11th November, 2021
Okafor Ofiebor/ Port Harcourt
Ogoni Youth Federation, OYF, an umbrella body of Ogoni youth groups, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare November 10th a public holiday in Nigeria in honour of murdered Ogoni 9 led by writer and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa Wiwa.
The group, in a statement signed by Engr. Yamaabana Legborsi, its President noted that Ken Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots otherwise known as ‘Ogoni 9’, were executed by the Sani Abacha led Nigerian Military Government on 10th November, 1995, despite local and international outcries that they were unjustly tried in a military tribunal.
OYF therefore asked President Buhari to exonerate the names of the Ogoni 9 from the trumped-up allegations of the Justice Ibrahim Auta led kangroo tribunal and bestow posthumous national honours on them.
But the group said it does not subscribe to the type of pardon that was done in the case of the late Moshood Abiola.
“Pardon is granted to criminals and Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other Ogoni martyrs were not found guilty of any crime as required under our corpus juris and do not deserve a pardon. They were without fair trial extra-judicially killed by a kangaroo military tribunal. Their execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria’s suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations”.
OYF stated that after their execution, the United Nations, set up a Fact-finding Committee, the committee which arrived Nigeria on April 1996, passed a verdict that the trial and execution of the Ogoni 9 was unjust, unfair, partial in every shred of human consideration and it did not meet the requirements of both domestic and international Human laws.
The youth group further said the quest for national healing and reconciliation can not complete until the Nigerian Government adhere to their demands on the Ogoni 9.
Ogoni Youths posited that the hanging of the Ogoni 9 remains a permanent stain on Nigeria’s claim to civilization.
“As we remember Ken Saro-Wiwa, our beloved and dogged leader whom the Nigerian government and Shell killed with the hope that his death will pave way for them to take Ogoni oil.
“We remember the other eight and the first four – all of whose blood has been a sacrifice for our freedom. OYF will not fail to actualize the collective dream for a free and better Ogoni. Though Ken Saro-Wiwa is no more, he will not rest in peace until human dignity returns to the men, women and children of Ogoniland”.
The youth group invited all youths, community based youths bodies with their executives and members from Babbe Kingdom, Ken-Khana Kingdom, Nyo-Khana Kingdom, Gokana Kingdom, Tai Kingdom, Eleme Kingdom, Bori Urban Territory and the Ban-Ogoi Special Area to its upcoming Extraordinary Ogoni Youth Summit.