Remembering the Ogoni Nine
Today is the 25th year anniversary of the hanging of nine climate activists from the Ogoni people by the Nigerian government after they spoke out against environmental destruction instigated by Shell.
The Ogoni, an ethnic group in Nigeria, had relied upon the Niger Delta River for centuries for fishing and farming. However, in 1956, a few years before attaining independence from British colonialism, oil was discovered and extracted primarily by Shell Oil. Soon, this fertile region suffered from oil spills and pollution resulting from what is known as gas flares.
When the oil is extracted, natural gas is also produced, which was capable of providing electricity for the entire nation at the time. However, the infrastructure to capture and use the gas was deemed too expensive by the multinational, who instead opted to save money by setting it on fire or flaring it. Money was quite literally being burned in this case.
The corrupt Nigerian government during this period also squandered profits from oil extraction which should have been used to economically develop the nation. What was once a lifestyle capable of sustaining a people for centuries was now under threat from the struggles of cultivating land and fishing increasingly empty rivers.
Although there was pushback from the Ogoni since the 1970s, a new chapter commenced twenty years later. In the early 1990s, the inception of the Movement of Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was a rebuttal from the locals towards the corrupt regime and the environmental damage by Shell. The group, led by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa, campaigned for a fair share of the oil wealth and against the environmental injustice. While Shell was not the only player, the corporation extracted £4 billion from Ogoniland by 1993 and so received particular attention.
On 4th January 1993, an estimated 300,000 Ogoni marched in a historic non-violent protest against Shell’s war on ecology and forced them to pull out of their territory. Over half of the ethnic group marched on this day in what is still seen as one of the most effective examples of environmental activism globally against Big Oil. The relatively unknown group in Nigeria outside of the Delta region, historically mocked by its neighbours as passive, grew a new reputation. The land has since started healing in the decades since it was reclaimed by the locals.
Unfortunately, the damage did not stop with the environment. Nigeria’s oil-reliant economy means that the government saw this as a huge threat to their revenue. The party’s power came from the system where oil contracts are given to friends and supporters whilst the rest are left to fend for themselves in a significantly smaller slice of the economy. The extremities are illustrated by some locals who say that “losing an election is equivalent to facing economic depression”.
Due to the threats MOSOP posed to the status quo, a heavy-handed response by General Sani Abacha’s military regime saw dozens of Ogoni villages razed and thousands of locals tortured and murdered throughout the campaign. After framing MOSOP’s nine leaders for the murder of four Ogoni activists, Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues were held captive for a year before being sentenced to death in a show trial. Although on that day none of the Ogoni Nine had been allowed to enter Ogoniland. Additionally, just a year ago, Shell’s key witness admitted that the corporation provided bribery and witness coaching. The bodies were unceremoniously dumped in a grave. Allegations were brought forth into a court of law which saw Ken Saro-Wiwa’s son argue that Shell colluded with the government by providing military equipment and helping plan terror campaigns on the locals. This case was settled out of court after a thirteen year legal battle.
Several years later, the community retrieved the remains of the Ogoni Nine when a newly-elected government located the grave and the bones were identified using forensic tests. However, the sad legacy among many Nigerian leaders from this was a decrease in rebellion since fighting back meant risking their lives.
Although the nine leaders never received their justice, this small village on the Niger Delta is considered the root of the ongoing battle against extractionism in other parts of the world such as the Keystone XL project in North America and inspiring Acción Ecológica in Ecuador. This is the legacy of MOSOP. However, although Shell agreed on a settlement with Saro-Wiwa’s family and ceased operations in the area, they continue to build infrastructure in other parts of the world to extract oil.
My hope is that locals in different parts of the world continue to be empowered by the Ogoni to prevent further environmental destruction as we continue to sleep walk into the climate crisis. And I hope that individuals do not blame themselves for the ongoing environmental destruction if they forget to recycle, and realise where the real damage is coming from.
If interested in reading further, Saro-Wiwa wrote a book titled Genocide in Nigeria: The Ogoni Tragedy as part of evidence when he was working with the UN.
