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GENOCIDE
IN NIGERIA
The Ogoni
Tragedy\
Ken Saro-Wiwa
continued from last edition
(ii) The heat radiated by the blaze is considerable
enough to cause uneasiness and discomfort at moments of
deep concentration.
(iii) The heat radiated also has terrible bad effects on
crops, plants and all living soil-cells. The result of
which is infertile land and poor harvest.
(iv) The flame of the gas is not luminous. Thus unburnt
carbon is daily being concentrated in the immediate
air-space. That's atmospheric pollution.
3. OIL WELLS: (a) Considering that DERE (BOMU) at
present possesses to the order of (50) fifty oil-wells
worth millions of pounds in WORLD MARKET, we are
earnestly speaking of land waste or fertile land being
converted barren. All oil-locations are well-spanned by
tarred roads and all location premises are cemented. Due
to exhaustive reaction of crude oil with soil-cells,
immediate farm areas surrounding all such locations
become barren and our harvest very poor.
(b) The conveyance of crude oil under high-pressure in
pipe-lines to the magnitude of 6-8 lines intertwines or
runs the entire length of our farmlands. This is not
only waste arable land but the dangers of burst-pipes
and explosions are pertinent. All such explosions and
burst-pipes as occurs have tremendous adverse effect on
crops, soil and plants due to spouting crude oil.
HORROR: On Sunday 19th July 1970 a ghastly, grave
situation completely out-of-control broke loose.
Due to gross negligence on the part of SHELL BP,
pressure over-developed in one of her Well-Heads
(CHRISTMAS TREE) and erupted into a Volcano of Crude
Oil.
It's running into its second week of an uncontrolled
FOUNTAIN of CRUDE OIL flooding farmlands, ravaging
crops, polishing fishing-ports; creeks, rivers and
riverlets, mangrove forest, suffocating plants.
Streams and the entire air space are dangerously
polluted. In earnest, we are all breathing vaporized
crude oil in DERE at present and for how long,
indefinite. This is horror and disaster at bay.
We have earnestly been too humble, very stupidly
co-operative and frankly over-patient.
For considering:
i. That our pride and well-wishers as students are our
parents, guardians, sponsors and guarantors.
ii. That all these categories of our people have just
returned rag-tagged from the hell of the Civil War and
were just struggling to re-group and reconciliate the
lost with the meager sharable present.
iii. That their only means of resuscitating, maintaining
and seeing us through the schools, Colleges and
Universities is by their occupation.
iv. That their occupation is fishing and farming.
v. (a) That farming is done on land-fertile land
unpolluted and or flooded by ravishing crude oil.
(b) That fishing is successful only in clear salt or
fresh water, creeks, rivers and riverlets and mangrove
forest untanned with pestilent crude oil.
i. That all such occupation entails maintaining a
physically strong and healthy body.
ii. That a physically strong and healthy body opts
principally for good food to eat, soft fresh air to
inhale and clean water to drink.
iii. That all our happiness, satisfaction and contention
are fermenting now at home just because of the nuisance
of SHELL BP
iv. That we must continue our quest for knowledge and
education; then the world stands not to blame us if we
as OIL AFFECTED STUDENTS should demand adequate and
substantial compensation for all the havoc, horror and
nuisance of SHELL BP in DERE.
Our life-line is being strangled, our pride badly and
bitterly hurt and our patience can no longer be
over-stretched.
We believe that meaningful negotiations can help find
solutions to the abject situation. We would not like to
be underestimated or taken for a ride by the nose or
pushed to place of last resort. The Courts of Justice.
We have pains, suffering and difficulties of our
guardians, parents, sponsors, guarantors and the entire
sixteen thousand poor relations, friends and people of
DERE, painfully laden in our hearts.
We believe you shall meet with our demands for such
damages and compensations thereof.
We highly value your utter co-operation in this
situation.
Thanks.
Yours very sincerely,
(Sgd) NEDOM A. B. D.
SECRETARY, PUBLIC RELATIONS (D. S. U)
c/o St. Pius X Secondary School,
Bodo, Ogoni.
Rivers State.
