Dark Clouds over Nigeria Forebodings for India
It is a real pity that an event which should have shaken up our citizens, especially those in far-flung villages and in our forests, has just passed away without creating even a stir for lack of proper projection in the media.
This is the news: The present authoritarian ruler of the heavily populated African country, Nigeria, General Sam Abaka through his military administration executed nine persons belonging to an environmental movement on the November 10, 1995. Among the executed was Kenule Beeson (Ken) Saro-Wiwa, a famous dramatist whose name had even been put up for the Nobel Prize. Besides, he had also been the president of the 'Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni people' and the 'Environment Movement'. In a May Day rally in 1994, four Ogoni leaders who favoured the government were killed. Saro-Wiwa and 40 others of the 'Environment Movement' were arrested and accused of murdering these four people. Later, they were produced in front of a martial tribunal. Even though the charges could not be proved the court came to the conclusion that it was chiefly because of their movement that the murder had taken place. On October 31, the court sentenced nine prominent members of the movement to death. This judgment was questioned and deeply suspected, and from within the country as well as from all over the world came pressure to stop the execution. Before that could gain further momentum, the military government of Abaka hastily executed the nine people.
Nigeria's martial government came to power in 1993. In the presidential general elections held at that time, Moshode Abiyola had been elected. But General Abaka went ahead and imposed martial rule on the country and declared that the presidential election had been irregular. He jailed the elected Abiyola and proclaimed himself the supreme authority.
The southeastern part of Nigeria is a huge oil reserve. Twenty lakh barrels of oil are produced and exported every day. Eighty per cent of the national gross income is brought in by this petrol export. But the whole oil industry is under the control and ownership of Western countries and multinational companies. This land belongs to the Ogoni tribe, which is one of Nigeria's innumerable minority tribal groups.
The five lakh Ogonis settled there have become impoverished after three decades of continuous harassment by the multinational companies. Orphaned by the invasion of these multi-national companies, the Ogonis had none to help them out of their dismal plight. Neither the government nor the industrialists ever bothered to think of the misery that the Ogonis were in. In this wretched state the Ogonis had no choice but to launch a movement. And because of all these, nine leaders of the movement have been brutally murdered by the government.
The so-called liberals among the Western nations, like the US and England for instance, have condemned this "unjust killing" by the Nigerian government. The Commonwealth has announced cancellation of Nigeria's membership. A cruel dictator has been condemned by the whole world unanimously for such an inhuman act. Or so it would seem when we read all these statements.
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