I Am More Dangerous Dead

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a prominent Nigerian author, activist and television producer who spoke out forcefully against the Nigerian military regime and the Anglo-Dutch petroleum company Royal Dutch Shell for causing environmental damage to his native Rivers state in the Niger Delta region, Ogoni. In the 1950s, Wiwa witnessed the initial entrance of foreign oil companies and the beginning of the extraction of crude oil in the Niger Delta region. Repeated oil spills and gas flaring led to environmental degradation of the Ogoni land, which adversely affected the livelihoods of the Ogoni people who are predominantly farmers and fisher people. By the early 1990s, Wiwa established and led the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), the campaign against the Royal Dutch Shell Company. They saw all the oil revenue going into the pockets of Shell and the Nigerian government while the Ogoni people remained in poverty, Wiwa and MOSOP demanded that the company share the profits of oil extraction. In January 1993, Wiwa and the MOSOP lead a series of peaceful marches in which an estimated 300,000 Ogoni people participated. For the first time, the marches drew significant international attention to the plight of the Ogoni. At the peak of this non-violent campaign, Ken was wrongfully tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of four Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting. On November 10th, 1995, nine men from the Ogoni community including Ken Saro-Wiwa were hanged in Nigeria. It is wildly reported that their bodies were melted in a mass grave with raw acid.