Ogoni Nine

The Ogoni Nine were a group of nine activists from the Ogoni region of Nigeria who opposed the operating practices of the Royal Dutch Shell oil corporation in the Niger Delta region. The military government in Nigeria was threatened by their work and arrested them for murders of four Ogoni chiefs. Social activist and head of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ken Saro-Wiwa, alongside eight of his fellow leaders—Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine—were put on trial under the false pretext that the group had incited the murder of four Ogoni chiefs. They were hanged on the 10 November 1995.

Ken Saro-Wiwa had previously been a critic of the Royal Dutch Shell oil corporation, and had been imprisoned for a year. According to Amnesty International, “in May of 1994, [the] Ogoni chiefs known to be opponents of MOSOP were murdered. Without presenting any evidence, the government blamed MOSOP and arrested..people, including Ken Saro-Wiwa and Barinem Kiobel. Kiobel…had a senior government position and had been critical of the military’s actions in Ogoniland.” The trial was widely discredited, with critics worldwide speaking out against the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, who was then in power. Despite that, the Nine were found guilty, and on the morning of November 10, 1995, they were executed by hanging. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery.

The executions provoked international condemnation and led to the increasing treatment of Nigeria as a pariah state until General Abacha's mysterious death in 1998.

At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony – in the presence of Shell's lawyer.