The memory of Kenule Beeson Saro Wiwa, a late Nigerian environmental campaigner, was invoked by the Oilwatch organisation on Friday during COP27 in Egypt, 27 years after his execution, bringing his legacy to life once more.
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria; Earthlife Johannesburg, Johannesburg; CAPPA, Africa; Kabetkache Women Development Center, Nigeria; and the Centre for Environmental Justice, Togo are among the organisations that make up the Oilwatch group.
As a result of his environmental advocacy over the oil development in the Niger Delta’s Ogoni region, Saro Wiwa and eight other people were killed by the then-military administration on November 10, 1995.
Nnimmo Bassey, the director of HOMEF and an environmental activist, says that the late activist’s spirit still lives on, and the fight they led continues to inspire people to fight against environmental crimes committed by extractive firms in Nigeria and around the world.
“Today, we remember Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight Ogoni leaders who were wrongfully executed by the Nigerian state on Nov. 10, 1995.
“We also call to mind the several earth and human rights defenders who have been martyred across the world by, or for, fossil fuel and mining corporations.
“Blood has flown, our lands have been polluted, and the world is heating. We demand justice for our heroes.
“A halt to dependence on fossil fuels — the real climate action— and a restoration of all polluted lands and reparation for ecocide,” he said.
Makoma Lakelakala of Earthlife on her part said “as the world discusses the deteriorating climate concerns at the ongoing COP27, the need to shift away from dirty energy has never been more urgent.
“In honour of climate protectors whose lives were brutally cut short, the UNFCCC needs to have a clause in the negotiated climate convention that ensures protection of those upholding the rights of nature, planet and people.”
The event, according to Celestine Akpobari, Team Leader at the Peoples Advancement Center in Nigeria, was intended to serve as a reminder to the outside world that the situation in Ogoni is significantly worse now than it was during the reign of Ken Saro-Wiwa.
“It has been said during this climate change conference that the world is on a speed lane to climate hell, but I want to say that Ogoni people have been there all these years,” said Akpobari.
He said the Ogoniland group opposed the new race for African oil and gas and that the planned resumption of oil activities there should be stopped because it may incite strife.
“As we remember Ken Saro-Wiwa and other martyrs today, we pledge to keep on with their words,” said Emem Okon, director of the Kabetkache Women Development and Resource Center in Nigeria.
She emphasised the necessity of cleaning up all contaminated places and holding polluters accountable for their ecological crimes in local communities all around the world.
