Witness statements accuse Nigerian military commander of ordering killings and taking bribes

“Saro-Wiwa was framed, secret evidence shows”, Andy Rowell and Eveline Lubbers, The Independent UK, Sunday, 5 December 2010

Compelling new evidence suggests the Nigerian military killed four Ogoni elders whose murders led to the execution of the playwright and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.

image credit: Ken Saro-Wiwa from remember saro-wiwa, http://remembersarowiwa.com

The evidence also reveals that the notorious military commander Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Okuntimo, whose troops were implicated in murder and rape, was in the pay of Shell at the time of the killings and was driven around in a Shell vehicle.

Since the time of Saro-Wiwa’s death, Shell has insisted that it had no financial relationship with the Nigerian military, although it has admitted paying it “field allowances” on two occasions. It has consistently denied any widespread collusion and payments. However, The Independent on Sunday has gained exclusive access to witness accounts that were to be used in evidence in the case of Wiwa vs Shell, brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa’s family. The case was settled last May for $15.5m, just days before it was due to start in New York. The settlement meant the testimonies were never made public.

Read the rest of this entry »

Police violence injures and infringes on the free speech rights of Ogoni people at a candlelight vigil in remembrance of social and environmental activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists.

The Ogoni Nine

Police Open Fire at Ogoni Vigil in Port Harcourt

By Ben Amunwa, Remember Saro-Wiwa,  November 9, 2010

It’s the kind of text message you never want to receive. Sent from an activist in the Niger Delta on November 9th at 22.00, it reads:

Teams of heavily armed policemen stormed Saro-Wiwa’s No. 24 Aggrey Road, Port Harcourt, venue of the Saro-Wiwa candle light procession, shooting sporadically causing fear and panic.

[UPDATE 11/11/10: we have received further reports that police had beaten demonstrators with gun butts, kicks and horsewhips, leaving 12 people injured in the attack]. The crackdown shows utter contempt for the lives of Ogoni demonstrators, and infringes on their rights to freedom of assembly. Despite decades of non-violent protest, the Nigerian police continue to respond to demonstrators with brutal and excessive force. Similar repression occurred on 12th October last year when 13 people were shot and at least one person killed by police and army soldiers at Bundu Ama waterfront community in Port Harcourt, where residents were trying to protect their homes from government demolitions. On 5th April 2009, a number of well-known Delta activists were beaten and illegally detained by police. They were released following international pressure and interventions by civil society groups. On 26th May 2009, a rally in Ogoniland, timed to coincide with the landmark human rights lawsuit Wiwa v Shell in New York, was disrupted by police who arrested and detained five bus-loads of demonstrators. Women protestors were also beaten with rifle-butts and iron bars in January 2009, outside the gates of a Shell contractor.

Every year, Ogoni people assemble at 24 Aggrey Road in remembrance of Saro-Wiwa and his eight colleagues. In the 1990s, the building used to be known as the “Ogoni Embassy”. There is every indication that the protests will continue, because they have done so in defiance of police repression, military occupation and environmental devastation for well over 20 years. Perhaps one day, the government will stop using violence long enough to listen to the Ogoni’s message of human dignity and justice for all.

An afterthought contained in the text message reads:

“You can kill the Messenger, but you can’t kill the message” That was Ken Saro-Wiwa’s memorable words before he and other of his 8 comrades were hanged’

Remembering Ken Saro Wiwa on the 15th Anniversary of his Murder

Ken Saro Wiwa

Fifteen years ago Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists who led protests against Shell Oil company were hanged by the Nigerian government after a sham trial on trumped up charges.

Today as we remember Ken Saro Wiwa and his colleagues, we continue to fight for an end to human rights violations and environmental destruction by Big Oil in Nigeria.

The Ogoni Nine

Also today we share with you new revelations about Shell’s PR strategy after the deaths of the Ogoni activists.

“The documents offer a previously hidden insight into efforts by the company to deflect the PR storm that engulfed it after the Nigerian activist was hanged by the country’s military government. Shell faced accusations that it had colluded with the government over the activists’ deaths.” –Eveline Lubbers and Andy Rowell, The Guardian

The Guardian piece makes note that a Shell spokesperson said that the company’s environmental record had “improved greatly” in recent years, outlining the difference between the number of oil spills in 2009 (132) versus the average number between 2005 and 2009 (175 per year.)

For readers who want more background, there is a new series of podcasts marking the 15th anniversary of the execution of Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa produced by PLATFORM’s remember saro-wiwa project. JINN’s friend and partner on the ground Emem Okon, the Director of the Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, who joined us in the Bay Area and in Houston last May is featured in Episode 1: “Fifteen Years of Not Getting Justice.”

The Critical Now

By Oronto Douglas

November 20, 2009

Reposted from NEXT

Militancy and amnesty aside, the challenge of resolving the puzzle that has denied the many communities and clans of the resource rich Niger Delta has reached emergency levels. Although the crisis was easily predictable, successive governments had treated the anger and protests as mere irritations that can be brushed aside with warning shots, arrests or in extreme cases, devastating attacks on communities.

For scholars and survivors, there is something new that should worry all lovers of peace and livelihood – the completed project of the regionalization of anger and the now emerging nationalization of grievances anchored on stubborn defiance.

In the early days of the struggles by our people against the corporations and governments, the focus of mobilisation remained in islands of clans with small numbers of dedicated individuals and rarely was cross clan collaboration involved. In the renewed agitations of the 1990s, the idea of clan collaboration began to take firm root with the emergence of the Chikoko Movement and several groups worked like this. Read the rest of this entry »

Sweet Crude Playing at United Nations Film Festival – SF screening, Free Admission

Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 2:50pm

San Francisco, Variety Screening Room
582 Market Street, San Francisco -Map

Sweet Crude, is playing for FREE on Sunday October 18th in San Francisco as part of the United Nations Film Festival. The award winning documentary captures the complex reality of how the oil industry and the Nigerian government have left the Delta in such desperation that some have turned to militancy while others struggle to survive. The film will be followed by a panel discussion with the Director and experts and activists focused on the issues in the Niger Delta.

Niger Delta Standoff

by Kia Mistilis

Reprinted from Foreign Policy in Focus: Editor: John Feffer and Jen Doak

Behind fighter-planes and gunboats, Nigerian forces launched a full-scale offensive in the Niger Delta on May 13, displacing 30,000 people and sparking a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of civilians fleeing destroyed villages are now trapped between armed resistance groups and the Nigerian military. These civilians are hiding in the bush without food, water, or medical supplies, let alone Internet access to alert the world of their plight, as Iranians are doing via Twitter.

Suanu Bere speaking at a Shell rally in San Francisco. Credit: Jan Stürmann

Against the backdrop of a world energy crisis, the media are reporting the region’s growing instability, mostly in terms of its effect on global oil supply and prices. For the 12 million people living in the Niger Delta, however, the struggle is about their survival.

Read the rest of this entry »