Dear all,
Please see below; we invite every willing Nigeria to join us in the quest for Justice to our murdered brother: Chidi Nwosu. Membership to any of the Committees mentioned hereunder is still open. Please send an email to Dominic Ogbonna to join any Committee at summadom@gmail.com;
A Press Release will follow shortly.
Chidi NWOSU MEMORIAL TELECONFERENCE
a. Summary:
The Teleconference was organized by Daniel Elombah and chaired by Gregg Ukaegbu. Starting time was 4.00 EST on January 02, 2010. At least 19 participants called into the conference. Members agreed on three broad objectives:
a. To start a fund-raising effort in honor of Chidi Nwosu.
b. To pressure the Nigerian authorities into solving his assassination; to bring the culprits to justice.
c. To organize smaller working committees to co-ordinate the above two objectives.
b. Working Committees:
In pursuance of the groups objectives, the following four sub committees were raised during the Teleconference:
a. The Fund-Raising Committee
b. The Financial Transparency Committee
c. The Crime Resolution And Justice Committee
d. The Public Relations Committee
c. Some Conference Highlights:
a. Conference Participants called in from North America, Europe, Sudan, and Nigeria
b. Every person who called into the conference was assigned a numerical ID
c. Participants voted on whether they wanted 2 or 3 donation-collection centers. The vote was unanimous –for 3 centers!
d. Members agreed to send their email addresses to summadom@gmail.com
e. Once emails have been received, a Yahoo or Google NewsGroup would be setup handle further communication among participants.
f. Mr Ugo donate $150.00 to the fundraising before leaving the conference.
g. Final prayers to end Teleconference were offered by IBK
h. Dominic Ogbonna took Teleconference notes
i. The names and numerical IDs assigned to Tele-conferencing participants has been attached in Appendix #1. Record for the votes are on Appendix #2.
d. Tele-Conference Details:
In pursuance of the group's objectives, conference participants set up four committees. The mandates and composition of these committees are outlined below.
SUB COMMITEES
1. Fund-Raising Committee
a. Description:
This group will co-ordinate our fund-raising. The objective is to raise as much money , for the Chidi Nwosu memorial, as possible. They will coordinate fund raising strategies, targets, and schedules.
b. Fund-Raising Committee Members:
i. Greg Ukaegbu (Team Lead)
ii. Daniel Elombah
iii. Collins Ezebuihe
iv. Another home-based Nigerian (yet to be determined).
c. Meeting Notes For the Fund-Raising Committee:
i. Conference participants agreed to establish three donation-collection centers - in the United States, in Europe, and in Nigeria
ii. Greg Ukaegbu will co-ordinate fund-raising efforts in North America. Daniel Elombah will co-ordinate our efforts in Europe, and a yet to be determined person will co-ordinate fund-raising efforts in Nigeria.
iii. The co-coordinator for Nigeria has not been determined. Gregg Ukaegbu and other committee members will run with this, and report back to the group when a candidate has been selected.
iv. In addition to the above donation-collection points, the group also agreed to set up a PAYPAL account to make donations easier. Mr Ogonna Anyabolu and Mr Ibukunolu Alao Babajide will lead this effort. They will research what is needed to open a PAYPAL account, and report back to the group.
v. Conference participants do not want to impose any limits on the donation amount. Any amount is acceptable.
vi. IBK suggested that we open a Bank Account to receive all the donations. Fund-raising committee will further explore this suggestion.
vii. Collins Ezebuihe suggested that we use Accounting firms working pro-bono to manage the funds raised. Fund-raising committee will further explore this suggestion.
viii. Greg Ukaegbu volunteered to contact the deceased's family on behalf of the Group.
d. To-Do List For the Fund-Raising Committee:
i. What will we do with the funds raised? Do we want to simply give money to the family? Do we want to establish an Education Trust for the Child? Do we want to fund continued Education and job training for the spouse of the deceased? Is there a deadline for the fund-raising?
ii. Is there a target amount that we are aiming for?
iii. When and how do we start requesting/collecting for donations?
The members of the fund-raising committees will discuss all the above issues, and make recommendations back to the general group.
2. Financial Transparency Committee
a. Description: We are aiming to raise money.How will donors, and members of this group, keep track of the donations that have been been pledged, donations that have been redeemed, and monies that have been disbursed?
To enhance transparency, conference participants agreed to use a web-based tracking system for all donations. This Financial transparency committee will co-ordinate the effort to build that web infrastructure.
