30 Years After Ken Saro-Wiwa: Justice Still Eludes Niger Delta-Civi Society

Lagos_ Civil society organisations have renewed their call for justice, accountability, and environmental restoration in the Niger Delta as they marked the 30th anniversary of the execution of renowned environmentalist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders.

Rev. Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, who is the Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and chairman of the Ken Saro-Wiwa 30th Anniversary Planning Committee, spoke at the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) headquarters in Lagos.

He described the 1995 hanging of the “Ogoni Nine” as “a deliberate, cold, and calculated act of state violence designed to silence truth and crush dissent.”

Saro-Wiwa, a celebrated writer and leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), was executed alongside Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine. Their deaths followed a controversial military tribunal and were widely condemned as judicial murder linked to their peaceful resistance against oil pollution and human rights abuses in Ogoniland.Despite global outrage, the region remains heavily polluted with oil spills, gas flaring, and environmental degradation, which continues to harm local communities.

A coalition of non-governmental organizations, including HOMEF, CAPPA, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), and Oilwatch International, issued a five-point demand to the Nigerian government and multinational oil companies.

The groups also condemned recent government actions, such as the seizure of Saro-Wiwa’s Memorial Bus and what they called the “hollow” presidential pardon of the Ogoni Nine, which they described as political posturing. The organizations believe these actions fail to address the truth of the judicial murder.

The groups further stated that “Saro-Wiwa believed that nature’s resources were not to be destroyed but managed to foster human-environment connection and, by extension, sustain life and cultural identity. Without mincing words, he reminded us that reckless extractivism, as was the case in Ogoni Land, was poisonous and that oppressed voices must never be silenced.” He called for change in a system where multinational oil corporations profit while communities are left with poisoned water and land. His legacy, they said, reminds people of the significance of justice and the unsustainability of any economy built without fairness and human dignity.

The organizations said Saro-Wiwa’s peaceful resistance was criminalized, and he was detained on false charges before a “sham tribunal where truth was buried and injustice reigned.” While he was stripped of his life, his death “birthed renewed struggle, consciousness, and inspiration for a liveable environment.” The groups noted that Saro-Wiwa’s courage has inspired movements globally and across generations.

They quoted him declaring “The environment is man’s first right. Without a safe environment, man cannot exist to claim other rights.” He made this statement while facing the hangman’s noose, according to the groups.

The injustice Saro-Wiwa denounced continues today, with ongoing toxic spills, contaminated rivers, and gas flaring in Ogoniland. The groups said that life expectancy continues to drop and communities are impoverished while corporations profit.

They accused the government and corporations of deepening this injustice through ongoing divestment plans in Nigeria that ignore the need for free and prior informed consent from the people.

The organizations also called the recent presidential pardon by President Tinubu “a hollow gesture crafted for political points, which manipulates history and justice instead of addressing the truth of their judicial murder.” They noted that the continued seizure of Saro-Wiwa’s Memorial Bus, despite a court ruling, is illegal and a “painful reminder of how state institutions weaponise power to suppress memory and diminish the social and political legacy of the people.”

The groups highlighted that attempts to reopen oil wells in Ogoniland against the people’s will risk reopening old wounds and show that lessons from Saro-Wiwa’s struggle have not been learned. They demanded with urgency that the agitations of Ken Saro-Wiwa be heard and translated into concrete action.