Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born 10 October 1941) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, environmental activist.

He was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping.

On the 10th of November 1995, Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine were hanged at the Port Harcourt prison.

Blindfolded and dangling from a rope, Nigerian playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa spoke eight final words before his body went limp: ``Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues.″

Because of faulty equipment, it took five attempts to hang the anti-government activist in Port Harcourt on Friday morning.

At one point, according to the daily newspaper AM News, Saro-Wiwa asked his executioners: ``Why are you people treating me like this? Which type of country is this?″

The 54-year-old playwright was one of nine Ogoni ethnic minority activists hanged Friday in the southern oil port; several papers reported Sunday that Saro-Wiwa was hanged first.

A secret tribunal convicted Saro-Wiwa on Oct. 31 of ordering the murders of four political rivals who were shot at a 1994 political rally. A military ruling council upheld the sentences Wednesday.

The government apparently wanted the hangings to take place immediately, but had to wait 48 hours for Port Harcourt to build a makeshift gallows. The city had not had a hanging in 35 years, since Nigeria’s independence from Britain.

Saro-Wiwa insisted he was framed because of his opposition to military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha and the oil industry, which accounts for about 80 percent of Nigeria’s foreign income.

He campaigned on behalf of the 500,000 Ogoni people who live in the oil-rich southern states and who say their land and water are being destroyed by oil industry pollution.

Saro-Wiwa’s son said he would endorse an international boycott of Nigerian oil, saying that it was not enough to emphasize human rights protests or reduce business cooperation.

``Nigerian oil is what sustains the Nigerian military dictators, enabling them to survive,″ Ken Wiwa said Sunday in London.

The executions provoked an international outcry. At least eight countries, including the United States, recalled their ambassadors from Nigeria. Pope John Paul II said Sunday he was praying that God would inspire Nigeria’s leaders to guide their nation with ``acts in favor of respectful dialogue and justice.″

The Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies suspended Nigeria’s membership and said Sunday that Nigeria would face expulsion if it did not end its military dictatorship and restore democracy within two years.

Nigerian government legal adviser Hawalu Yadudu called the Commonwealth suspension unfair meddling in the internal affairs of the West African nation. ``Suspending Nigeria is not appropriate,″ he told the official News Agency of Nigeria.

Saro-Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, was arrested last year in connection with the murders of four Ogoni candidates who challenged him in a May 1994 election of delegates to a constitutional conference.

According to Yadudu, Saro-Wiwa and the eight others executed had identified 14 Ogoni leaders to be killed, including the four men who were murdered. ``Surely the rest of the world should be able to know a gruesome murder,″ he said.

Yadudu also defended the court proceedings, saying they were not conducted by a military tribunal but by two judges and one military officer. He said the defendants had private attorneys.

Several newspapers reported Sunday that as soon as the court upheld the death sentences on Wednesday, the government moved swiftly to set the executions in motion.

Within hours, nine coffins were moved to the Port Harcourt prison. The executioners were flown to Port Harcourt on Thursday from the northern city of Sokoto. They checked into a hotel and awaited their task.

At 3 a.m. Friday, soldiers went to the home of the prison director and ordered him to get to work. Two hours later, Saro-Wiwa and the eight others were roused from their cells at the army camp where they had been held since their convictions.

The soldiers told them they were being taken to the Port Harcourt prison, claiming there was reason to suspect the army camp might be attacked by Ogoni youths. Once at the prison, the nine men were herded into one room and shackled at wrist and ankle.

They were then led out in a line. Saro-Wiwa was first.

After the executions, armed guards took the bodies to the public cemetery around 3:15 p.m.

Thousands of troops and anti-riot police have been sent to the Niger Delta region in the southeast. The Port Harcourt cemetery has been surrounded by soldiers and tanks; relatives have not been allowed to visit the graves.

Members of the Ogoni community are demanding that the bodies of the men be returned to their families for proper burial.

``He was not guilty of the offense for which they killed him,″ Saro-Wiwa’s lead defense attorney Gani Fawehinmi tearfully told a rally of 3,000 supporters in Lagos on Saturday.

However, two Nigerian men claiming to be the sons of two of the murdered Ogonis told reporters Sunday that Saro-Wiwa was guilty.

Kenneth Kobani, a London-based lawyer, and Desmond Orage, an insurance agent from Los Angeles, said they travelled to the Commonwealth meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, to set the record straight. They insisted they did not represent the Nigerian Government, which they agreed needed democratic reform.

