Ken Saro-Wiwa

This article is about the Nigerian environmental activist. For his son Ken Tsaro-Wiwa, see Ken Wiwa.

Ken Saro-Wiwa
Born
Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa

(1941-10-10)10 October 1941
Bori, Colonial Nigeria
Died10 November 1995(1995-11-10) (aged 54)
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Occupations
MovementMovement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
Children5, including Ken Wiwa, Zina and Noo
FatherJim Wiwa
RelativesOwens Wiwa (brother)
Awards

Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995)[1] was a Nigerian writer, teacher, television producer, and environmental activist.[2] Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland,[3] in the Niger Delta, has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping.[4]

Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multiple international oil companies, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company.[5] He criticized the Nigerian government for its reluctance to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.[6]

At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal[7] for allegedly masterminding the murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.[8] His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Nigeria: Information on the Ogoni people including where they live, names of towns and villages, languages spoken and a detailed map of Ogoni areas". Refworld. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Ogoni 9 execution anniversary: Who be Ken Saro-Wiwa". BBC News Pidgin (in Nigerian Pidgin). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Ken Saro-Wiwa". FantasticFiction. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Environmentalist Leader – Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941–1995)". Tunza Eco Generation. 16 November 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Ken Saro-Wiwa's battle for justice". aljazeera.com. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Buhari mulls pardon for Saro-Wiwa, others 26 years after execution". Punch Newspapers. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  9. ^ "10 Quick Facts On Ken Saro-Wiwa". The Guardian Nigeria News. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2022.