Group asks Tinubu to immortalise Ken Saro-Wiwa with national monument

Clean Environmental Foundation (CEF), a non-governmental organisation, has asked President Bola Tinubu to immortalise Ken Saro-Wiwa, the late human rights activist, with a national monument.

Saro-Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), was executed in 1995 by Sani Abacha-led military regime for leading protests against environmental degradation caused by the oil industry in the Niger-Delta region.

His arrest and subsequent execution followed the mass attack on four leading Ogoni leaders, for which he was accused of having a hand in their death.

In a statement on Wednesday by Isaac Omomedia, CEF executive director, the group appealed to Tinubu to grant presidential pardon to the late environmental activist.

“We call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to extend state pardon to Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others judicially murdered by the Nigerian state under Gen Sani Abacha,” the statement reads.

“The President should declare Saro Wiwa a National hero after the state pardon granted him and eight others.”

CEF also urged the president to pay compensation to Saro-Wiwa’s family, noting that the activist’s death caused the people of Niger Delta pain and misery.

The group also demanded that Saro-Wiwa be declared national hero, adding that the Niger-Delta region would support the president if he obliges their requests.

“The return of oil exploration in Ogoni is not as important as building broken trust between the Ogoni and the Nigerian authorities. The Government should not give the impression that it is more interested in profit than in Justice,” the statement added.

“President Tinubu should do the right thing. He will instantly enjoy the support of Ogoni people and the entire Niger Delta if he can be courageous enough to reclaim the lost trust between Ogoni and the Nigerian state.”