Democracy Day Awards: Late Ken-Saro Wiwa Granted Full Presidential Pardon, CON Award

Leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ken Saro – Wiwa who was executed alongside eight others collectively known as the Ogoni Nine on November 10, 1995, by the ten military administration of General Sani Abacha, has been posthumously granted a presidential pardon 20 years later by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He was also conferred with the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) while the remaining eight were conferred with the the Officer of The Order of the Niger (OON) awards in addition to a presidential pardon.

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Struggle

Ken Saro-Wiwa, a native of Ogoni in Rivers state, was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist. He was an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government and multinational oil companies, particularly Royal Dutch Shell, who at the time were responsible for oil spills, gas flaring, and polluted water sources in Ogoniland.

As a result, he helped found the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in 1990 and launched a non-violent campaign to demand environmental protection, economic compensation , and greater political autonomy for the Ogoni people.

Ken Saro-Wiwa through MOSOP organized peaceful protests, town hall meetings, and international speaking tours, using his status as a writer and intellectual to bring global attention to the environmental injustices in the Niger Delta.

He and Eight other Ogoni activists were however arrested in In 1994 by General Sani Abacha’s military regime, who saw MOSOP’s growing influence as a threat to oil production and national stability. They were accused of involvement in the murder of four Ogoni chiefs despite a lack of credible evidence, and were tried by a special military tribunal widely condemned as a sham.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine were fatally executed by hanging on November 10, 1995 despite local and international appeals and protests