New Telegraph-Admin 
Justice delayed is as tormenting as justice denied; the only difference is that the light at the end of the tunnel shines brightest for the living that went through the harrowing experience of almost hoping fervently until their prayers were answered.
President Bola Tinubu is the instrument of equity used to drench the tears of four prominent families in Ogoni land. The quartet of Albert Tombari Badey, Edward Nna Kobani, Samuel Orage and Theophilus Orage lost their lives on May 21, 1994 in the most gruesome manner.
It was a typical case of brothers against brothers, for they were killed by fellow Ogoni, in Giokoo, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. The men were billed to attend a peace meeting at the palace of the Gbenemene of Gokana, James Bagia.
That meeting changed the face of the oil producing community. Attention shifted from agitations against oil giants, Shell, to militarisation, litigation and subsequent execution of one of the leading forces in the struggle for emancipation, Kenule Saro-Wiwa and eight others, on November 10, 1995.
Known as the ‘Ogoni 9’, Nardu Ewoo, Barinen Kiobel, Baribor Bera, John Kpunien, Saturday Dobee, Felix Nuate, Paul Levura and Daniel Gbokoo paid with their lives. The Ogoni Civil Disturbances Special Tribunal, headed by Justice Ibrahim Auta found the Ogoni 9 guilty of the murder of the Ogoni 4. That judgement drew global attention. Saro-Wiwa was regarded as an activist and more attention was focused on his personality than the crime.
Although Saro-Wiwa was not visibly present during the killings, three lucky survivors, Mohammed Kobani, Francis Kpai and Celebrate Meabe, gave accounts that could not exonerate him as the unseen hand behind the attack. The militant group, National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), which was ultraloyal to the activist, played a huge role in the gruesome murder of the Ogoni 4.
There were fears that Gen. Sani Abacha, who knew SaroWiwa during his years in Port Harcourt, as a Brigade Commander, would spare his friend. During the Civil War, officers of the Third Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian Army were close to the activist who at 26 was appointed Administrator for Bonny in 1967. In January 1969, Governor Alfred Diette-Spiff made him Rivers State Commissioner for Education.
Abacha disappointed his friend and went ahead to okay the death sentence passed on the Ogoni 9. Global attention was more on the condemned, than the Ogoni 4. The Commonwealth suspended Nigeria ignoring the pains of the four widows who went as far as addressing a press conference.
This gesture must send a signal to the Ogoni. It is time to make peace and reciprocate the good intentions of the president
Mrs Dorah Badey’s dark glasses were drenched as tears flowed freely. The world did not notice the women in black. In the global outrage that followed the execution of SaroWiwa, Sports stood out.
While the Commonwealth wanted everyone to stay away from Nigeria, the International Football Federation (FIFA) went ahead with the grand finale of the Afro Asian Cup in Lagos.
Then FIFA President João Havelange was at the National Stadium, Surulere to watch Nigeria win the trophy for the first time. Chief of General Staff, Mike Akhigbe, sat with the Brazilian on the same day that the Ogoni 9 faced the hangman. And the stadium was full.
Tinubu was one of those who opposed Abacha through the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Thirty three years after cessation of drilling and oil production in Ogoni land and 30 years after the death of SaroWiwa, he made some remarkable pronouncements. The Ogoni 9 were honoured on June 12, 2025 with post humous national awards.
This was based on the recommendations of a committee set up to bring peace to the community. However, some prominent Ogoni leaders who understood the politics and intrigues behind the 1994 killings protested. Benneth Birabi, a former minister and senator, in whose house the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was founded, spoke out for the Ogoni 4.
He narrated how youthful exuberance forced the first president of the group, Garrick Letton to pull out with his Deputy, Edward Kobani. Birabi explained that when those two elders quit, Saro-Wiwa took over and that led to a policy change in the agitations.
While oil spill and degradation served as smokescreen, political positioning took precedence over the general well-being of the Ogoni. That led to a wide gulf that pitched NYCOP against those regarded as ‘vultures’.
Credit should go to Tinubu. He is a listening president. On September 29, 2025, the president heeded the cries of the families of the Ogoni 4. Posthumous national awards of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) were conferred on Albert Badey, Samuel Badey, Edward Kobani and Theophilus Badey. This gesture must send a signal to the Ogoni.
It is time to make peace and reciprocate the good intentions of the president. A common front should be formed to manage the environmental crisis created by oil and all compensations channelled towards development. Individual ambitions should be sequestered from the common good.
Abacha is late, Saro-Wiwa is no more but a Saro-Wiwa continued to serve the Nigerian Army and retired as a Major General, long after the Ogoni 4 and Ogoni 9. Tinubu has shown that old wounds can heal and just remain as scars.
