The Ijaw, under the auspices of Ijaw National Congress (INC), on Saturday demanded that the federal government offer apology for the killing of Ogoni 9 before talking of state pardon.

The Ijaw nation is equally demanding abrogation of obnoxious laws on resource control and upward review of the principle of derivation to a minimum of 50 per cent for true reconciliation to take root in the region.

The INC urged the Federal Government to appease the people of Ogoni Kingdom, Ijaw nation and the entire Niger Delta for the alleged wrongful killing of Saro-Wiwa in November 1995, describing the proposal (for state pardon) as laughable and falling short of addressing the people’s right to self-determination and resource control.

Prof Benjamin Okaba, President of INC made the position known in a statement he issued in Yenagoa while reacting to the proposed state pardon by the Federal Government for the slain Ogoni activist and writer.

President Muhammadu Buhari had said the Federal Government would consider granting state pardon for Saro-Wiwa to close the "Ogoni 9 saga" when leaders from Ogoniland paid him a visit in Abuja on Friday.

Saro-Wiwa and eight of his kinsmen were executed on November 10, 1995 on the orders of a special military tribunal set up by the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

The panel sentenced them to death by hanging for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of some Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government rally during the height of Saro-Wiwa’s non-violent campaign against environmental and resource injustice.

INC noted that the murder of Sara-Wiwa and his fellow compatriots became known as the “Ogoni 9 saga”, an incident that attracted sanctions on Nigeria by the United Kingdom, United States of America and other countries and world bodies.

The statement is titled, “The Ijaws, Ogonis And The Niger Delta Demand Apology, Not Pardon”.

In it INC insisted that the government ought to say sorry to the people for the way and manner Saro-Wiwa and others were reportedly killed “as a result of their peaceful campaigns against economic exploration, environmental despoliation and gross abuse of the people’s fundamental human and resource rights.”

“We wonder what crime Ken Saro-Wiwa and others committed that warrant state pardon.

“Secondly, even if he was allowed the defence, was he given the right of appeal? What are the positive aftermaths of Ken Ken Saro-Wiwa’s agitation?

“Would there have been the UNEP Report on Ogoni clean-up if Ken Saro-Wiwa and others did not draw the attention of state and international community to various human and environmental infractions meted out to the people?

“Now that the Federal Government has suddenly realized their wrongs and equally expressed willingness to seek reconciliation and national integration, we urge them to courageously go the whole hog as follows:

“Bring to book all persons, including the presiding judge and other officers that were directly and indirectly involved in the unfortunate incident.

“Justice should also be extended to the innocent Ogoni youths and other Niger Delta people who were unlawfully massacred by state operatives for merely displaying green leaves in condemnation of the ghastly act,” Okaba stated.

According to him, the last few words of Saro-Wiwa, ‘You can kill the messenger, but not the message’, remained very apt several years after.

He said it is regrettable that Ogoniland, Ijaw nation and the entire Niger Delta continued to suffer injustices, inequalities and rape of their freedom and right to control their God-given resources.

Said the INC helmsman: “The people and the environment of the Niger Delta, in spite of the seeming interventions, have remained in a state of misery to the extent that the local economy has been disarticulated.

“In spite of our enormous contribution to the nation’s economy, the standard of living in our region is demoralizing and demeaning. State laws on Land Use, Petroleum Industry Act, Petroleum Act and other obnoxious policies have perpetually kept us as slaves and impoverished us in the midst of our God-given resources in the region.

“For us, true reconciliation should begin with the abrogation of these obnoxious laws and upward review of the principle of derivation to a minimum of 50 per cent.

“Thereafter, the envisaged apology and reparation will be functionally meaningful to also prevent a reoccurrence of injustices against persons who express their fundamental human rights to demand justice and equity.

“All the dramatis personae and others involved in Ken Saro-Wiwa’s case, dead and living, should be brought to book as a lesson for others.”

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