Sulayman Dawodu: is a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, and Nigeria in 1999 and 1990 respectively. He holds a Master’s Degree from East London University in International Human Rights Law. He practiced as Criminal Advocate and Prosecutor in England for 17 years. He worked as a technical adviser to the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee in 2017, became Acting Secretary of the Committee in August 2018, and was appointed substantive Secretary in January, 2019. He completed his tenure successfully in January 2023. He became the Executive Director of the Center in 2023
Whilst the Executive Secretary, he led ACJMC in establishing functional Secretariat. He has led the ACJMC to develop templates and guidelines for implementing ACJA provisions regarding oversight visitations, reporting obligation and custody management. He has also supported the FCT Magistracy in building the capacity of the magistracy and area court judges to implement ACJA, and in particular, to ensure effective implementation of oversight visits. Sulayman has supported efforts to implement reporting obligations in other states and worked with the Federal Justice Sector Reform Coordinating Committee on criminal justice reforms, including promoting compliance with section 29, 33 and 34 of ACJA.
In his capacity as Secretary of the FCT ACJMC, he provided support for the establishment of ACJMC in Ondo, Kano, Edo, Kaduna States amongst others. He is still leading all major criminal justice reforms across the country especially within the anti-corruption and counter-terrorism system. From this, he’s currently advocating for passage of major criminal justice legal frameworks such as Proceed of Crime (Recovery And Management) Bill, Money Laundering (Prohibition And Prevention) Bill, Witness Protection And Management Bill, Public Interest Disclosure And Complaint Bill (Whistle-blower Bill), Terrorism (Prohibition And Prevention) Bill, Special Crimes Court Bill to name a few.