BRAVELY AND CONFIDENTLY, DPA COMES TO THE END OF ANOTHER YEAR OF GROWTH.

When Emeka Ugwuonye, Founder of DPA, felt the need to stir up change in his country of birth, he aimed at the hearts and heads of the people. DPA became the veritable tool for the change of mind-set in Nigeria and beyond.

The Founder knew there was going to be a big challenge for him, but he probably did not foresee the degree and ferocity of the challenge he would face. Yet, he braced himself for a fight and has been in the trenches ever since.

Changing the way a people think is much harder than establishing a political party and running an election or establishing a church or ministry. In those two, you take less risks because you left people with all their prejudices and beliefs in tact. But to change the mindset of the people, you first have to battle and destroy entrenched biases, superstitions and beliefs and value system. And nothing rattles people more than taking them away from their comfort zones and settled position. They will resist such change to the point of death. This was what Emeka Ugwuonye embarked upon with his movement.

He attacked gender inequality, insisting that women are not inferior and that they are not slaves, and that they are entitled to equal protection of the law. To hold this position, Emeka had to tackle some long entrenched rules of law and certain misinterpretations of the bible. Entrenched men of customs and the bible saw Emeka’s relentless argument as an assault on their secure positions and they came after him with vengeance and the laid seige to his reputation.

The first time Emeka declared that a man must go to prison for beating his wife, some men were up in arms. They accused him of being a homebreaker and slandered him with false accusations that he was a womanizer.

When Emeka insisted that David Aiyedegbon knew more about the murder of his wife than he admitted to law enforcement, David unleashed war against Emeka. David connived with Mr Daudu, himself accused of abusing his own wife. And Daudu, presiding over the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, wrote a biased recommendation against Emeka. The same clique went further to procure a false letter (not judgment from the Supreme Court clerks office) to create false impressions.  Yet, DPA grew stronger and stronger.

EMEKA also used DPA to challenge the atrocities committed by the Nigerian police, including murder, disappearing of inmates and suspects and other crimes against humanity. The police falsely accused him of murder and detained him unlawfully.

Yet Emeka was not discouraged. DPA went on to remain the only group in Nigeria that could not be intimidated.

In the coming days,  DPA will list and celebrate some of its landmark achievements.