A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has strongly criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s latest presidential clemency listing, which included the late environmental rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni compatriots executed in 1995.
In a joint assertion issued in Abuja, the CSOs described the transfer as “insensitive, deceptive, and traditionally inaccurate,” arguing that the so-called pardon fails to acknowledge the grave miscarriage of justice that led to the execution of the Ogoni 9.
The assertion — endorsed by the Well being of Mom Earth Basis, We the Folks, Environmental Rights Motion, HEDA Useful resource Centre, Company Accountability and Public Participation Africa, Kebetkache Girls Improvement and Useful resource Centre, and different teams — expressed dismay at feedback made by Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Particular Adviser on Info and Technique, in a State Home launch titled “Particulars of the Presidential Pardon and Clemency.”
Within the assertion, Onanuga had listed among the many 175 pardoned people “unlawful miners, white-collar convicts, remorseful drug offenders, foreigners, Main Common Mamman Vatsa, Main Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, capital offenders akin to Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the opposite Ogoni Eight.”
The CSOs faulted the categorisation, saying it “erroneously lumps environmental justice icons with convicted murderers and drug offenders, portraying them as frequent criminals.”
“The reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa and his comrades by the Presidency is offensive to their reminiscence and that of 1000’s of Ogonis who suffered indignity and repression underneath the Abacha regime,” the teams mentioned. “It does little to carry closure to their households or justice to the Ogoni individuals.”
They additional criticised the assertion’s reference to the 4 Ogoni leaders murdered by a mob in 1995 as “victims of the Ogoni 9,” describing the narrative as a distortion of historic info.
The CSOs recalled that Saro-Wiwa and eight others — Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, and Barinem Kiobel — had been executed on November 10, 1995, following a controversial army tribunal broadly condemned as unjust and politically motivated.
They famous that pressured testimonies, denial of enchantment rights, and withdrawal of defence attorneys marked the trial, which the worldwide group later described as a “judicial homicide.”
“What the world has persistently demanded isn’t clemency, however exoneration — a full acknowledgment that the Ogoni 9 had been victims of a travesty of justice orchestrated by the army authorities with the complicity of Shell,” the assertion learn.
The coalition mentioned it was “deeply troubling” that the presidency recognised colonial injustices in opposition to nationalist, Sir Herbert Macaulay, whereas failing to make comparable corrections for Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues.
“If President Tinubu can acknowledge that Macaulay was unjustly handled by colonialists, why is similar not mentioned of the Ogoni 9 who had been killed for standing in opposition to environmental exploitation?” the teams requested.
The organisations warned that the “half-hearted pardon” could possibly be a prelude to renewed makes an attempt to renew oil extraction in Ogoniland — a transfer they vowed to withstand.
They known as on President Tinubu to withdraw the so-called pardon and as a substitute challenge an official state apology, coupled with a gazetted pronouncement quashing the homicide convictions of the 9 activists.
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“Ken Saro-Wiwa, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and their colleagues weren’t criminals. They had been heroes who gave their lives for environmental and social justice,” the CSOs declared. “Their names deserve exoneration, not pardon.”
The assertion was endorsed by 14 organisations, together with the Well being of Mom Earth Basis, We the Folks, Environmental Rights Motion, Kebetkache Girls Improvement and Useful resource Centre, Social Motion, Ogoni Folks’s Meeting, Oilwatch Africa, and the Civil Rights Council.
