At number 93 on the list of 100 persons named by the Federal Government of Nigeria as winners of the Centenary Honours Award is a certain Gen. Sani Abacha, GCFR, coming under the subheading of OUTSTANDING PROMOTERS OF UNITY, PATRIOTISM AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. So I quickly scanned the list to the very end, hoping I was wrong, almost certain that my sight had not served me well. Somewhere on that list must have a place for Ken Saro Wiwa, Nigerias towering human and environmental rights activist of international acclaim, playwright of legendary talent, chronicler with sublime creative sparks, I mumbled to myself. Spurred on by the believe that the fault was from my own sight, I took eyeglasses from my reading table, delicately placed it on my face, and with the disposition and deliberate meticulousness of an old professor, pored through the paper again, this time, my eyes traveling with snail speed. I was not wrong, I exclaimed in exasperation. Ken Beeson Saro Wiwa had not made the list! That the late sage was the one who internationalized the deplorable condition of the people of the Niger Delta who live on a richly endowed land; that he was the person who, through his writing prowess and oratorical skills bored a hole in the conscience of the international community in which he situated the political marginalization, economic strangulation and environmental degradation of the Niger River Delta, a consequence of which the searchlight of the world was focused on the region, did not matter, and did not avail him. And that his unputdownable sacrifice in sweat and blood has gone unnoticed makes my eyes infinitely wet. But that the same bespectacled psychopathic dictator, notorious Gen. Sani Abacha, who cut down Ken Saro Wiwa on that black day of November 10th, 1995, and immersed his remains in many liters of acid is ensconced there on the list of honor, gives me a wild heartache from which I may not recover this year... Even as I see you turn in the shallow, toxic grave in which they dumped your melted remains, dear Ken Saro Wiwa, dont cry...dont cry again...Perhaps, Ken, you expected a better treatment from someone who benefitted from your sacrifice, someone for whom you went to war...dont cry. Your recognition may not come from one of your own, but it will surely come! And back home here, people tell me that President Jonathan is my brother....well, thats ok! Dear friends, forgive me if I have been too emotional, for I am an Ogoni man!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 17:16:52 +0000
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