n November 10, 1995, the Nigerian state, headed by the late wild beast, General Sani Abacha, executed the OGONI NINE-Ken Saro Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, Paul Levura, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Felix Nuate ,Baribor Bera and Daniel Gbokoo . But twenty-nine years on, the OGONI-NINE, and indeed the Ogoni nation, is still being denied justice. What is more, in the year 2024, Nigeria is witnessing an eerie reminder of the Ogoni experience, Nigerian citizens. including under age children, being tried for treason, for daring to protest the broad day robbery and despoilation that is going on in the country.

The Ogoni, led by their charismatic leader Ken Saro Wiwa ,were protesting the denigrating treatment meted out to them by the Nigerian state and its slick allies-the transnational oil corporations operating in the area .

In their protest, the Ogoni presented a slate of demands on the Nigerian government and the transnational oil corporations. operating in Ogoni land.

In a nutshell, the main thrust of the Ogoni demands, as enunciated in the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) are:

1) The right to self-determination as a distinct people in the Nigerian Federation

2)Adequate representation as of right, in all Nigerian national institutions.

3) The right to use a fair proportion of the economic resources of our land for our development (Resource Control)

4) The right to control our environment.

However, after a protracted military campaign from 1993, culminating in the November 10,1995, executions of the Ogoni Nine, the Ogoni demands on the Nigerian State and its collaborators and agent provocateurs - the transnational oil corporations , now include but not limited to the following as an addendum to the Ogoni Bill of Rights, aforementioned:

i)The full implementation of the recommendations of the UN's Fact-finding mission of 1996.

ii) Restitution for the 63 years of the theft of the Ogoni oil wealth and the genocide committed in Ogoni land.

iii) The full implementation of the United Nations' Environmental Program (UNEP) report recommendations- a thorough and up to date scientific standard clean-up and remediation of the Ogoni environment; to be undertaken by a reputable expatriate company or consortium of companies with proven expertise and knowledge of how to handle such a project. However, we are fully aware of the well-documented monumental fraud that is being perpetrated in Ogoni today by the Nigeria government and its agents in the name of "clean-up". This fraud has been vigorously protested and rejected by MOSOP. In fact, in 2021, a report authored by advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, on their assessment of the Ogoni clean-up, noted that progress has been poor and the little work that has been done is SUB-STANDARD ( emphasis, mine). That same report quoted UNEP as saying that HYPREP (the agency that the Nigeria government has tasked to undertake the project) is not designed, nor structured to implement a project as complex and sizable as the Ogoni clean-up. What the so-called HYPERP is doing in Ogoni today in the name of clean-up is the same thing Shell was doing in the pre-MOSOP days; a cover-up. They would dig open pits and empty scooped- up oil spill into it ,and then cover up the oil deposit with sand. This is criminal in the extreme, as the buried crude goes further to pollute the soil and underground water supply. So, in essence, what HYPREP is doing in Ogoni is recycling the pollution of our environment.

Now, rather than attending to the demands of the Ogoni people, the Nigeria ruling cabal and Shell elected to bloody their nose, just to send a message to similarly deprived communities in the Niger delta.

There is this misconception often held by Western democracies, to assume that repression in oil producing Niger delta region would seize with the exit of the military from power. However, the ruling cabal in Nigeria transcends the military. There is the civilian wing. It doesn't matter if they come in military camouflage or Agbada, they are just two sides of the same coin.

The New York Times, editorial of June 13, 2002, confirms this: "Nigeria's dictatorship was replaced by an elected government three years ago, when Olusegun Obasanjo became president. But so far, civilian rule has not changed the government's habitual use of harsh repression nor dented the delta's overwhelming poverty. Although delta oil brings in more than 80 percent of Nigeria's hard currency, the delta's seven million residents are among the poorest in the nation".

Today, Ogoni, and all of the Niger delta residents live in pristine living conditions, in spite of the colossal oil revenue that the region generates for the Nigerian state.

Reuters, recently reported that over 30 million Nigerians face starvation. And this is going on at a time when public officials are engaging in a looting spree, with impunity. This is a shame. Nigeria is not a poor country. The problem we have in Nigeria is public theft ( treasury looting).

The treasury looting in Nigeria is spearheaded by the state governors, who treat their state treasuries as their family possessions, which they can do whatever they want with it. And rather than holding them accountable they are being recycled back into the system as Senators and ministers, where they continue the looting.

