Too Bad for a Minority

“Dance, my people, dance the guns to silence”  – Ken Saro-Wiwa

By OSA DIRECTOR

Article published by Dateline Magazine: Page 5, Jan 4, 1996

Ken Saro-Wiwa, renowned author, playwright, committed environmentalist, social crusader, and intellectual humorist even in moments of terror, tribulation and humiliation, refuses to lose his wit candour and deep-seated enthusiasm to ensure justice for his people and redefine the unjust Nigeria federation, as depicted in the above quote from his last interview with TELL in the Bori military detention camp. Even though diminutive in stature, he was a cerebral colossus, with immense courage, verve and resolute determination. read more

Rejoinder: Ken Saro-Wiwa: A Playwright And Revolutionary, But A Man With Trading Instinct

Dear Editor,

Please see and publish the article below with above headline.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ben Ikari, author of Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP: The Story and Revelation; Rights and Environmental Justice Advocate.

Dear Janet Anderson:

Thank you for taking the time to write these good words credited to you about Ken Saro-Wiwa in the headline above. It was reportedly published in the Tempo Newspaper Nigeria, on Jan. 2, 1996 though originally printed in the Daily Telegraph of Nov. 13, 1995.  Saro-Wiwa was, of course, the foremost minority rights crusader of Africa. He was a prolific and accomplished writer who authored more than 27 books. He also had several newspaper publications and position papers to his name; a non-violent and peaceful, intelligent, smart and witty world’s environmental martyr he was. He was truly altruistic. read more

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Says the decriminalization of the Ogoni martyrs has become a key demand of the Ogonis

Calls for an End to Ogoni Killings

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has hinted of a roadmap to Ogoni development. MOSOP leader, Fegalo Nsuke gave the hint on Sunday at a commemorative church service at the Methodist Church, Wesley Cathedral in Bori, the traditional headquarters of the Ogoni people, to mark the 24th anniversary of Ogoni martyrs day, a day set aside to honor the fallen heroes of the Ogoni struggle including renowned author and environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa..

Nsuke did not give details of the roadmap but while addressing the church service hinted that “if we can have a Niger Delta Development Commission, a Niger Delta Basic Development Authority, then we can also have an Ogoni Development Authority” read more

Hakluyt is known as a retirement home for ex-MI6 officers…

Hakluyt (now Holdingham Group Ltd) a private MI6 outfit, that met with …

Hakluyt, a UK-US corporate intelligence arm and offshoot to MI6

Created by former MI6 British Secret Service agents, Hakluyt is an ultra secretive firm whose client list reads like a who’s who of the business world…

The ensuing scandal catapulted Hakluyt to mainstream notoriety, and led several MPs to accuse MI6 of using the firm as a front for its own operations. read more

Communities give oil firm quit notice

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa: 3 Nov 2019

Hundreds of indigenes from 14 communities in Nembe and Brass local government areas in Bayelsa State at the weekend barricaded the offshore facilities belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to protest their neglect by the oil firm.

The angry stakeholders led by their chiefs, traditional rulers, youth leaders, women and community leaders, took their protest to the facilities of Oil Mining Licence (OML) 77-3D located in their territorial waters.

The protesters, who hail from the communities of Odioma, Ibidi, Ewoma, Okpoma, Twon Brass, Beletiama, Liama, Diema, Okumbiribeleu, Opu-Okumbiri, Oginibiri and Sangana, said the company should stop its operation and address their grievances to avoid breakdown of law and order. read more

A court in Rotterdam, Netherlands, has ruled against Shell’s attempt to prevent certain documents seized from its headquarters in 2016 from been used against it in a trial over its purchase of Oil Prospecting License (OPL 245).

Under Dutch rule, documents that have been examined by a lawyer and used to make internal recommendations in an organisation cannot be tendered in a trial against that firm based on a professional secrecy law.

Shell had tried to argue that its 15 internal lawyers had viewed the documents in question and deserve the professional secrecy cover. read more

• Merijn Rengers
• Carola Wood Room
• October 25, 2019

Justice is investigating bribery by Shell in Nigeria.

Oil company Shell cannot hide behind the professional secrecy of employees of its legal department in corruption and fraud investigations. The Rotterdam court reached that conclusion in a judgment published Friday afternoon.

The court sweeps the floor with Shell’s argument that the fifteen lawyers who are employed by the oil company in the Netherlands can invoke their professional secrecy. The reason for the judgment, which can have far-reaching consequences for major criminal cases, is a judicial investigation into bribery by Shell in Nigeria. read more

• Merijn Rengers
• Carola Wood Room
• September 30, 2019

The mysterious suitcase can finally be opened. For years prosecutors in the Netherlands and Italy have been waiting for a suitcase full of potentially incriminating documents about the involvement of the Shell and Italian oil companies Eni in a corrupt oil deal in Nigeria. The suitcase was seized by accident in Geneva in April 2016 and has since been the subject of a large number of legal proceedings.

They are now over, according to a judgment published this week by the federal court in Geneva. Both the Italians and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service therefore have access to the case, the Swiss public prosecutor tells NRC . read more

REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF KEN SARO-WIWA AND OTHERS

By Michael Birnbaum QC

Published by ARTICLE 19 in association with the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and the Law Society of England and Wales

June 1995

This report about the trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other members of the Ogoni community in Nigeria was prepared by Michael Birnbaum QC, a senior English criminal lawyer, who attended part of the proceedings in March 1995. He did so as the accredited representative of the Law Society of England and Wales and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, of which he is a member, and with the support of ARTICLE 19, the International Centre Against Censorship.

