Nigerian Customs, SSS Allegedly Suppress Saro-Wiwa’s Memorial

A civil society group said to specialise in Niger Delta affairs, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), has said a piece of memorabilia donated to the people of Ogoni in remembrance of the struggles of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni environmental rights activists has been seized by officials of the Nigerian Customs and the State Security Service.

According to Premium Times, the memorabilia is a sculptured bus donated by the group in the UK to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of the writer and environmental activist, Saro-Wiwa.

This was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday, November 4, published on the website of the People Advancement Centre.

The group alleged that upon the arrival of the sculptured bus at Lagos port where it was sent from the UK, customs seized it claiming that it had “political value” thereby putting a halt to Saro-Wiwa’s memorial.

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In the statement, the group said: “The Bus calls attention to the environmental degradation and economic deprivation, in which the Ogoni people live, despite being naturally blessed with enormous deposits of crude oil.

“After being on display at various places in the United Kingdom for 9 years, at the request of Nigerian partners, the Bus was shipped from London to Nigeria via Lagos Port.”

The group also accused the SSS of confiscating some other items aside from the one impounded by the Customs.

MOSOP said: “We have submitted letters of appeal to the Customs Boss Colonel Hameed Ali (Rtd).

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“It is of note that he was the only military member of the tribunal that sentenced Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others to death on November 10, 1995. Upon receipt of the letter by his personal Assistant, we were assured that the bus would be released. That has not yet happened.

“We are concerned about this hostile attitude of the Nigerian government towards the Ogoni people and the suppression of the memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa. We are concerned that 20 years after the killing of Ogoni leaders and the widespread attacks, which killed thousands of other Ogonis and sent many into exile, the Nigerian government seems to be maintaining this attitude of belligerence towards the genuine activities of the Ogoni people.

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“We are concerned that after killing Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 8, and dumping their bodies in an unmarked grave, the Nigerian government is bent on erasing every memory of Saro-Wiwa and his struggles for justice, including making sure that a ‘Living Memorial’ – the bus made in his memory and in solidarity with his people – is never delivered to them.”

The group threatened to mobilize the Ogoni people and other interest groups to begin a series of mass protests until the items are released.

It said: “We regret that these mass actions will seriously disrupt economic activities in the Ogoni areas of the Niger Delta.”

Meanwhile, the national director of Amnesty International, Ambassador Mohammed Kaura Ibrahim, has disclosed that the watchdog of the Nigerian government in the oil industry, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), is not credible and does not have the capacity to perform its regulatory function in the oil sector.

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