‘Ogoni 9’ 30th Anniversary: Voices from the Creeks Cry Again — Ogoni Leaders Urge Tinubu to Right Old Wrongs, Heal the Wounds of the Delta

‘Ogoni 9’ 30th Anniversary: Voices from the Creeks Cry Again — Ogoni Leaders Urge Tinubu to Right Old Wrongs, Heal the Wounds of the Delta

By NigerDelta Voice Reporters, Port Harcourt Correspondent.

10th Nov. 2025

Thirty years after the gallows silenced the “Ogoni 9,” the winds of remembrance once again sweep through Ogoniland — carrying echoes of sorrow, resistance, and hope. Like smoke that refuses to fade, the cries of injustice still rise from the oil-stained soil of the Niger Delta.

Marking the 30th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight compatriots, Ogoni sons and daughters have renewed their call for justice. Their message to President Bola Tinubu is as clear as the morning tide: “Let the tears of the Ogoni people be wiped away, and let peace return to our land.”

In a heartfelt statement from Port Harcourt, environmentalist and former MOSOP delegate to the United Nations, John Idamkue, urged the President to “break the chain of neglect” and take concrete steps to heal the festering wounds left by decades of environmental degradation and state oppression.

“Tinubu’s Ogoni Dialogue Committee must go beyond words and smoke,” Idamkue warned. “A promise is like a seed — if not watered with action, it dies in silence. The government must right the wrongs done to our people.”

He called for measures such as psychological counselling for survivors, rebuilding of razed villages, compensation for lost livelihoods, and a full cleansing of Ogoni’s polluted land and waters — the lifeblood of its people.

The activist lamented that while the world remembers the “Ogoni 9” and “Ogoni 4,” the blood of over 4,000 other Ogoni souls still cries from the ground, unavenged and unacknowledged.

“After the hanging of our heroes, troops turned our land into a theatre of sorrow. Homes were burnt, women defiled, and men cut down like grass. To this day, no one has been called to account,” he said bitterly.

Idamkue likened the Ogoni struggle to a lamp that lit Nigeria’s path to democracy, reminding President Tinubu that he himself once drew inspiration from that same flame during the dark years of military dictatorship.

He noted that the NDDC, HYPREP, the 13% derivation principle, the UNEP Report, and even the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 were fruits borne from the “sweat, blood, and tears of the Ogoni struggle.”

“The tree of freedom was watered by Ogoni sacrifice,” he said. “But while others have harvested its shade, the Ogoni still stand under the scorching sun of neglect.”

Citing reports from the UN Fact-Finding Mission, Justice Oputa Panel, Amnesty International, and others, Idamkue condemned the “silence of justice” that has followed years of pain, pollution, and plunder.

He described Ken Saro-Wiwa as “a voice that thundered for the voiceless, a reed that bent but never broke.” His courage, Idamkue said, “planted the seed of environmental consciousness in the heart of Africa.”

As candles flicker in Ogoni villages and songs of remembrance rise into the night sky, one truth remains — the cry of the creeks cannot be drowned forever.

Thirty years may have passed, but the wounds of Ogoni still bleed beneath the oil-stained earth. And so, their message to Aso Rock is wrapped in an old proverb:

“The rain that beats the child also drenches the mother — until Ogoni finds justice, Nigeria’s peace remains incomplete.”