But even as we protest federal neglect those of us in the Niger delta, must not shy away from holding governors of oil producing states accountable. Like I noted earlier, they are the biggest thieves in Nigeria today. They pretty much embezzle the massive monthly allocations they get from Abuja. They even return a bulk of the money to Abuja, to bribe whoever is the Aso Rock resident, in order to consolidate their political power and avoid the EFCC. Rivers state governors are very adept at this bribery game. Instead of using the massive allocations they get from the federation account to alleviate the suffering of the people of the oil producing communities' they resort to massive looting and bribery to avoid scrutiny.

The EFCC only goes after governors of opposition parties- now the PDP. However, to avoid the EFCC, if you are in the opposition party, you would have to betray your party, turn in your state’s election results to Bola Tinubu, with a truck load of cash. But when prosecution is selective, it becomes persecution.

In a strange way, the Niger delta case was argued for us by a once powerful Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Power, Mr.Philip Asiodu , when he remarked : “Like in many other areas of the world , the regions where oil is found in this country are inhospitable. They are mainly in the swamps and creeks. They require massive injection of money if their conditions and standard of living are to compare with what attains elsewhere in the country where possibilities in Agriculture and diversified industry are much greater.There is a nudging acceptance of the special needs of oil areas in the latest proposals being discussed by the government but I believe there is a long way to go to meet the claims of the oil producing areas which see themselves losing non replaceable resources while replaceable and permanent resources of agriculture and industry are being developed elsewhere largely with oil revenue..However, Philip Asiodu ended his assessment on a low note. As he remarked," Given however,the small size and population of the oil producing areas, it is not cynical to observe that even if the resentments of the oil producing states continue, they cannot threaten the stability of the country". ( ON A DARKLING PLAIN- Ken Saro Wiwa).

Now, Omoyele Sowore, a very courageous activist and great friend of the Ogoni , who has been having a running battle with the Nigeria government is reporting being harassed by security agents. He said he has been prevented from traveling out of the country. And that he has been placed on a watch list. Sounds familiar? The full-scale military offensive in Ogoni was preceded by a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the MOSOP leader, Ken Saro Wiwa. He was surveilled, his movements monitored. Ken himself narrated his ordeal this way :“On January 4 (1993 the maiden Ogoni Day protest) the alarm bells rang in the ears of Shell. I was to know no peace from then on. I became a regular guest of the security agencies. I was stopped and arrested at airports, seized from my office and questioned repeatedly”. We know the end result of Ken Saro Wiwa’s harassment by the security agencies. He was eventually murdered! The international community should keep an eye on Omoyele Sowore, the Gani of our time, before he receives the ultimate Saro Wiwa treatment

I was about to submit that President Bola Tinubu is veering into the Abacha

lane before someone said he is worse than Abacha. Really? Activist lawyer Deji Adeyanju who made this claim also claimed that President Bola Tinubu was behind the arraignment of minors who were swept up during the crack down on the #EndBadgovernance in Nigeria protests

Mr.Adeyanju submitted that the minors were arraigned by the Tinubu administration to serve as a deterrent to prevent further protests in Nigeria. Very little if anything, has changed in Nigeria, since the days of the military junta. The ruling cabal has its military and civilian wings.

However, Philip Asiodu was both right and wrong.:whereas the agitations of the people ( minorities of the oil producing Niger delta) had not threatened the stability of the country, the ruling cabal had felt threatened enough that they decided to kill the messengers even as the message lives on. Yet, this interesting development: everyone, almost everyone in Nigeria today , both the small and big tribes are agitating against the federal might. And this is what they killed Ken Saro Wiwa for ? Welcome to the all-comers agitators of Nigeria!

The UN fact-finding mission made recommendations to the Nigeria government and Shell which include among others payment of compensation to the families of the Ogoni Nine, the Ogoni Four and other Ogonis who were killed in the wake of the military occupation of Ogoni land in the 1990s. But the Nigerian state has largely ignored these recommendations.

The Ogoni people must not give up in our quest for justice, no matter how long it takes.There is no statute of limitation in regards to seeking justice for past wrongs.The Nazis who took part in the holocaust in the 1930s and 1940s are still being hunted for and brought to justice. It is, however, disheartening to note that the Ogoni struggle is now in the doldrum . There is absolutely no reason to slow down when our demands have not been met. We must recommit to the struggle and be doggedly persistent in our resolve to get justice. And we must find a way to exert a price on the Nigerian state for its intransigence.

However, so long as the Nigeria ruling cabal continues to ignore us, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; "The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges".