Ken Saro-Wiwa - He Dared to Challenge Them

On November 10th 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa watched on as eight of his friends and collegues were hanged in front of him. Shortly afterwards he become the ninth, and so ended the life of a brave, talented and righteous man. His 'crime'? To question the actions of Shell and the Nigerian government, who were subjecting his people to unbearable living conditions. That he should die through such violent methods at the hands of a military dictatorship was in direct contrast to the way he lived his life: using peaceful protests to empower the powerless.

Signs of his political leanings were evident as early as 1973 when he was dismissed from his job as Regional Commissioner for arguing that the people of Ogoni (of which he was one) deserved greater autonomy. His real immersion into politics came in 1987, however, when he was appointed by Nigeria's dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, to help with Nigeria's transition to democracy. Sadly, he was unable to achieve this, largely owing to Babangida's lack of willingness to relinquish power.

Soon afterwards Saro-Wiwa began to take a more active interest in the plight of the Ogoni people. Since Shell had begun drilling there, they no longer had access to clean water, clean air, or land on which they could cultivate crops (in an area where most worked as farmers). Furthermore, regular explosions from the oil pipelines made the area unsafe to live in.

Saro-Wiwa helped create the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), a non-violent group which aimed at securing the rights of Ogoni people, and soon became its leader. He organised marches and drew international attention to their cause in the face of extreme violence and intimidation from the local police. In response to one protest, police were summoned the request of Shell and killed 80 people and destroyed 500 homes. In total 2,000 Ogoni people were killed and a further 80,000 made homeless by police raids in the area.

Saro-Wiwa travelled across the globe raising awareness of the plight of the Ogoni, who were at the mercy of a powerful oil company who controlled a corrupt Nigerian government through bribery. Facing threats to both himself and his family, becoming an international figurehead for this cause was dangerous, to say the least. Nevertheless, he was so successful in doing so that Shell was forced to leave Nigeria in 1993.

This success, however, would cost him his life. Following a corrupt trial in which witnesses were openly bribed by both Shell and the Nigerian Government, Saro-Wiwa and eight others (later dubbed the 'Ogoni nine') were sentenced to death for inciting violence. Four other Ogoni chiefs were killed by police not long before. Worldwide condemnation and the highlighting of the corrupt nature of the trial were not enough to save Saro-Wiwa but, in his own words, "I may be dead, but my ideas will not die."

Shell is currently being sued in a New York court for its crimes against the Ogoni people, echoing Saro Wiwa's words that, "the crime of [Shell's] dirty wars against the Ogoni people will be punished." A win in this trial would go some way to rewarding the great risks taken by many Ogoni people, not least Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose courage never faltered in the pursuit if what he knew to be right.

ADJB