KEN SARO-WIWA'S CLOSING STATEMENT TO THE MILITARY APPOINTED TRIBUNAL
Port Harcourt,
Rivers State, Nigeria
My lord,
We all stand before history. I am a man of peace, of ideas.
Appalled
by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on
a richly endowed land, distressed by their political
marginalization and economic strangulation, angered by the
devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage,
anxious to
preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and
determined to usher to this country as a whole
a fair and just
democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic
group and gives us all a valid claim
to human civilization, I
have devoted my intellectual and material resources, my very
life to a cause in which
I have total belief and from which I
cannot be blackmailed or intimidated. I have no doubt at all
about the ultimate
success of my cause, no matter the trials
and tribulations which I and those who believe with me may
encounter
on our journey. Nor imprisonment nor death can stop
our ultimate victory.
I repeat that we all stand before
history. I and my colleagues
are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and
it
is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be
holding a watching brief. The Company has, indeed, ducked
this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learn there may prove useful to it for there is no doubt
in my mind that the ecological war that the Company has waged in Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the
crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the
Company's dirty wars against the Ogoni people will
also be
punished.
On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and
those who assist them.
Any nation which can do to the weak and
disadvantaged what the Nigerian nation has done to the Ogoni,
loses a claim
to independence and to freedom from outside
influence. I am not one of those who shy away from protesting
injustice
and oppression, arguing that they are expected in a
military regime. The military do not
act alone. They are
supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, judges,
academics and businessmen, all of them
hiding under the claimthat they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of urine.
We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our Country and jeopardised the future of our
children. As we subscribe to the sub-normal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice
and oppression, we empty our classrooms, denigrate our hospitals, fill our stomachs with
hunger and elect to make ourselves
the slaves of those who
ascribe to higher standards, pursue the truth, and honour
justice, freedom, and hard work.
I predict that the scene here
will be played and replayed by generations
yet unborn. Some
have already cast themselves in the role of villains, some are
tragic victims, some still have
a chance to redeem themselves.
The choice is for each individual.
I predict
that the denoument of the riddle of the Niger delta
will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial.
Whether
the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what
the oppressor decides, what signals it sends
out to the
waiting public.
In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter
conviction,
I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the
Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic
minorities of Nigeria to
stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their
rights. History is on their
side. God is on their side. For
the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41:"All those that fight
when oppressed
incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the
oppressor." Come the day.
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"We are going to demand our RIGHTS - Peacefully, Non-violently, and we shall WIN"
Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995)
