The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has renewed its demand for the absolution of slain environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni rights fighters of any wrongdoing.
Ken Saro-Wiwa and his other eight Ogoni brothers were gruesomely murdered by the military junta in Nigeria, led by General Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995, a case which earned Nigeria suspension from the Commonwealth.
President of MOSOP, Professor Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, made the call at a memorial lecture to commemorate the 19th anniversary otherwise known as Martyrs’ Day in Ogoniland held at Bane Town in Khana local government area of Rivers state.
Wai-Ogosu said the absolution of the Ogoni Nine would help to heal the wounds in the hearts of all Ogoni people.
“I want to use today to call the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was Ken Saro-Wiwa’s colleague from the side of NADECO to as a matter of urgency, initiate the process of exonerating Ken and the eight others.
“We will push that issue beyond the jargon of pardon and exoneration because we believe that the official clearing of the names of our heroes will heal the wounds in the hearts of all of us,” he said.
The MOSOP president also declared that the time for negative agitation for the emancipation of Ogoni people was over, saying that the new leadership under him would use dialogue and engagement to achieve the dreams of the Ogoni forebears.
“This is the time of meaningful engagement. We have passed the time of negative agitation. We have started already to move MOSOP back to the international arena. As I speak to you all, we have started meaningful engagement with the United Nations Unrepresented Peoples’ Organisation (UNPO). In the next few months, we are going to revive the vision that would remove helplessness and hopelessness in our faces,” he assured.
He said MOSOP is now positioned with the mandate of being the mouthpiece of the Ogoni people, saying: “Ogoni has four local government councils and they are with us with the charge to reconcile the people, reposition MOSOP to be the mouthpiece and voice of the people but we can only be the voice if we are going to be forthright, courageous and stand for the truth.”
In his speech, Rear Admiral John Nicholas Bakpo (rtd), recounted the incidence that led to the killing of the Ogoni 9 and called on the people to not to make the mistake or engage in any action that would lead to killing of any set of Ogoni leaders.
“I must tell my own Ogoni people that we must not make the mistakes of the past where we were divided against ourselves to create an opportunity to silence us because that’s what is happening now with this clandestine moves to re-enter Ogoni we see seeing some division among Ogoni people and the only thing we are seeing now is a situation whereby we will also fight ourselves and those who think they are in front now would be silenced. We must learn from history,” he said.
