Ken Saro Wiwa: Another year rolls by

November 10th this year passed quietly but many silently remembered the literary great and TV producer who thrilled Nigerians with his sitcom, Basi and Co, purportedly one of the most watched TV shows in Africa. Though his literary works did not take wing as he had wanted and failed to gain him the international recognition […]

November 10th this year passed quietly but many silently remembered the literary great and TV producer who thrilled Nigerians with his sitcom, Basi and Co, purportedly one of the most watched TV shows in Africa.

Though his literary works did not take wing as he had wanted and failed to gain him the international recognition enjoyed by his compatriots Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, Saro Wiwa became a household name when he championed the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni Poeple (MOSOP), which challenged the powerful multinational oil companies that were polluting his homeland and depriving his fishermen folks of their livelihood.

His execution on November 10th 1995 for the murder of the Ogoni four, came as a shock as world leaders have unanimously called for leniency on the part of the military authorities and questions have been raised about the tribunal that found him and eight other Ogoni chiefs guilty.

The execution made him an instant martyr and led to the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth.  Interestingly, the writer had written about his death in his sardonic 1989 piece, Africa Kills Her Sun, which correctly predicted his death by hanging by military authorities. The result of this execution was that Ken Saro Wiwa became greater in death than he was in life and conferred on him the international acclaim he had strongly craved for while alive.

Plans by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) to commemorate the man and his works have failed to take off but he has enjoyed a fair share of recognition in pop culture. A Finnish band, an Italian band and even popular English guitarist Robbie Fowler have all dedicated songs to Saro Wiwa and Nigerian artistes like MI have also mentioned him in their lyrics. There is even a highlife musician who records under the name Saro Wiwa.

His death has also inspired literary works like Richard North Patterson’s Eclipse, Beverly Naidoo’s The Other Side of Truth and his son, Ken Wiwa has also written a biography “In the Shadow of a Saint” that actually showed the other side of Saro Wiwa.

But still, 16 years later, questions about his life and particularly his arrest, trial and execution remains, unanswered and probably will for years to come.