Renowned environmental rights advocate, Comrade Celestine Akpobari, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to thoroughly review the controversial verdict delivered by the special military tribunal that condemned Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists to death in 1995.
Saro-Wiwa and his fellow campaigners were executed by hanging on November 10, 1995, under the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha. Their sentencing was delivered by a special tribunal headed by Justice Ibrahim Auta, sparking global condemnation and persistent calls for justice.
President Tinubu, while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly on June 12, 2025, announced a posthumous presidential pardon for the nine Ogoni leaders—an action that has been widely debated across the country.
Speaking during a live television program monitored in Port Harcourt, Akpobari commended President Tinubu’s gesture, noting its significance especially coming from someone outside the Niger Delta region.
“I deeply appreciate the courage of President Tinubu, who is not from the Niger Delta, yet took this important step. We had a former President, Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the region, but he didn’t act on this matter,” Akpobari stated.
However, the activist stressed that mere pardon is not enough. He insisted that Saro-Wiwa and his fellow activists committed no crime and, therefore, did not require a pardon in the first place. Rather, he argued, it is the Nigerian government and multinational oil corporations that owe the Ogoni people an apology.
“In this case, the Ogoni people did nothing wrong to warrant any pardon,” Akpobari maintained. “If there’s anyone who should be seeking forgiveness, it is the Nigerian government and the oil companies that ravaged our land and polluted our environment. It is not for them to pardon us—it is the Ogoni people who have the moral standing to pardon them.”
He further decried the distortion of justice, saying, “They’re twisting the narrative. You killed our people unjustly, destroyed our environment, ruined our livelihood, and now you come around talking about granting us pardon? That’s completely upside down.”
Akpobari emphasized that the best course of action now would be for the President to establish a judicial panel to revisit the case and examine the role of Justice Auta and the tribunal’s entire process. “What we need is a total review of the trial process through a Judicial Commission of Inquiry. From there, they should exonerate Saro-Wiwa and the others. What we should be seeking is full exoneration—not pardon.”
He concluded that if the government is truly sincere about justice and reconciliation, it must take steps to acknowledge its errors and formally clear the names of those unjustly executed.