From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI) has demanded that President Bola Tinubu should quickly set up a legal team to look into the execution of Late Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others to exonerate them from the crime they never committed.
The group has also called on the President to review the clean-up of Ogoniland by ensuring that all the recommendations of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report, are properly implemented.
President of OLI, Douglas Fabeke, made the call on the occasion to commemorate 28 years of execution of nine Ogoni martyrs by the military junta led by late General Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995.
Fabeke, who visited the families of the Ogoni martyrs popularly known as Ogoni Nine, said President Tinubu should as a matter of necessity, establish a legal framework to review their execution because Saro-Wiwa and other victims were demanding for environmental justice.
He said: “We hereby demand that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should quickly set up a legal team to look into the execution of Late Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others to exonerate them from the crime they never committed. They were only crying against the environmental injustice against the Ogoni people.
“Once again, Mr. President, you have the opportunity to write your name in the book of history by correcting the wrongs done to the Ogoni people, the Niger Delta and other ethnic minorities in Nigeria. Your administration should set an agenda to correct the wrong done to the Nigeria people.”
Also, the group expressed dissatisfaction alleging “high level of misappropriation of Ogoni Clean-up Fund” by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
Fabeke stated: “We and the entire Ogoni people express our high level of dissatisfaction with the way and manner the funds meant for the clean-up of the Ogoni environment have been misappropriated by HYPREP.
Meanwhile, the families of the Ogoni Nine, have said that they feel sad that 28 years after the death of their loved ones, the Ogoni people were yet to achieve the three key things their deceased family members fought for.
The families expressed their grievances when the President of OLI, Fabeke, paid them a courtesy call at Giokoo in Gokana Local Government Area (LGA) and hometown of Late Saro-Wiwa in Bane, Khana LGA, where they gathered separately to mark 28 years anniversary of the execution of their loved ones by the military.
They said the three things including environmental degradation, economic strangulation and political marginalization which people of Ogoni are still facing,
make them feel that their loved ones died in vain.
Also, they decried that the families were not mostly remembered and supported by the government or high-spirited individuals.
Those who spoke included Mrs. Charity, widow of Paul Levera, Mr. Samuel, elder brother to late John Kpuine, Prince Harry, younger brother to late Ken Saro-Wiwa and others.
Fabeke presented cash gift to the families of Ogoni eight at Giokoo Community.
The Ogoni Nine were a group of nine activists from the Ogoni ethnic nationality, who opposed the operating practices of Shell oil corporation.
Their members included outspoken author and playwright Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine.
Their trial and execution on November 10,1995, were widely discredited, with critics worldwide speaking out against what was perceived as military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, who was then in power.