eneral Jeremiah Useni, a co-plotter in the 1995 murder of World renowned Environmental and Minority Rights crusader, Ken Saro Wiwa and eight of his fellow Ogoni compatriots, fondly referred to as the “Ogoni 9”, recently stirred the hornet’s nest when he attempted to justify the illegal and criminal act. Predictably, Jeremiah Useni’s assault on the memory of the great Ken Saro Wiwa outraged the Ogoni, all of the Niger Delta and other men of conscience in Nigeria and beyond.
Dr. Reuben Abati hit the bull’s eye when in his column in The Guardian of November 9, 2008, he rightly remarked that Jeremiah Useni’s outburst “ comes across as a predetermined attempt to rubbish Ken Saro Wiwa’s memory and diminish the significance of the struggle that he championed”. Dr. Abati is equally right to note that “Jerry Useni is one of those conveniently forgotten figures of Nigerian history”. A clue emerges here concerning Jerry Useni’s outburst- he is envious of the late Ken Saro Wiwa’s larger -than-life status in the country, (even in death) in contrast to those of the Jerry Usenis who have actually been CONVENIENTLY FORGOTTEN, even as they pretend to be living. Jeremiah Useni and his co-plotters had thought they could obliterate the memory of Ken Saro Wiwa from the universe when they plotted to murder him but were shocked to see that the murder produced the reverse effect of what was intended. Jeremiah Useni is actually a walking corpse which has been done away with. No one cares if he is buried or rots away.
However, there appears to exist some people in Nigeria who do not understand why we are outraged by Jeremiah Useni’s silly remarks. One of such persons is Mr. Tochukwu Ezukanma who in an article published on the New Nigerian Politics website on November 15, 2008 erroneously characterized our indignation as an act of bigotry , even as he insists that General Jeremiah Useni is entitled to his opinion, however unpopular. Mr. Ezukanma went further to assert that our protests against Jeremiah Useni’s ill-fated remarks amount to gagging the retired General. Needless to note that Mr. Ezukanma’s copious nonsense on the right of freedom of expression is out of point. For what is at issue here is not freedom of expression or opinion.
Let’s start from the easier one: Those of us protesting Jeremiah Useni, Professor Ibrahim Gambari and company’s miserable attempts to rubbish the larger-than-life image of Ken Saro Wiwa’s memory are in no position to gag them. What we are simply doing is to alert the public on their devious motives, and like Dr. Reuben Abati of the Guardian again, noted, their futile attempts to “rewrite history”, turning the truth on its head and misleading generations of Nigerians yet unborn and those who might have been too young to follow the events of the Ogoni pacification. However, Jeremiah Useni, Ibrahim Gambari and company have unwittingly invited their nemesis ; as their foolish outbursts and misguided attempts to rewrite one of the darkest spots of Nigerian history is going to boomerang on them. Those of us who have vowed to keep the genocide of the Ogoni people and the pacification of the Niger Delta evergreen in world consciousness are being fired up. We will now focus on exposing all those who played various roles in those gory episodes and making sure they pay for these heinous crimes; no matter how long it takes. Since our elders either for acts of commission or omission have faltered my generation have resolved to execute the Niger Delta struggle to a logical conclusion . New strategies may evolve, in dictate with changing circumstances but the central focus of our struggle will not change . And this resolve includes ensuring that all those who have played a role in the pacification agenda of the Nigerian ruling cabal are held accountable.
To Mr. Tochukwu Ezukanma and their ilk who would not understand our outrage against Jeremiah Useni , Ibrahim Gambari and co, they are now informed that these unconscionable monsters are not only expressing their opinions on the hangings but are attempting to justify an illegal and indeed criminal action which they have been party to. There is a difference between expressing an opinion on some public issues that you are not directly involved in and attempting to justify an action in which you were a participant.
