We remember Ken Saro-Wiwa

By Barry Wugale

The 10th day of November 1995 remains indelible in the collective psych of the Ogoni ethnic nationality.

On that black Friday, 28 years ago, l was the General Secretary of the Ogoni Community, Kaduna, in the heart of northern Nigeria. I had been working in the background with the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) because Ken Saro-Wiwa had stroked the collective chord of the Ogoni people, mobilising to make the world a better place – just, equitable, fair and to promote egalitarianism – by telling transnational oil companies that it is no longer business as usual.

The late Ken Saro-Wiwa had successfully raised our consciousness to see the organized criminality and evil of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. MOSOP under Ken Saro-Wiwa charged all Ogonis to confront the destruction of the cult behind the extractive regime and to expose their local agents. The enigmatic and charismatic, pipe smoking Saro-Wiwa had inspired younger Ogonis,to summon the courage to dance to silence the guns of soldiers, employed to do the bidding of Shell.

It is with a sense of anguish that l recall the climax of the Ogoni struggle, and with pain that l look back, yet with a sense of fulfilment that the Oceans Not Oil coalition sent a message early this 10th November 2023 to remember Ken Saro-Wiwa, to console me and felicitate with the Ogoni struggle.

As l reminisce on the nucleus of our struggle, l wish to encourage my comrades in South Africa to ensure that evils perpetrated by Shell and other oil multinational companies in the Niger Delta do not repeat on the beautiful coast of South Africa.

I wish l can shout from the tallest roof to my South African comrades that since l arrived Ogoniland l have not eaten some of the endemic species that used to be in our creeks and rivers. Our unique silver fish (piagara as it is called locally) have literally disappeared, it is now too expensive, but even when one wishes to pay the high price, it is difficult to find them.

I am afraid that, my comrades, if you allow the coastline of South Africa to be exploited, l don’t know what other aquatic lives that might be lost. As we remember Ken Saro-Wiwa, let us learn from the Ogonis.

Amandla!