1. Conservationist, Author, and Ambassador for the Native Ogoni People
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Conservationist, Author, and Ambassador for the Native Ogoni People

2. Basic Information
Born Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa on October th, 1941 in Bori, Nigeria
Ethnically Ogoni, a native tribe located on the Niger Delta whose homeland, Ogoniland, has been targeted for crude oil extraction and has been environmentally damaged from petroleum dumping.
Represented the Ogoni people’s interest in the Nigerian Government before becoming a writer, tackling such topics as the Nigerian Civil War, the use of Child Soldiers, and how big oil companies (Specifically Royal Dutch Shell) were influencing the Nigerian Government
Tried at a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the murder of 4 Ogoni chiefs. Despite lack of concrete evidence, executed on November 10th,

3. Early Life
Born to an Ogoni chieftain, Saro-Wiwa was raised Anglican and attended government funded schools until he pursued higher education at the Government College of Umuahia and eventually became a teacher’s aide at the University of Lagos.
After he left Lagos, he took up a government post as the Civilian Ambassador for the Ogoni People and later as the Regional Commissioner for Education but was later removed because he supported Ogoni autonomy.
Around this time he began publishing works such as Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English which describes the life of a native boy recruited into fighting during the Nigerian Civil War. This later became his most recognized novel.

4. Activism and Conservation pt. 1
Ogoniland on the Niger Delta is a very rich and diverse ecosystem that includes wetlands as well as natural estuaries that allow both freshwater and saltwater to mix. In 1956 (about four years before Nigerian Independence from British Colonialism), Royal Dutch Shell discovered a viable oil-field on the Delta and began extraction. From , over 2,000 oil spills were reported with an estimated 2.1 million barrels being spilled.
Because of the rampant mismanagement of facilities and petroleum waste-dumping, the alluvial soil is no longer fit for agriculture. In areas that seemed to have escaped the oil drilling, the groundwater shows signs of harmful leaching as well as the presence of hydrocarbons and the carcinogen Benzene, 900 levels above what is considered acceptable by WHO guidelines.

5. Activism and Conservation pt. 2
Around 1990, Saro-Wiwa began devoting his time to the efforts of the preservation of his native homeland, becoming one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) which set out to increase the autonomy of the Ogoni people, receive profits from the oil drilling, as well as the remediation of the environmental damage done to Ogoniland.
Because of his influence, he was wrongfully imprisoned for several months without trial by the Nigerian Military Government.
Later became Vice Chair for an indigenous people’s organization called the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) that sought to represent the tribal peoples that received no representation within their respective governments as well as preserving their cultural identity.
Saro-Wiwa also organized a nonviolent march to draw attention to the plight of his people as well as his homeland , which had been forcefully occupied by the Nigerian Military.

6. Wrongful Arrest and Paid Witnesses
Saro-Wiwa was again arrested without trial in June 1993, then released after a month. A year later, four Ogoni chiefs belonging to MOSOP ( at the time there was a schism over what strategy MOSOP should take, the 4 chiefs were conservative on strategy) were brutally murdered. Even though Saro-Wiwa had been outside of Ogoniland and had been denied entry, Saro-Wiwa and 8 others on the other side of the schism were arrested and indicted for the murders, later called the Ogoni Nine.
The trial was most likely rigged by the current Abacha Dictatorship that held special interest in allowing Dutch Royal Shell in continuing its oil drilling in Ogoniland. Most of the defendant’s lawyers left as a protest, but despite this drastic measure, witnesses ( many who later confessed to perjury and had been offered monetary compensation by the Nigerian Government or jobs at Royal Dutch Shell to lie about Saro-Wiwa’s involvement) were produced to testify against the Ogoni Nine.
On November 10th, 1995 the Ogoni Nine were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. This led to the public outcry of many human rights organizations and led to Nigeria’s membership to the Commonwealth of Nations to be suspended for 3 years.

7. Government Conspiracy? Most likely.
During Saro-Wiwa’s trial, the reigning military de facto President was Sani Abacha, whose actions while in office have been criticized for both human rights violations as well as political corruption.
Royal Dutch Shell later admitted to the US government in 2009 that it had representatives in “all main ministries of the government” of Nigeria. Shell has denied allegations of supporting Abacha during his reign, but when brought to trial for wrongful imprisonment and the execution of the Ogoni Nine, Shell settled outside of court for 15.5 million.
Documents released in 2009 stated that Royal Dutch Shell would pay off government officials in order to prevent protests against its rampant oil drilling as well as its environmental abuse.
The likelihood of Royal Dutch Shell being involved with the trial and execution of the Ogoni Nine is an almost certainty, as well as the potential paying/funding of the Abacha regime to support Royal Dutch Shell’s interests as well as allowing them to continue drilling within Ogoniland.

8. What’s so important?
While Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed wrongfully, his death allowed for a more scrutinizing look on how Big Oil Companies can control/manipulate governments to allow them to take more oil without regulations, especially within developing countries.
A lesson we should take from Saro-Wiwa’s life is that we shouldn’t allow companies to self-regulate or allow them influence in the government. Without regulations and nonbiased government officials, oil companies would continue to drill indiscriminately and without restraint or thought towards the environment.

9. Sources
Ed Pilkington in New York (8 June 2009). "Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 17 May 2012.
Vidal, John (3 October 2011). "Shell oil paid Nigerian military to put down protests, court documents show". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 5 October Confidential memos, faxes, witness statements and other documents, released in 2009, show the company regularly paid the military to stop the peaceful protest movement against the pollution [...] In 2009, in a New York federal court, that evidence never saw light during the trial.
Boyle, Catherine (26 May 2009). "Portrait: Ken Saro-Wiwa". The Times (Wapping, London, UK: News Corporation). Retrieved 28 February 201
Entine, Jon (18 June 2009). "Seeds of NGO Activism: Shell Capitulates in Saro-Wiwa Case". NGO Watch. Archived from the original on 29 October Retrieved14 November 2011.
"Ken Saro-Wiwa/Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Nigeria)". The Right Livelihood Award Retrieved 14 November 2011.
Nigeria's Military Leaders Hang Playwright And 8 Other Activists". Deseretnews.com. Deseret News Publishing Company. 11 November Retrieved 7 July 2014.