Listen, Mr. Ezukanma, we have a righteous justification in our outrage against the foolish remarks of Jeremiah Useni. Ken Saro Wiwa and his eight fellow Ogoni compatriots were unjustifiably murdered not for committing any crime, not to talk of murder, but for daring to bring to world consciousness the open robbery of the Niger Delta oil wealth and the genocide being committed in the region. The ruling military junta and their collaborators who murdered the Ogoni 9 were fully convinced that they committed no offense and that they could not sustain the trump-up charges of murder against them in any court of law. This was why a contraption of a military tribunal was conceived to illegally convict innocent men. If the Abacha military junta and Shell oil company thought they had a case against Ken Saro Wiwa they would not have recruited and bribed witnesses to give false testimonies against him. Of course, some of those procured false witnesses later defected and recanted their testimonies while confessing to being bribed. Legal authorities the world over have concluded that Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were illegally tried, illegally convicted and illegally executed. Talking of rights, aren’t the Ogoni 9 entitled to their right to a fair trial in a matter of life and death? This very crucial right was denied them by a blood-thirsty cabal bent on silencing a most informed critic.
Professor Ben Nwabueze ( SAN) , an indisputable authority in constitutional law and constitutionalism in Nigeria emphatically argued that the conviction and execution of the Ogoni 9 were illegal and had no basis in law. And Michael Birnbuam (QC) of the British Bar and Article 19, who observed the trials noted that the trials breached both Nigerian and international law.
Also, the United Nations, Fact Finding mission to Nigeria in 1996 , in its reports observed inter alia : “ The Special tribunal that tried Ken Saro Wiwa and others had no jurisdiction to do so because the tribunal itself was constituted in violation of section 1 of the Civil Disturbances (Special Tribunal) Act of 1987. The Act says that if the president forms the opinion that a civil disturbance or commotion has been committed , he must constitute a special investigation committee whose report would determine if a special tribunal would be constituted , and who will be arraigned before it. No investigation committee was set up by General Abacha before the Ogonis were arraigned before the tribunal, a clear violation of the Act”. On the strength of this violation of the Act, the UN team concluded that “the trial of Ken Saro Wiwa and the others was null and void.” (Tempo, May 30 1996). Consequently, the UN Fact-finding mission recommended among others, compensations to be paid to the families of the Ogoni 9.
In a paper he presented on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the hanging of the Ogoni 9, in 2000, Professor Nwabueze argued that the decision of the Ibrahim Auta’s military tribunal (conviction) of Ken Saro Wiwa and co had no legal effects whatsoever, as the tribunal was merely used as accessory to ascertain the fact and to make recommendation to the military government, the Provisional Ruling Council, PRC which had the final decision to convict. Professor Nwabueze again maintained that since the military tribunal that tried the Ogoni 9 is outside the hierarchy of the ordinary courts of the land it is not a court and that since it is not a court its decision was not judiciary. He therefore called the “conviction” and execution of the Ogoni 9 EXECUTIVE MURDERS.
Jerry Useni has the blood of Ken Saro Wiwa and co on his hands. And we will demand it from him, no matter how long it takes . General Jeremiah Useni as a member of General Abacha’s Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) voted to convict and execute Ken Saro Wiwa and eight of his fellow Ogoni compatriots .
Michael Birnbuam (QC) in his report after observing the Ogoni trials wrote: “No sensible person could either doubt the seriousness of the Giokoo killings or challenge the right of the Nigerian authorities to investigate and try offences relating to them before an independent an impartial tribunal . But , against the background of an eroded constitution , alleged human rights violations and arbitrary detentions, there were many who feared that the killings were being used as a pretext to secure unjust convictions of political opponents by a hand picked tribunal whose decisions could not be subjected to independent review or appeal” (AfricaToday, September/October 1995).
The UN Fact-finding mission reports on the trial and conviction of the Ogoni 9 cleared the way for the Ogoni people to take legal action against the Nigerian government, Shell and their collaborators, to seek redress for wrongful convictions and executions. However, for some strange reason MOSOP, the organization which Ken Saro Wiwa founded and led has developed cold feet for all these 13 odd years on the issue of seeking legal redress. A legal action is the only way to end the continuous insults from those who have injured us in the past. It is childish to demand mere apologies from those who conspired to murder the Ogoni 9 and who have been responsible for the genocide of the Ogoni people. MOSOP should stop blowing hot air. All we need is action.
Meantime, Jeremiah Useni, Ibrahim Gambari and co should be declared persona non grata in the entire Niger Delta territory.
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