Niger-Delta tragedy has no heroes or villains

At what point did you decide to write a play on the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa? I started toying with the idea of writing a play about the hanging of the Ogoni Nine while in New York, USA, in 1995. I had met Ken Saro Wiwa briefly in the late 1980s when I went to […]

At what point did you decide to write a play on the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa?

I started toying with the idea of writing a play about the hanging of the Ogoni Nine while in New York, USA, in 1995. I had met Ken Saro Wiwa briefly in the late 1980s when I went to interview him for a book I was working on. He impressed me as an angry, confident and blunt man. I was appalled by the way they were killed. Writing the play is my own way of dealing with those horrific killings which totally outraged the world. I am hoping to use the play to argue against a reoccurrence of such criminal acts of state murder in future.

What was the relationship between the late writer and you while he was alive?

Ken Saro Wiwa and I knew each other by reputation. As I said I met him once. He was a regular contributor to The Guardian, a paper I worked for as a reporter. I read his books and watched his television sit-com and he had also read me in The Guardian. But I must say right away that I admire his fighting spirit and I sympathize with the plight of the Niger Delta people.

Are you convinced that he was not guilty of inciting some youths against some of his kinsmen, a reason for which the military tribunal sentenced him to death by hanging?

I am not convinced that he ordered the killings of the four Ogoni chiefs who disagreed with him. The case was never proved beyond reasonable doubt. The Abacha government just wanted to silence him because Saro Wiwa had become a thorn in their flesh. Fresh facts are beginning to emerge about the complicity of both the oil companies and the military task force in the murder of the chiefs. So I really don’t believe they were guilty.

 

Do you think his killing is responsible for the violence that has become the story of the Niger Delta in the last few years?

I think the killing of the Ogoni Nine escalated the violence and militancy in the region. Successive governments mishandled the genuine agitation of the Niger Delta people for a fair deal in Nigeria. I remember as a young reporter at The Guardian, an oil company organized a tour for me and other reporters to its aviation facility in Eket. I was shocked by the stark difference between life within the oil company estate and life in Eket. I came and wrote an article about the neglect of the goose that lays the golden egg. I hate injustice and marginalization. I have a conscience and it is never at peace in the face of injustice and lack of fairness. This is what inspired The Killing Swamp, a play of ideas about justice and equity, about the poverty of leadership and the unwillingness to do the right thing.

What did you intend to achieve with such a play?

I intend to bring attention to the neglect of the region by successive administrations in Nigeria and about the environmentally hostile policies of the oil companies in the region. It is my hope that such attention will lead to a redoubling of efforts by the various stakeholders to solving the Niger Delta problem.

 

How long did it take you to complete it?

Writing the first draft took me one month. Then I kept it away, did some others and returned to rework and polish it over and over again. Each time I picked it up I always find something to tinker with. I am never satisfied with myself.

What were your sources of information? What research activities did you carry out in order to write the play?

I didn’t do much research beyond newspaper cuttings I kept about the tragic incident. The play is partly a work of imagination and partly historical facts. Every work of art is a composite of lived experience and imagination.

How do you feel about the reception of your play?

I am impressed that the play has been well received. I am happy that it made it to the NLNG Nigeria Literature Prize shortlist of three. But I would have been happier if it had won.

Do you consider Ken Saro Wiwa a villain or a hero?

On whether Saro Wiwa was a hero or villain, I think the Niger Delta tragedy has no hero or villain. What we have are victims.