Michael Birnbaum was asked to attend the trial proceedings as an international observer in view of widely expressed concern in the UK and elsewhere that the trial might not conform to internationally-recognized standards of fair trial and could result in the imposition of the death penalty on some or all of the accused in circumstances where they will be denied any right of appeal to a higher court. This, in itself, would represent a gross breach of international standards. Mr Birnbaum’s specific order of mission is set out in the text of his report. read more

Shell’s Bribe Scandal: Article published by TEMPO newspaper, 2 Jan 1996 (Page 13)

Shell’s Bribe Scandal

Although for the past two months, Shell has been denying its involvement in the politics of the NIger Delta, through numerous press releases and briefing notes, all these were shattered last week, with the stories published in the British press about Shell’s complicity with the Nigerian military authorities. This is the story of how Shell paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickback to tribal chiefs, community leaders and the military in the troubled Ogoni region. 

It made headline news in most of the British newspapers last week. “SHELL BRIBED NIGERIA’s MILITARY screamed the Independent of London newspaper.

SHELL AXES CORRUPT Nigerian staff read the Sunday Times of London report written by its INSIGHT team. At the centre of the story is how Shell, the exploiter of Nigeria’s crude oil paid handsome amounts of money running into several hundreds of millions of Naira to top military officers in Nigeria to wast vocal environmentalists like Ken Saro-Wiwa and to help establish stability in its oil business by employing ruthless military operations. read more

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By Vivienne Walt: October 11, 2019

Even for a company the size of JPMorgan Chase, it might to be hard to miss a sum of $1.1 billion zipping across a client’s account. That’s the argument currently winding its way through U.K. courts in London, where the government of Nigeria is suing the biggest U.S. bank, arguing that oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and the Italian company Eni paid that amount to allegedly corrupt Nigerian officials in 2011 for a license to drill in a hugely rich offshore oil block—and that JPMorgan ought to have blocked the deposits. read more

PODCAST LINK

In 1995, the Nigerian government executed the Ogoni Nine – environmental activists who were trying to fight Shell’s exploitation of their homeland. Now, four widows are taking the oil company to court. And: Dan Sabbagh on the ramifications of Trump’s shock decision to withdraw from the Turkish-Syrian border

How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

Presented by Rachel Humphreys with Kate Hodal, Esther Kiobel, Channa Samkalden and Dan Sabbagh, produced by Gary Marshall; executive producers Nicole Jackson and Phil Maynard read more

A witness hearing examining Shell’s role in the execution of nine men in Nigeria in the 1990s is a key opportunity to hold the oil giant to account over its alleged complicity in human rights abuses, Amnesty International said.

The Kiobel v Shell case resumes at The Hague on 8 October and will for the first time hear accounts from individuals who accuse Shell of offering them bribes to give fake testimonies that led to the ‘Ogoni Nine’ – who included Esther Kiobel’s husband – being sentenced to death and executed. read more

Nigeria/Netherlands: witnesses heard in landmark case scutinising Shell’s role in execution of Ogoni Nine

Shell accused of complicity in execution of nine men in Nigeria in the 1990s

Witness hearing a key chance to hold Shell to account

A witness hearing examining Shell’s role in the execution of nine men in Nigeria in the 1990s is a key opportunity to hold the oil giant to account over its alleged complicity in human rights abuses, Amnesty International said.

The Kiobel v Shell case resumes at The Hague today (8 October) and will for the first time hear accounts from individuals who accuse Shell of offering them bribes to give fake testimonies that led to the ‘Ogoni Nine’ – who included Esther Kiobel’s husband – being sentenced to death and executed.

Esther Kiobel and three other women – Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula – accuse Shell of being complicit in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of their husbands. The men were hanged in 1995 along with renowned activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and four other men after they were convicted in a blatantly unfair trial. read more

OPL 235 related extracts from an article published by THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH on 6 Oct 2019: “The West puts the brakes on dictators’ ill-gotten gains”

By Adrian Blomfield AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: 6 Oct 2019

One case more than any other has galvanised Western action against African corruption. Deepwater OPL245, a 617-square-mile-stretch of territory that contains within it a potential £500 billion fortune, is known as the Eldorado of Africa: an estimated nine billion barrels of recoverable oil buried under the sea off Nigeria’s coastline.

For a country with the highest rates of extreme poverty in the world, it should have been a huge windfall. read more

U.S. DOJ says Eni probe not closed for lack of evidence, could re-open

OCTOBER 2, 2019 / 7:53 PM

MILAN (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice has described as “misleading” any implication that it had closed a probe into alleged corruption by Italian energy major Eni for lack of evidence and said the investigation could be re- opened if circumstances changed.

Eni, the biggest foreign oil and gas producer in Africa, is currently on trial in Milan on graft allegations surrounding the 2011 acquisition of a giant Nigerian oilfield.

It has also been involved in a long-running corruption case involving its previously 43%- owned unit Saipem over alleged bribes paid to win contracts in Algeria. A Milan court acquitted it last year but the decision is subject to appeal. read more