Rights Activist, Dare Atoye, Dies @42

A civil rights campaigner and prominent election reform activist, Ariyo Dare-Atoye has died.

He passed on in Abuja on Thursday afternoon after a protracted battle with lung cancer, his friends said from the hospital. He was 42.

A trained news reporter who spent years covering national affairs for the News Agency of Nigeria, Atoye joined civil rights activism in the late 80s.

After a brief foray into politics under the PDP administration of Goodluck Jonathan, he returned to activism and co-founded the Centre for Civil Liberty which he monitored out of Abuja.

Over the past half-decade, Mr Atoye has led a campaign for electoral reform in Nigeria, and his contributions to the recent changes to electoral guidelines by the Nigerian parliament were widely acknowledged.

After weeks of silence as he battled the ruthless disease that was spreading rapidly through his body, Mr Atoye posted a message to on Twitter, acknowledging support from friends and family while asking everyone to keep hope alive.

Additional details about his death have not been released by his doctors, but the development came as plans were being made by his friends to transport him to London for additional treatments.

He was survived by his wife and children.