(Sgd) C. D. KPAKOL,
PRESIDENT
c/o Government Comprehensive Sec. School,
Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
cc:-
1. The Public Relations Officer, Shell BP Port Harcourt.
2. The Manager, Shell BP, Port Harcourt.
3. The General Manager, Shell BP Lagos.
4. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines & Power,
Lagos.
5. The Federal Commissioner, Ministry of Mines & Power,
Lagos.
6. The Federal Commissioner, Ministry of Education,
Lagos.
7. The Commissioner for Education, Rivers State, Port
Harcourt.
8. The Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Rivers State, Port
Harcourt.
9. The Divisional Officer, Bori, Ogoni.
10. The Dere Town Council, Dere, Gokana, Ogoni.
11. The Patron, Dere Students' Union, Dere, Gokana,
Ogoni.
12. Members of the Executive Committee, Dere Students'
Union, Dere, Gokana, Ogoni.
The reaction of the Federal Government and the media
both national and international to the disaster was a
deafening silence. No aid was sent to the area. In utter
frustration, the Committee of Ogoni Citizens sent the
following letter to the London-based weekly
newsmagazine, “West Africa”
The Editor,
Overseas Newspapers Ltd.,
Cromwell House,
Fulwood Place,
London, W. C. I.
Dear Sir,
It is amazing that a major disaster such as the blow-out
at the Bomu oil fields got a mere passing note in your
esteemed weekly West Africa (August 8, 1970); more so,
as your Correspondent was in Port Harcourt during the
event.
The blow-out lasted three weeks, devastated extensive
areas of farmland, polluted drinking water and air,
covered creeks and rivers with a thick layer of oil and
sand. Over 20,000 people were deprived of a means of
livelihood. Light tremors were felt and children coughed
up blood. Up to the time of writing, not an iota of
badly needed relief has reached the distressed in the
town of Dere. The women marchers are still without
drinking water and food. They inhaled methane gas for
days.
The incident and the conspiracy of silence that has
surrounded it underline quite clearly the plight of the
agriculture-minded and minority Ogoni people on whose
valuable and limited land (average: 600 per square mile)
oil has been found. So long as millions of pounds in
royalties accrue to governments and profits to Shell-BP,
no one cares for the people who are despoiled in the
search for oil.
You might for once oblige your readers with the effect
of the discovery of oil on the people on whose land oil
is found, rather than the normal worthless and endless
computations of how many millions Nigeria is due to get
in foreign exchange earnings from petroleum.
Meantime, here is a popular song badly translated from
the Ogoni dialect:
The flames of shell are hell
We bask beneath their light
None for us save the blight
Of cursed neglect and cursed Shell.
(Sgd) L.L. LOOLO
COMMITTEE OF OGONI CITIZENS, BORI.
Needless to say, the newsmagazine did not publish the
letter. For a proper understanding of all the issues
raised by the Bomu Oil Disaster, we have to turn to a
journalist, Oamen Enaholo, who wrote a comprehensive
report in the now-defunct newsmagazine, “African Impact”
on 4th February, 1971 as follows:
The Bomu (Dere) oil disaster of July, 1970 came as a
climax to the sufferings of the Ogoni people. A Dere
villager said he would never forget July 20, 1970, the
day he and other villagers suddenly discovered that one
of Shell-BP's oil wells around the village had blown out
and was emitting oil and fire. “The blow-out continued
day and night for about two months during which we were
forbidden to make fire. Without fire, we could neither
cook our meals nor smoke tobacco”, he added.
The very existence of the people of Dere threatened when
the well, Bomu II, blew out emitting crude oil, sand,
water, gas and fire which engulfed the whole area. It
destroyed farmlands within a radius of about three miles
and left a thick layer of crude oil on the rivers and
creeks from Onne to Bodo, a distance which the people
gave as eight miles. Consequently, all marine lives in
the area were killed and fish traps destroyed. This
unfortunate situation has since left the people with
little or no food to eat and no water to drink.
The first reaction of Shell-BP was to express distress
at the plight of the people in the area because of the
blow-out took place at harvest time. Indeed, it was
harvest time with a difference because the crops
destroyed were the peoples first fruit after the civil
war and the seedlings were supplied to them by the
Government.
