Ogoni Nine Were “Killers”, Not Martyrs — Bennett Birabi Slams Tinubu’s Democracy Day Move
Former Senator Bennett Birabi has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s decision to honour the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others, widely known as the Ogoni Nine, describing them as “killers” rather than martyrs.
During the Democracy Day celebrations on June 12, President Tinubu posthumously conferred national honours and granted a full state pardon to the group, who were executed in 1995 under the military regime of Sani Abacha.
Speaking on Arise Television on Tuesday, Birabi said: “I think the president was being misled and misadvised. What Ogoni needs is not recognition of killers.”
He accused the honoured individuals of orchestrating violence within their community. “The people who did the killing did not wear masks, so they were all known and seen by our people, and they were no strangers.”
Birabi rejected the idea that the Ogoni Nine died for a noble cause. “For you to wake up and say they are martyrs, martyrs are people who fought for their people and died for a cause. What was the cause they fought and died for? The same cause that we established MOSOP for was the same cause these people were fighting for.”
On Saro-Wiwa’s role, Birabi stated: “He was not physically present at the scene of murder, so at best he could have been charged for manslaughter or for instigating the murder.”
He added, “That wasn’t persecution. The Ogoni 9 were properly accused because they were seen and known.”
Despite his efforts to save Saro-Wiwa, he said: “The only person I tried to bargain for and I did my best but it did not work was Saro-Wiwa himself.”
