A major Ogoni organisation has firmly rejected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s posthumous state pardon and national honour granted to late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others, known as the Ogoni 9, saying they should never have needed a pardon to begin with.
Speaking with Vanguard, Dr Goodluck Diigbo, President of the Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority (OCIA), said the group finds the gesture deeply misplaced and unacceptable.
According to Diigbo, the Ogoni 9 were not criminals and were wrongly executed by the Nigerian state in 1995 without a fair trial.
He acknowledged that Tinubu may have meant well and is trying to bring healing to a dark chapter in Nigeria’s history, but argued that offering a pardon implies that a crime was committed which the group insists never happened.
Dr Diigbo added that instead of a pardon, what the government should pursue is full exoneration.
He warned that while the President has the constitutional power to pardon offenders, extending national awards to those legally treated as criminals even if posthumously could be legally challenged.
He said it would be “too late” if the awards and pardons are accepted without first correcting the narrative through official exoneration, as the 1999 Constitution does not allow such honours for convicted criminals.
He also criticised past leaders, especially former President Goodluck Jonathan, for failing to act. Diigbo accused Jonathan of promoting judicial officers who had a hand in what he described as a “kangaroo tribunal” that condemned the Ogoni 9 to death.
The OCIA, in a resolution accepted by the Ogoni General Assembly, has officially rejected the pardon and award, insisting that only exoneration accompanied by an official apology from the Nigerian government would be acceptable.
Dr Diigbo revealed that he is already engaging lawmakers in the National Assembly to push for the creation of an “Exoneration Administrative Framework” that would offer proper justice to the memory of the fallen heroes and their families.
Until then, he said, the Ogoni people will not accept Tinubu’s gesture as genuine or healing, stating firmly:
“Our people were murdered, not pardoned.”
