Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has revealed a shocking disclosure dtating that late environmental rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other sons of Ogoniland were wrongly executed by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in 1995.
Falana revealed this during the Ken Saro-Wiwa 30th Memorial Lecture, which took place on Friday in the Banquet Hall of Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
The senior lawyer thought back to the Ogoniland crisis of the 1990s, when Shell Petroleum and Development Company’s (SPDC) oil exploration operations caused environmental destruction.
Speaking on the theme, “Ken Saro-Wiwa -The Man, His Legacies, Struggles and Challenges”, Falana pointed out that the Nigerian State under General Abacha, in its desperation to incriminate Saro-Wiwa and permanently silence him and his group, used its head of task force, Paul Okutimo, to murder four Ogoni chiefs and falsely accused Ken and his men of committing the crime.
“Ken and his comrades did not commit murder, please take it from me. What happened was that the Nigerian State decided, ‘we’re going to deal with MOSOP led by Ken’ and the only way to do it is to allow Shell to continue to exploit your resources, no reaction, no objection, and to charge your leaders for murder.
“The Abacha murderous junta had one Paul Okutimo, the head of task force. Then the Nigerian State got quandary instigated by them, paid by them to kill the four leaders, Kobani and others. It was the Nigerian State that killed them.
“Before any commencement of investigation, Paul Komo, the then military governor, said publicly: ‘We’re going to hold Ken and other MOSOP leaders for the murder that took place in Yogbo. They (Ken and his men) were not there. Their (federal government’s) own boys killed the four leaders. But the governor announced: ‘We’re going to hold (MOSOP) leaders vicariously liable.’ There’s no vicarious liability in criminal offence. If you commit a crime, If you commit an offence, you’re dealt with. You cannot hold me responsible for the alleged offence of my son; that’s not enough but that’s what happened in Ken Saro-Wiwa’s case”, Falana explained.
