- Safiu Kehinde
The Ogoni Solidarity Forum has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s pardon of late Niger Delta activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the eight other members of the famous Ogoni Nine.
NPO Reported that Tinubu had, in commemoration of the June 12 Democracy Day held yesterday, exercised his power under the prerogative of mercy to grant the Ogoni nine full pardon.
The President also conferred posthumous honour of CON to Saro-Wiwa while the other eight activists were received OON conferment.
Tinubu had attracted commendations for the decision.
However the Ogoni Solidarity Forum rejected the honour as its coordinator, Celestine Akpobari, held that the late activists never committed an offense.
Akpobari, in his interview with Reuters, demanded total exoneration for the activists, stressing that pardoning them is insulting.
He also held that it is the Nigerian government that needs to seek the Ogoni’s pardon.
“You cannot pardon someone that has not committed an offense; we are demanding total exoneration,
“To say ‘pardon’, I think it is insulting. If there is any group who needs pardon, it is the Nigerian government that has committed so much crime against the Ogoni people,” he said.
Reacting, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, rejected the criticism.
“The president has done what is normal. They can make an argument for exoneration and the president will look into it,” Onanuga said.
The Ogoni nine who were ,originally under the Saro-Wiwa-led Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) comprised of Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine.
They were put on trial under the false pretext that the group had incited the murder of four Ogoni chiefs.
Without presenting any evidence, the Gen. Sani Abacha-led government blamed MOSOP for the murder of the chiefs.
They were hanged on the 10 November 1995.
This sparked public outrage while also gaining international attention.