Alone Organises Lecture in Remembrance of Ogoni 9

As part of activities to mark the 23rd anniversary of the killing of nine Ogoni leaders, Alone’s Community Advocacy Centre in Bori on 10th November 2018 organised a lecture and sensitisation program on oil pollution in Ogoniland.

Guest speaker, Legborsi Saro-neebani spoke about the Ogoni struggle for resource justice which culminated UNEP assessment of polluted sites in Ogoniland. Mr. Saro-neebani traced the history of the Ogoni struggle leading to the formation of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in 1990 and presentation of the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) to the government of Nigeria, as well as the processes leading to the ousting of Shell from Ogoniland in 1993, the killing of the Ogoni four in 1994 and the eventual killing of the Ogoni nine in 1995.

The Nigerian military government of General Sani Abacha in 1995 killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists including Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuine for peacefully and non-violently campaigning and demanding for environmental justice in Ogoni.

Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, Programme Officer of Alone, gave information on developments around the implementation of UNEP Report on Ogoniland since its release on August 4, 2011.

Fyneface speaking at the event

Participants made contributions and asked questions on different issues relating to Ogoni clean-up and general concerns. For instance, Mr. Golden Nwibakpo requested that Alone takes its sensitisation program beyond Bori to other parts of the six kingdoms of Ogoni to sensitise the people about the UNEP Report and the roles expected of them to play in the process.

Also speaking, Miss Waazor from Bane, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s home town said she is tired of answering questions from women concerning when the clean-up of polluted sites in Ogoniland would start and called on Alone to do more by putting pressure on the government and HYPREP for the cleanup to begin immediately. Many other participants asked different questions and received responses from Alone representative, Mr. Fyneface Dumnamene.

The climax of the event was the presentation of a press statement titled “OGONI CLEAN-UP AND FAILURE TO COMMENCE ACTUAL CLEAN-UP IN 2018”, which was covered by media organisations including Quest television, Rhythm 93.7FM, Vanguard Newspaper and LA7 TV, Italy.