The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says the late Ken Saro Wiwa and his fellow Ogoni Martyrs that were hanged by the military regime in 1995 must be cleared as a condition for resolving the Ogoni crisis and allow oil exploration to resume.
MOSOP also said it has submitted what it called a development plan that would resolve the crisis. The organisation had insisted that Wiwa and the others were not given fair hearing by the military panel that tried them.
Others found guilty of mobbing Ogoni elders include Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levura, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuinen.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, made the call on July 24, 2022, in Ebubu, Eleme Local Government Area, where he met affiliates of MOSOP including women and youths.
Nsuke said it is the responsibility of the Nigerian leadership to address problems and not escalate them, noting that the 1995 hangings still hurt because it was grossly unjust.
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He said the Ogoni people cannot abandon these men whose innocence he said has been well established. Besides, he stated, the people really cannot celebrate any progress in Ogoni for as long as the injustices done to these men were not addressed by the government.
He assured the Ogoni people of MOSOP’s relentless commitment to pursue the exoneration for the nine, noting that it was gross injustice which the Nigerian government cannot sweep under the carpet.
Nsuke however, expressed hopes that the proposal from MOSOP calling for the operation of an Ogoni Development Authority coupled with the exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others can launch Ogoni and Nigeria into a new era of greater prosperity.
He further noted that exonerating the Ogoni nine will only build goodwill for the authorities and bring some sort of healing especially for their families who still feel a deep sense of injustice for the 1995 executions.
He stated: “It was barbaric for the state to have done what they did in 1995; executing nine innocent men who were denied a fair trial and the rights to appeal the death sentences. For MOSOP, it is an issue that cannot be swept under the carpet and we consider it appropriate for the government to address these issues frankly.”
