International petition to exonerate Ken Saro-Wiwa and The Eight Others

Twenty-seven Right Livelihood Laureates sent a petition to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday demanding the exoneration of 1994 Laureate Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight other Ogoni leaders executed 25 years ago. The Ogoni Nine were hanged on November 10, 1995, by Nigeria’s military regime for protesting Shell’s destructive environmental practices in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The Laureates signing the petition include Nnimmo Bassey, Daniel Ellsberg, Vandana Shiva and Bianca Jagger, among many others.

See the full text of the petition and list of signatories here.

2010 Right Livelihood Laureate Nnimmo Bassey of Nigeria says:

“On November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa was illegally executed by the Nigerian state for daring to demand environmental and minority rights justice for his Ogoni people. The kangaroo military tribunal also took the lives of eight other Ogoni leaders. Twenty-five years after this despicable event, which received widespread condemnation at the time, the Ogoni people are yet to receive justice, which could bring closure to this tragedy. This petition demands that the President of Nigeria does the minimum by taking the first step of exonerating Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other eight Ogoni leaders.”

Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Foundation, says:

“Nothing can erase the tragedy of executing Ken Saro-Wiwa and the fellow Ogoni leaders. However, exonerating the Ogoni Nine is a necessary step the Nigerian government must take to begin taking responsibility for the destruction of lives and the environment in the Niger Delta. The government must also make sure that polluted sites are cleaned up, and people are protected from the perilous impacts of oil extraction.”