Among other things, the donation website will enable:
i. Donors to pledge donations online, if they wish.
ii. Donors to redeem their pledges online using PAYPAL, if they choose.
iii. Donation managers to transparently update the status of specific donations. When a donation has been pledged, a notification, for example, could immediately sent to the donation coordinators, or to all the members of this group.
iv. And when a donation has been redeemed, a donation manager can immediately update the status of that particular donation.
v. At any point in time, ANYBODY should, by checking the website, be able to ascertain how much money has been pledged, how much redeemed, how much expended, and how much remains in the account.
b. Financial Transparency Committee Members
i. Ogonna Anayabolu (Team Lead)
ii. Ibukunolu Alao Babajide
iii. Dominic Ogbonna
c. Meeting Notes For the Financial Transparency Committee
i. IBK has volunteered to help with funding the effort
ii. If WebHosting Facilities are needed, Dominic Ogbonna will volunteer some facilities.
d. To Do List For the Financial Transparency Committee
i. Determine a domain name. The donation management website may be a subdomain on the main domai.n
ii. Determine what is needed to activate PAYPAL donations.
iii. Determine a site design. A mockup might be a good idea
iv. Determine what else is needed to get the site up and running
3. Justice For Chidi Nwosu Committee
a. Description:
Who killed Chidi Nwosu? Unmasking Chidi Nwosu's assassins is a job that MUST be done. Conference participants agreed that the group must send a STRONG MESSAGE to the Nigerian authorities - that the intimidation, the harassment, and the assassination of activists and social critics is NOT acceptable.
Many participants, including Daniel Elombah, Vincent Otuonye, and Ogonna Anyabolu, spoke passionately on this issue. The group agreed to pile pressure on Nigerian authorities. We will send letters of protest to the Commissioner of Police in Abia State, to the Governor, to the IGP, and to the President of the Federal Republic.
All these activities will be co-ordinated by the Justice For Chidi Committee. As well, the committee will explore other strategies that might be used to pile pressure on the Nigerian authorities.
b. Committee Members
i. Vincent Otuonye (Team Lead)
ii. Daniel Elombah
iii. Cornelius Akubuke (?)
iv. Dominic Ogbonna
c. Meeting Notes List For the Justice Committee
i. This was an important issue. Most of those who comment on it spoke from the heart, and with great passion.
ii. For mails sent to Nigerian authorities, Gregg Ukaegbu volunteered to pay for postage.
d. To-Do List For the Justice Committee
i. Draft letters that will be sent to the appropriate Nigerian authorities.
ii. Investigate the possibility and cost of using Private Investigators to unravel the crime.
iii. Explore and suggest other methods that might be used to gather evidence or uncover the culprits.
iv. Link up with other Human Rights organizations and activists in Nigeria.
4. The Public Relations Committee
a. Description:
Conference participants agreed that Chidi Nwosu's assassination must not be allowed to fade from the public consciousness. We need to keep his assassination in the news, in both online and print media. The group agreed to keep the public informed about what we are doing via Press Releases, Online publications, and postings to various Nigerian News Forums. This Public relations Committee will co-ordinate that effort.
b. Committee Members
i. Daniel Elombah (Team Lead)
ii. Collins Ezebuihe
iii. Gregg Ukaegbu
c. To-Do List For the Public Relations Committee
i. Determine if, when, where, and how we issue press releases.
ii. Determine how we can use these Press releases to pile more pressure on the Nigerian authorities
iii. Determine if and when we need to do signature drives
iv. Determine how the fund-raising effort will be announced to the public.
APPENDIX #1: CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS AS RECORDED
1. Johnson Obayowano
2. Ogonna Anyabolu
3. Dominic Ogbonna
4. Gregg Ukaegbu
5. Vincent Otuonye
6. Ugo donate
7. Chinaedu V Akuta
8. Eddy Ebulem
9. Daniel Elombah
10. Joseph
11. Cornelius
12. Okey
13. Peter Opara
14. Ibukunolu Alao Babajide
15. Collins Ezebuihe
16. Andy (?) Fayemi
17. Nduka
18. Aisha
19. Bonaventure Ezekwena
APPENDIX #2: HOW PARTICIPANTS VOTED
Question: Should we establish 2 or 3 Donation-Collection centers?
1. Johnson Obayowano -3
2. Ogonna Anyabolu -3
3. Dominic Ogbonna -3
4. Gregg Ukaegbu -3
5. Vincent Otuonye -3
6. Ugo -3
7. Chinaedu V Akuta -3
8. Eddy Ebulem -N/A
9. Daniel Elombah -3
10. Joseph -N/A
11. Cornelius -N/A
12. Okey -3
13. Peter Opara -N/A
14. Ibukunolu Alao Babajide -3
15. Collins Ezebuihe -3
16. Andy (?) Fayemi –N/A
17. Nduka –N/A
18. Aisha -N/A
19. Bonaventure Ezekwena -N/A
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