It took the company several weeks to bring the well
under control. It was “killed” when a relief well, “Bomu
35” was quickly drilled about half a mile from the
blow-out. It is into this relief well that the crude oil
from the blow out well is now being pumped. It is
reliably learnt that Shell-BP will do everything
possible to pump all the pools of crude and the thick
layer of oil on the rivers and creeks into the relief
well.
Having known what Shell-BP has done to recover part of
its lost oil, it follows that one would like to know as
well what the company has done to alleviate the
sufferings of the people whose food crops, economic
trees and farmlands have been destroyed and fishing
waters polluted by the blow-out. Surprisingly, nothing
concrete has so far been done in this direction.
Although a committee, comprising representatives of
Shell-BP, the Rivers State Government and an independent
university man (who has been described as a soil
micro-biologist) was said to have been set up to assess
the damage done to cash and food crops by the blow-out,
nothing has so far been heard from the committee. Even
if the committee eventually submits its report to the
Rivers State Government, it is doubtful whether Ogoni
people will accept it.
This is because in a press release by the Committee of
Ogoni Citizens on August 15, 1970, it was pointed out
that the Ogoni people did not regard as complete or
meaningful a body of assessors which did not include
direct representatives of the people. The Ogoni citizens
also attacked the terms of reference of the assessment
committee on the ground that damage was not done to food
and cash crops alone as Shell-BP wanted to establish as
a prenegotiation posture. “Greater damage was done also
to land and soil, drinking water, fishing ground and
villages and air”, the people added.
Because of the unwillingness of its members to talk it
is not yet known how soon the assessment committee will
complete its work. A source close to it, however,
disclose that its work has been slowed down to some
extent by the long time required to carry out laboratory
tests on soil samples taken from the disaster area. Soon
after the flow of lava from the blow-out well was
completely brought under control, Shell-BP flew some
agronomists from overseas to Nigeria to test the soil
within the three-mile radius of the blow-out well. The
aim was to determine the long term effect of the
blow-out on the land. It is also understood that the
assessment committee has, for the same reason, carried
out some tests on soil samples from the area. The tests
were undertaken by the University soil expert member of
the committee.
What is in fact reported to be holding back the work of
the committee is that its members have not been able to
agree on how much should be paid as compensation. A
source disclosed that the amount demanded by the Ogoni
people has been rejected by Shell-BP representatives on
the committee on the ground that it is arbitrary and
fantastic.
Scientific Calculation
It is understood that while the company is very anxious
to pay compensation without much delay, it insists that
whatever it pays must be based on some scientific
calculations. As far as Shell-BP is concerned, it is
impossible to assess the long term equitable
compensation to the owners of land and farms in the
affected area without resorting to some scientific tests
and calculations. The people of Ogoni however regard
this as a tactic by the company to avoid paying
compensations.
One thing probably responsible for this disagreement is
that there is misunderstanding over what constitutes the
long term damage to the land and the rivers and creeks.
It is believed in some quarters that Shell-BP is
planning, as part of its compensation for the long term
damage to the farmland, to rehabilitate the affected
area so that it will be good enough for cultivation once
more. This means that the company will acquire the area
for a period of some years during which it will till the
land and add all sorts of manures to it until it is fit
again for cultivation. As soon as this aim is achieved
the land may be handed back to the owners. Shell-BP will
of course pay adequate compensations for the land during
the period of rehabilitation.
With regard to the damage done to rivers and creeks, it
is believe by some observers that it would be necessary
for Shell-BP to remove the present blanket of oil from
the surface of the water. The revival of marine life in
this area would not be possible until the crude oil is
removed from the water.
Whatever happens, there seems to be no justification for
delaying the committee's report for such a long time. If
members of the committee are in difficulty, it will not
be out of place if they burrow a leaf from what happened
in the case of previous accidents of this nature. There
is the Tory Canvon disaster in 1966 off the coast of
England. For it, the British Government billed the oil
companies and ship owners £3 million (three million
pounds) as compensation. Similar claims have recently
been made in the case of a Liberian tanker, Pacific
Glory, which collided with another ship on October 23,
1970, eight miles off St. Catherine's Point, Isle of
Wight.
President Clinton
CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen...
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
You all sit down. We've got to get on with the show
here. Come on.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here
tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
Sit down.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
I am honored to be here tonight. Please, stop.
