Seventeen years after their
execution, details have emerged
on how former Head of State,
Gen. Sani Abacha, now deceased,
got members of his defunct
Provisional Ruling Council (PRC)
to approve the death sentence
passed on environmental rights
activist and author, Mr. Ken Saro-
Wiwa, and eight others.
Saro-Wiwa and others, who were
accused of killing four Ogoni
chiefs opposed to the campaign
by the Movement for the Survival
of Ogoni People (MOSOP), which
was headed by the late author,
were convicted after a
controversial trial that attracted
global condemnations.
MOSOP was at the vanguard of
the agitation against the
environmental degradation of
Ogoniland arising from oil
exploration.
But a memo from the meeting of
the PRC, obtained by an online
news medium, Premium Times,
showed how council members
approved Abacha’s request for
the death sentence to be carried
out on the Ogoni Nine so that the
military junta would not be
portrayed as weak.
Members of the PRC at the time
were Abacha; Maj. General Patrick
Aziza (Minister of
Communications under Abacha);
Major Gen. Tajudeen Olarenwaju
(General Officer Commanding);
General Abdulsalami Abubakar
(Chief of Defence Staff); Lt.
General Oladipo Diya (Chief of
General Staff); Maj. Gen. Victor
Malu (GOC); Ibrahim Coomasie
(Inspector General of Police);
Mike Akhigbe (Chief of Naval
Staff); Maj. General Ishaya
Bamaiyi (Chief of Army Staff);
Nsikak Eduok (Chief of Air Staff);
Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni (Minister
of the Federal Capital Territory);
and Michael Agbamuche
(Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of
Justice).
During the debate on a
memorandum submitted to the
council by Abacha, many of the
contributors had lamented how
the government had been
regarded as weak for heeding
the pleas by the international
community to pardon some coup
plotters.
They had therefore stressed the
need for the government to
demonstrate its capacity to deal
with knotty security issue that
the Ogoni case had thrown up by
upholding the death penalty
passed on Saro-wiwa and others
to serve as a deterrent to others.
According to the memo, two
days before the execution,
Abacha had told the PRC
members that the activists
deserved no sympathy, and that
hanging them would stem
further discontent and prove to
the world the regime was bold
and courageous.
“He was of the view that no
sympathy should be shown to
the convicts so that the sentence
will be a lesson to everybody. He
stated that the Ogoni issue had
lingered for a very long time and
should be addressed once and
for all,” Abacha was quoted in
the document as saying.
The late head of state accused
Saro-Wiwa of being a foreign
agent used to destabilise Nigeria,
and a “separatist” who had
hidden under the cloak of being
an environmental activist to
pursue his devious agenda.
The execution of the Ogoni Nine,
however, sparked international
outrage with the European
Union and the United States
placing an economic embargo
and other restrictions on the
country.
Shell Petroleum Development
Corporation, which was at the
centre of the unrest in
Ogoniland, was also accused of
complicity in the killings and in
2009, it paid $15.5 million as an
out-of-court settlement to the
families of the deceased persons.
But the company had said the
payment was not a concession of
guilt, but a gesture of peace.
Besides its decision to uphold
the death sentence, the PRC also
proscribed MOSOP and used the
resources of the state to weaken
support for the organisation and
its leaders.
The tribunal that convicted Saro-
Wiwa turned out to be one of the
most controversial in the history
of this country. Headed by Justice
Ibrahim Auta, the current Chief
Judge of the Federal High Court,
the panel delivered a speedy, but
severely criticised verdict on
October 31, 1995, barely nine
months after it was convened.
Their executions on November
10, 1995 without an opportunity
to appeal the judgment, led to
the suspension of Nigeria from
the Commonwealth of Nations.
Others killed were Saturday
Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel
Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate,
Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and
John Kpuine.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/how-abacha-plotted-execution-of-saro-wiwa-others/134961/

where are the killed and the killer naw? All dead!