``I do accept that Nigeria has some flaws,″ Kobani said. ``However, even an unpopular government can sometimes be right. I believe the verdict of guilt is a justified one.″

SOURCE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5_RqE-EM7I
Mr. Nkang Essien
Former Controller of Prison- Port Harcourt (1995-1996) at the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission of Nigeria (otherwise known as the "Oputa Panel"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnWO40yaFhc
Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, then UN envoy, defends the execution of the Ogoni 9, despite condemnation from the UN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Gwf8UcgS0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO7HnSgCSNA



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQST8dBJUqg (undated)

TRIBUTES

On this day in 1995,Ken Saror Wiwa & his Ogoni kinsmen were executed by the Abacha junta.I was in Port Harcourt prison on transit to Aba Prisons,as a political prisoner serving a 15 year sentence when i witnessed the execution.The gallows malfunctioned when it came to Wiwa’s turn

After Saror Wiwa and his kinsmen were hanged,prisoners were called to remove the bodies from the gallows and were escorted out for burial.The prisoners who returned,narrated that they were instructed to pour acid on the corpses of which they did. Some of them are still alive.

Shehu Sani

Another year, another plea for Nigeria’s govt to exonerate my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the rest of the #Ogoni9 who were executed on false treason charges 26 years ago today for seeking human rights and environmental justice. Help #Nigeria heal and move forward � #kensarowiwa

Noo Saro-Wiwa (Daughter)

The struggle really continues

Buhari is not that different from Abacha. The only thing that is stopping him from executing Kanu, Sowore and Igboho and other activists without trial is the fact that we are currently in a democracy.

Nigeria dun suck too many innocent blood, same human rights abuse with a different way. Abacha and Buhari birds of the same feathers, just that Abacha had good economic team than this lifeless one.
The lifeless one has looted than Abacha, how much did Abacha borrowed and how much has the lifeless one borrowed so far without any tangible project to show for it.
RIP Ken, just that u died for your people and non of your people has the guts to take over the mantle of leadership and fighting spirit u had, u would always be missed

Where is Gen Sani Abacha today? God will not sleep

There were rumours of him being a close ally to Abacha, some even say upon hearing his judgement, the deceased asked if Abacha was aware of his sentence, only to be shown Abacha's signature on his death warrant. These were just really rumours tho

Africa never favored freedom fighters and blacks as a people are not progressives but competitive and for foolish reasons.

As long as we have a lot of Blaise Compores amongst us, the Thomas Sankaras of Africa will keep dying...

A hero ... not the fools we have today

26years after, history keep remembering him!

Las las nothing happen

Rip

its not today that this scam called Nigeria started killing people

He was a traitor and he died like one. The people he connived with to fight his Igbo brothers killed him. I don't pity him, he deserved what he got

I remember the day like yesterday..

I didnt believe the man and 8 others would be executed by Sani Abacha regime but he did .

Anyway, the judge, the executed and the executor are both dead and at the mercy of their creator.

Rest on sir Kenuule Saro-Wiwa

May the soul of the Late Ken Saro Wiwa and other Ogoni activist continue to rest in peace.

Amen.

Ken is happy wherever he is today with the abandoned properties he acquired.


Don't mourn for him rather mourn for yourselves.

Sad

OPPRESSION! They killed Dele Giwa, then Saro-Wiwa but P.u.ssy kill Abacha, OPPRESSION!

Head of that kangaroo tribunal is Col. Ali current CG of Customs.

Gambari who defended the atrocity is also a member of this govt.

When you look at all the atrocities that have been committed in this country and see that no one was ever or will ever be held accountable, you can't help but realise that Nigeria is an evil contraption that has killed many innocent citizens just for a certain group of fulani/northern hegemony to continue to have access to oil and power.

End Nigeria now!

There is more to the story than what initially meets eye!

I am reading some rumours here about Ken.... That is normal.

One thing I have learnt in my journey through life is to pick my fights. Don't fight a fight that you're not sure the people behind you will always be by your side no matter what. Also,
if you're fighting for a course, be sure that those behind you will continue the fight even when you are gone.

I look at the present Ogoni leaders, they are all after thier pockets, and they do not care what happens to the people. This wasn't the reason Ken fought for his people.


DON'T LOSE YOUR LIFE FOR UNLOYAL PEOPLE.

I remembered the day Saro Wiwa was executed. I wept like a baby.