Wiwa urges implementation of Ogoni

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Subject: Re: Wiwa urges implementation of Ogoni Rights bill-Nigeria Guardian

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> "I am 92 years old now. This is the age at which my son should have
> been taking care of me... "
> 

MOSOP International Secretariat wrote:
> 
> From the Guardain (lagos Nov 11th)
> 
> 
> 
> Wiwa urges implementation of Ogoni Rights bill
> 
> By Nkechi Nwosu, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
> 
> CHIEF Benson Wiwa, octogenarian father of slain Ogoni minority leader,
> Ken Saro-Wiwa, yesterday at the fourth anniversary of the activists'
> death, pressed for the implementation of the Rights Bill championed by
> his deceased son.
> 
> "If I have the opportunity of appearing before Justice Chukwudifu
> Oputa Panel on human rights abuses, I will still advocate the
> implementation of Ogoni Bill of Rights", he said.
> 
> He seized the opportunity of a British Broadcasting Corporation
> interview to renew attack on the multi-national oil company, Shell
> Petroleum, saying it should quit Ogoni soil as the indigenes were sick
> of its "gross cheating and exploitation".
> 
> He maintained that his son died because of his opposition to the
> "continued exploitation of the Ogoni by Shell and the government of
> Nigeria".
> 
> Lamenting the suffering and untold hardship since the execution of Ken
> by the late Gen. Sani Abacha administration on November 10, 1995, the
> Ogoni chief said his wife was ill currently because of "inadequate
> caring".
> 
> "I am 92 years old now. This is the age at which my son should have
> been taking care of me... "
> 
> For him, Ken's troubles were caused by the Bill of Rights which he
> handed to Abacha, and the greatest compensation for his struggles,
> therefore, should be its adoption by the government, he added.
> 
> Ogoni on Tuesday night held a candle light vigil to honour their nine
> deceased sons.
> 
> The procession organised by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni
> People (MOSOP) was ushered in with fasting and prayers by the kinsmen
> and friends of the late activist and his company.
> 
> Former MOSOP leaders, Saro-Wiwa, was hung with eight others following
> their conviction on charges of murder by a military tribunal set up by
> the late dictator, Abacha.
> 
> The charges were seen as having been trumped up by the authorities to
> silence Saro-Wiwa, who spoke out continually against the exploitation
> of Ogoniland, an area that produces more than 90 per cent of Nigeria's
> oil wealth.
> 
> MOSOP's acting leader Iedum Mitee said yesterday that a similar
> procession would be held every year to honour Saro-Wiwa and those
> killed.
> 
> He said the organisation was making efforts to retrieve the bodies
> from the Nigerian government for reburial.
> 
> After his inauguration in May, President Olusegun Obasanjo promised to
> release the remains of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues to the Ogoni.
> 
> Consequently, River State Governor Peter Odili held talks with Ken's
> brother, Owen, and family members of the other deceased.
> 
> The 1995 execution was met with international outrage leading to
> Nigeria's expulsion from the Commonwealth. The country was readmitted
> late last year after the death of Abacha.
> 
> Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Nigeria,
> 27 Odu Street, Ogbunabali, Port Harcourt, Nigeria:
> Tel/ fax. [+234] 84 233 907[NEW LINE !!] or [+234] 84 230 250
> e-mail: mosop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> MOSOP International secretariat:
> Suite 5, 3 - 4 Albion Place, Galena Road, London W6 0LT, United
> Kingdom.
> Tel. (+44) (0)181 563 8614  Fax. (+44) (0)181 563 8615
> http://www.oneworld.org/mosop/
> e-mail: mosop@xxxxxxxxxx
> (c) Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, 1999
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
> "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues"
> Ken Saro-Wiwa, the gallows, November 10th 1995.
> 
> Ogoni is a land of half a million people in the Niger Delta region of
> Nigeria.  Since 1958, oil companies such as Shell have exploited
> Ogoni's oil wealth, while the Ogoni people have suffered economic
> deprivation, the environmental devastation of our land and the
> discriminatory policies of successive Nigerian governments.  The
> Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People demands economic
> justice, human rights - including the right to choose the use of our
> land and its resources - and to a future free from violence. MOSOP is
> the democratic voice of the Ogoni people.
> 
>