Environmental rights activists and community leaders have expressed mixed views on the progress made in Ogoniland, Rivers State, 31 years after the execution of nine Ogoni leaders, including former president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ken Saro-Wiwa.
The nine leaders were executed by hanging on November 10, 1995, after being convicted of alleged crimes against the state.
LEADERSHIP observed that 31 years after the executions at the Port Harcourt Maximum Correctional Centre, annual visits have continued at the Port Harcourt Cemetery, where Saro-Wiwa’s body was reportedly buried.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP, an environmental rights activist, Comrade Alagoa Morris, described the late Saro-Wiwa and his fellow activists as shining lights in the Niger Delta region.
Morris said the late activist’s struggle for the protection of the Ogoni environment remained relevant, adding that the people had sustained the collective spirit he championed.
“Well, as painful as it is, I want to start by citing what Steve Biko, the South African anti-apartheid activist said that it is better to die for an idea that we live than to live for an idea that we die. Ken Saro-Wiwa main concern while he was in detention was if the Ogoni people will be able to stand the rigours.
“Today, the people have not disappointed Ken Saro-Wiwa and this organic support that the people have is a shining example to other Niger Deltans should learn from.
“Not to be cutting each other’s legs and looking for individual benefits, but looking for collective good of the environment because when the environment is safe, it is safe for our livelihood, it is safe for our environment and for everything that we do,” Morris said.
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Also speaking, the Executive Director of We The People (WTP), Ken Henshaw, questioned the extent to which the issues raised by Saro-Wiwa and contained in the Ogoni Bill of Rights had been addressed by the government.
Henshaw described the anniversary as a day of mourning rather than celebration, saying the nine leaders were executed for demanding the protection of their environment.
“My message on the anniversary of execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others is that of mourning and that of sadness. It is not a celebratory anniversary, it is that of the day Nigeria very il legally and very wrongly hung nine innocent people who were asking for nothing else than the protection of their environment. That is how the Nigerian government responds.
“So the question is 31 years after, how many of those issues raised Ken Saro-Wiwa fought for and were in the Ogoni Bill of Rights have been realized?” he said.
However, a community leader, Elder Barivule Akpor, expressed appreciation to the federal government for efforts to restore peace in Ogoniland despite past disagreements.
Akpor said the continued remembrance of the executed leaders showed that the Ogoni people had not forgotten their contribution to the socio-economic liberation of the area.
“I feel a bit fulfilled today that about the way things are going in Ogoniland. It is a clear indication that Ogonis never forgot those people that for what I call social economic liberation of Ogoniland.
“Therefore, I feel that if situations like this continue, we have actually achieved. Two, we are also aware of efforts to have the presence of the government in Ogoniland,” he said.
