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NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2007Ogoni people fight oil company and Nigerian governmentCapetown, South Africa--Until Ken Saro-Wiwa started the struggle to put the protection of minorities into practice in Nigeria, over 90% of Nigerians did not have any knowledge of Ogoniland--despite the fact that it contributes 30,000 barrels of crude oil to the country daily. Shell Petroleum, the foreign multinational that has operated in Ogoniland for 33 years, admits that Ogoniland has produced 680 million barrels of crude oil from over 100 oil wells drilled on the farms of local people. The perennial plight of the Ogoni people is caused by four factors within Nigeria's militarized politics: 1) The perfidious operation of constitutional provisions to oppress the minorities, which have their own ontology different from the way that the British colonial authority grafted and consigned the Ogoni people into the hands of the bigger groups; 2) An aristocratic economic spider web that is connected to the global imperial network; 3) Total disregard for local and indigenous communities by multinational companies; 4) Shell Oil, which possessed the land through the backdoor and now does not want to leave it. OPPRESSION PERSISTS As we remember Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others who were killed on Nov. 10, 1995, we must also not forget that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo played, and is still playing, a very sensitive role in the oppression of the oil producing area. First, he is responsible for the enactment of the notorious Land Use Decree and Petroleum Act. Twenty years on, his cohorts among the military and politicians brought him back as a civilian president. After eight years of misruling the country, the 1978 decrees were neither repealed nor the living condition of the people improved. Second, Obasanjo's two terms have done nothing but concentrate on erasing the footprints of Saro-Wiwa, so that the political, economic and ecological fate of indigenous ethnic communities can remain opaque even within a democracy. Obasanjo facilitated the 1978 decrees that amputated the Niger Delta communities. He then came back to power to wreck havoc upon the Odi community, killing thousands of innocent people. However, he does not face a war crimes tribunal. Moreover, his prompt action of sending military troops into the creeks of the region at the slightest provocation is a visible sign of which side of the divide he falls on. When I read that another set of oil workers has been taken hostage in the Delta, I become anxious because those behind the actions fail to remember that the Nigerian ruler was trained in the military when a career in it meant exerting brutal power. The militants of the Niger Delta do not take cognizance of the fact that for Obasanjo one is considered a good soldier by the number of souls he can exterminate. Those who are taking oil workers hostage may have their reasons, but the timing seems to be late because there would have been victory in the Delta long ago if these actions were taken by the other communities with the aim of stopping all the oil companies in their domain, as the Ogonis have done since 1993. When Ken Saro-Wiwa was going from one village to the other at night talking to his people and teaching them the power of mass mobilization, he was laughed at. He was accused of wanting to be a "bush emperor" because he could not find his place in cosmopolitan affairs. But as I sit behind the computer and behold the face of Reverend Father Mathew Kukah, the "federal government facilitator" of peace in Ogoniland, I smile with fulfillment because the words of Ken Saro-Wiwa are manifesting themselves. Nigeria and Shell are the ones on trial now. Ken has finished his turn of running from one end of the world to the other to explain the plights of the Ogonis. Even though his body is dead, he still rests in peace while Shell, the Nigerian government and their special facilitator are doing the talking and running. It reminds me of an Ogoni proverb that says every great race starts from a mere walk. I see Kukah doing a "great job" by running round the world, but his efforts will end in vain. A CHANGED PEOPLE I am not a prophet of doom, but I bet that Kukah's committee will not succeed. It ignores the fact that the struggle pulled down the regal political and gerontocratic hierarchy in the area. The Ogoni people have moved on from the era when leadership was equal to lordship. They are comfortable with the type of mass and collective decision making style that Saro-Wiwa offered the Ogoni people. The ordinary man in the villages of Ogoniland have broken down elitism, making the "masses' parliament" the supreme authority. Kukah has not done his homework to find out how decisions are taken in Ogoniland since the new era commenced by Ken's revolution. He does not recall that the Ogoni people, because of their level of political education, are able to decipher treacherous roles by some of those working with him. He does not know that the Ogoni have neither forgiven nor trusted these men and women that assisted the government of Abacha that fabricated evidence to crucify Ken and his colleagues. Kukah should ask his Ogoni colleagues to tell him how the Ogoni Bill of Rights was drafted and accepted. Asking the Ogoni people to enter into a peace and reconciliation with Shell or the government without the Ogoni Bill of Rights is like asking an Ogoni man to go to farm without a tool. It is also not logical to the Ogonis that while Shell has never accepted responsibility for the degradation of the Ogoni environment, Kukah's committee goes ahead and facilitates the cleaning up of the environment through the United Nation Environment Program. If the government of Obasanjo wants to clean up the environment because of the operation of the oil firms in the Niger Delta, why doesn't the clean up start from Oloibiri, where Nigeria's first barrels of oil were drilled? The government should come up with a comprehensive program for the whole Niger Delta, starting with an environmental impact audit so that the extent of damage can be ascertained. Until the Ogoni people have found another Ken Saro-Wiwa, they will not forget him, and the Ogoni do not need Kukah to come and organize them. They organized themselves without Kukah who was in Lagos or Kaduna. The Ogonis are searching for a leader that would continue with the revolutionary legacy of Ken before they would take the next step in their struggle. Conclusively, if anybody is under the impression that the Ogonis are confused or they need organization, such a person is insulting the whole land by trying to remind us of when our neighbors believed that a proverbial imbecility runs in our blood. We have moved from that humiliating phase in history and we are looking forward to actualizing the Wiwaism that Ken Saro-Wiwa injected into our blood. Abacha took Ken away at a crucial time in our history, while his successor, Abdulasem Abubakar, sedated those who would have replaced Ken. We shall not allow Obasanjo to take away the Wiwaism in our blood by letting any manipulative moves of Shell to succeed. A Luta Continua to the Great Ogoni People against imperialism. --Barry Wuganaale, organizer, Ogoni Solidarity Forum |
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