On The Shoulders of Giants . . . ‘Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Final Address to the Military Tribunal’
This month, as part of our On the Shoulders of Giants series, and on the 30th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his co-accused in the ‘Ogoni Nine’, we republish ‘Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Final Address to the Military-Appointed Tribunal’ which Saro-Wiwa wrote for delivery at his trial. It was originally published in the 1995/96 Winter issue of the Earth Island Journal.
Ken Saro-Wiwa was the founding leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which campaigned against the activities of the Royal Dutch Shell oil company. Beginning in 1958, Shell extracted $30bn worth of oil from Ogoni land by the early 1990s, leaving the environment devastated and its people impoverished.
Arrested in May 1994 and framed for the killing of four pro-dictatorship tribal chiefs, the Ogoni Nine were tried and convicted for murder on the 31st of October 1995, a conviction that drew widespread international condemnation from world leaders and human rights groups alike upon the corrupt military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.
Pleas for intervention on behalf of the Ogoni Nine were made directly to Brian Anderson, then head of Shell Nigeria and close associate of Abacha. However, in return for help Anderson demanded that MOSOP completely renounce their campaign against Shell. This was roundly rejected by MOSOP.
On the 10th November, a widespread call for a reprieve was expected from various world leaders attending the Commonwealth Summit in New Zealand. Ahead of this the Ogoni Nine were taken from their cells in the early morning and hung at Port Harcourt Prison. Before he died, Saro-Wiwa uttered his last words ‘’Lord, take my soul, but the struggle continues” - it took five attempts to hang him.
Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Final Address to the Military Tribunal
Winter 1995/96
Earth Island Journal
‘My lord, We all stand before history. I am a man of peace, of ideas. Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly endowed land, distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation, angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage, anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and determined to usher to this country as a whole a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated.
I have no doubt at all about the ultimate success of my cause, no matter the trials and tribulations which I and those who believe with me may encounter on our journey. Nor imprisonment nor death can stop our ultimate victory.
I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief.
The Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that the Company has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the Company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.
On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and those who assist them. Any nation which can do to the weak and disadvantaged what the Nigerian nation has done to the Ogoni, loses a claim to independence and to freedom from outside influence.
I am not one of those who shy away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected in a military regime. The military do not act alone. They are supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, academics and businessmen, all of them hiding under the claim that they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of urine.
We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our country and jeopardized the future of our children. As we subscribe to the sub-normal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms, denigrate our hospitals, fill our stomachs with hunger and elect to make ourselves the slaves of those who ascribe to higher standards, pursue the truth, and honor justice, freedom, and hard work.
I predict that the scene here will be played and replayed by generations yet unborn. Some have already cast themselves in the role of villains, some are tragic victims, some still have a chance to redeem themselves. The choice is for each individual.
I predict that the denouement of the riddle of the Niger delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favored will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.
In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41: “All those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor.” Come the day.’