigation, advocacy and efforts to strengthen legal protections across the continent. He was also involved in the development of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Over the years, his professional experience has also included work with or advisory roles for institutions such as the Ford Foundation, World Bank, African Union and International Council for Human Rights Policy.
The range of these engagements reflects a career that moved between the courtroom, civil society, academia and international policy.
Leading Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission
One of the most significant chapters of Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu career came when he became chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission.
He chaired the commission from 2011 to 2015, at a time when questions around human rights, security, accountability and the protection of citizens remained major issues in Nigeria.
The position placed him at the centre of the country’s human rights architecture, requiring him to navigate the often difficult relationship between citizens, government institutions and security agencies.
For someone who had spent years advocating for civil liberties, the role represented a move from campaigning outside government institutions to leading one of the country’s principal institutions responsible for protecting human rights.
Beyond Activism: The Scholar And Teacher In Chidi Odinkalu
Beyond activism and public service, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has remained deeply involved in scholarship.
At the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, he teaches and researches international human rights law, governance and development. His academic interests include the future of human rights and governance in Africa, regional systems and the changing nature of multilateralism.
His academic career has also connected him with institutions such as Harvard Law School and the London School of Economics.
This combination of scholarship and activism has become a defining feature of his career: the ability to move between ideas in the classroom and the practical realities of justice and governance.
Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has also used writing to examine Nigeria’s political and institutional history.
In 2018, he co-authored Too Good to Die: Third Term and the Myth of the Indispensable Man in Africa with lawyer and writer Ayisha Osori.
The book examined former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s controversial third-term project and broader questions surrounding political leadership and statecraft in Nigeria.
His writing has extended beyond books. Over the years, he has written extensively on human rights, governance, justice and accountability.
His work has often returned to a central question: what happens when institutions created to protect citizens fail to do so?
Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu’s influence has also reached other parts of Africa.
In 2017, he was part of a three-member panel that helped negotiate The Gambia’s return to the Commonwealth. He has also been involved in international human rights litigation before African regional courts and tribunals.
His career has therefore moved across several spaces from Nigerian civil society to international institutions, from human rights commissions to universities, and from legal advocacy to public commentary.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu’s journey is not any single title he has held.
It is the consistency of the subject running through them all.
Law.
Human rights.
Justice.
Governance.
Whether as a young lawyer, civil liberties advocate, international legal practitioner, human rights commissioner, professor or writer, Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu’s career has remained closely connected to questions about how institutions treat people and how societies can build stronger systems of accountability.
His journey from a teachers’ home in south-eastern Nigeria to international human rights scholarship is therefore more than a story of professional achievement.
It is a story of how legal education can become public service, how scholarship can become advocacy, and how a career can be shaped by a persistent concern for the rights and dignity of people.
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