Ogoni Revolution: A Cynical Look At Statehood After 18 Years Of An Aspiring People

This article is a republication as part of our Nov. 10th special editions to remember Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni8

It is November 10^th again and this day reminds us of a journey started long ago and amplified with the hanging of our hero – Ken Saro Wiwa and Eight other worthy martyrs. It reminds us of the voices of the minorities and indigenous people who, having being deprived of their resources, seek to fight for their fate using a non-violent method. Through the umbrella of Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, the Ogoni patriots presented a movement widely acclaimed as model for national rebirth, ethnic revolution and cultural emancipation. But seventeen years gone, the bond that held the Ogonis, the dreams for which the martyrs died and the vision that propel every man, woman, young and old of the extraction in Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State seem blurred and far separated from the people.

From Sogho, to Boue, Taabaa to Zaakpo, From K-dere to Mogho and up to Korokoro in the Tai kingdom, wars and sectarian killings, mistrusts and cultism have taken over. Schools have been disrupted and churches halted so much that lives have become short, brutish and nasty. Therefore, the Ogoni struggles and quest for better life, the sacrifices paid through blood and sufferings seem to be rubbished by such events as we see today, by greed and impostor and by lack of a coherent communal wills as many communities have fallen and their structures erased. If lives are lived by the fittest and if sound morals are forgotten in place for mediocre, then statehood in many dimensions are illusions which is contrary to what revolution entails.

Statehood, what really does this mean? Simply put, it is a community, or set of communities with a similar ideology under the same government. Revolution indeed gave birth to statehood. Historically, states that metamorphosed through revolution stick better than those that were harnessed. Ogoni, after seventeen years, have a MOSOP that is balkanized into factions, each community has political gladiators who are not competing to bring external development but rather, hindering internal growth and thereby severing the people and their hopes for a ‘’united kingdom’’. Perhaps, in leadership, the Ogonis’ dreams falter.  So many communities have sacked the traditional institutions because their existences were anathema to their purpose. Also, as leadership is earned and not forced upon the people, the political elites are far from legitimate. The crops of politicians around are self-centred; they can choose to mortgage an entire community for pecuniary gains. In this wise, statehood cannot be attained and seventeen years thereafter, we have not fare better.

The dreams and the aspirations for which Ken Saro Wiwa died, is it still reflected today? May be not. A people with divided loyalty cannot stand. In 1995, Ken aspired to go to the constitutional review committee to win a comparable life for the indigenous Ogonis. Today the delight is the opposite; Ogonimen kill and eat their fellows alive. Using diabolical mediums, families have been thrown to extinction by people who ordinarily are common neighbours. The well to do, pay lump sum to finance gun and armory and care nothing if a whole community is burnt provided their will is done. Unity is an asset. And killing and maiming in Ogoniland will do nobody any good. It will continue to undervalue our efforts and after many years, it will still keep us creeping as if we‘ve just begun. Thus, seventeen years thereafter, Ogonis have fewer doctors, fewer professors and limited number of men in executive positions in government. Also, there are so many, who felt they are no longer safe to come to the shore of our noble fathers’ land.

What more, ours will not be a failed revolution, but steps must be taken to salvage our movement and project the real Ogoni course. The leaders of MOSOP respected Ogonis and other people to whom this piece is intended. It is time to do a look back, it is time that frantic efforts should be made to bring back the lost philosophy and ideas that we gave and were copied by other people. We have not fared better after seventeen years. We can do better if a system that rewards merit is put in place. Ours will be golden if we cherish achievements and give room for men with ingenuity to grow. Bringing people to be accountable for their actions is a simple way our society can be made right. If people continue to do evil and get away with it, this will encourage might and no society excel on might. Can MOSOP begin to set up institutions that will implement justice or promote the same? Notable institutions which can boldly restore structures in our communities can help drive our people to statehood.

Long live Ogoni kingdom.

As written By NuBari Felix.

From Lagos, Nigeria.

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