An environmental rights activist, Comrade Celestine Akpobari, has called on President Bola Tinubu to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to review the judgment of the special tribunal that sentenced Ogoni rights activist, Kenule Saro-Wiwa and eight others to death.
Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis were hanged on November 10, 1995, during the military regime of former head of state, late General Sani Abacha, following the verdict of a special tribunal chaired by Justice Ibrahim Auta.
Recall that Tinubu had, on June 12, 2025, while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly, granted pardon to the slain nine Ogoni leaders.
However, speaking on a live television programme monitored in Port Harcourt, Akpobari said: “I quite appreciate the fact that Mr President, who is not from the Niger Delta, could take such courageous step because we had former President Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta.
“If the president does not have the power to exonerate, the best thing to do is to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry. If the government wants to do a thing, they know how to go about it. When they wanted to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, they knew what to do. When they wanted to kill Saro-Wiwa, they knew what to do.”
Insisting that Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots never committed any crime that warrants pardon, the activist said the people of Ogoni should pardon the government and the oil companies.
He said, “In this case, the Ogoni leadership, the Ogoni people, never did anything wrong to this government. If there is a group of people who need to be pardoned, it is the government of Nigeria and the oil companies. It is the Ogoni people who will grant them pardon. It is the Ogoni people who will say, “I have forgiven you,” and not the other way around.
“They are turning the whole thing upside down; you killed us for doing nothing. You devastated our environment, you destroyed our means of livelihood, and then you now come to say you have granted me a pardon. Even a foolish man knows what they are saying is wrong.
“I was expecting Mr President to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to look into the trial by Justice Auta and look at what went wrong; do a total review. Then, from there, exonerate them. What we should be talking about is exoneration.”
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