AUDIENCE: Bill! Bill! Bill!
CLINTON: Please stop. Sit down. Sit down. Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Bill! Bill! Bill!
CLINTON: Please sit. Please sit.
You know, I -- I love this, and I thank you, but we have
important work to do tonight. I am here first to support
Barack Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
And, second -- and, second, I'm here to warm up the
crowd for Joe Biden...
(APPLAUSE)
... though, as you will soon see, he doesn't need any
help from me.
(LAUGHTER)
I love Joe Biden, and America will, too.
What a year we Democrats have had. The primary began
with an all-star line up. And it came down to two
remarkable Americans locked in a hard-fought contest
right to the very end. That campaign generated so much
heat, it increased global warming.
(LAUGHTER)
Now, in the end, my candidate didn't win. But I'm really
proud of the campaign she ran.
(APPLAUSE)
I am proud that she never quit on the people she stood
up for, on the changes she pushed for, on the future she
wanted for all our children. And I'm grateful for the
chance Chelsea and I had to go all over America to tell
people about the person we know and love.
Now, I am not so grateful for the chance to speak in the
wake of Hillary's magnificent speech last night.
(LAUGHTER)
But I'll do the best I can.
(APPLAUSE)
Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that
she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack
Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
That makes two of us.
(APPLAUSE)
Actually, that makes 18 million of us...
(APPLAUSE)
... because, like Hillary, I want all of you who
supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.
(APPLAUSE)
And here's why. And I have the privilege of speaking
here, thanks to you, from a perspective that no other
American Democrat, except President Carter, can offer.
Our -- our nation is in trouble on two fronts. The
American dream is under siege at home, and America's
leadership in the world has been weakened. Middle-class
and low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes
declining, job losses, poverty, and inequality rising,
mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt increasing,
health care coverage disappearing, and a very big spike
in the cost of food, utilities, and gasoline.
And our position in the world has been weakened by too
much unilateralism and too little cooperation...
(APPLAUSE)
... by a perilous dependence on imported oil, by a
refusal to lead on global warming, by a growing
indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders, by a
severely burdened military, by a backsliding on global
nonproliferation and arms control agreements, and by a
failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy, from
the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central
and Eastern Europe.
(APPLAUSE)
Clearly, the job of the next president is to rebuild the
American dream and to restore American leadership in the
world.
(APPLAUSE)
And here's what I have to say about that. Everything I
learned in my eight years as president, and in the work
I have done since in America and across the globe, has
convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, he has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to
raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose. He has the
intelligence and curiosity every successful president
needs. His policies on the economy, on taxes, on health
care, on energy are far superior to the Republican
alternatives.
(APPLAUSE)
He has shown -- he has shown a clear grasp of foreign
policy and national security challenges and a firm
commitment to rebuild our badly strained military.
His family heritage and his life experiences have given
him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse
nation in an ever more interdependent world.
(APPLAUSE)
The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And
in his first presidential decision, the selection of a
running mate, he hit it out of the park.
(APPLAUSE)
With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting
Barack Obama's proven understanding, instincts, and
insight, America will have the national security
leadership we need.
And so, my fellow Democrats, I say to you: Barack Obama
is ready to lead America and to restore American
leadership in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United
States.
APPLAUSE) As president, he will work for an America with
more partners and fewer adversaries. He will rebuild our
frayed alliances and revitalize the international
institutions which helped to share the cost of the
world's problems and to leverage the power of our
influence.
He will put us back in the forefront of the world's
fight against global warming and the fight to reduce
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
(APPLAUSE)
He will continue and enhance our nation's commendable
global leadership in an area in which I am deeply
involved: the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and
malaria, including -- including -- and this is very
important -- a renewal of the battle against HIV and
AIDS here at home.
(APPLAUSE)
A President Obama will choose diplomacy first and
military force as a last resort.
(APPLAUSE)
But, in a world troubled by terror, by trafficking in
weapons, drugs and people, by human rights abuses of the
most awful kind, by other threats to our security, our
interests, and our values, when he cannot convert
adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama also will not allow the world's problems to
obscure its opportunities.
CLINTON: Everywhere, in rich and poor countries alike,
hard- working people need good jobs, secure, affordable
health care, food and energy, quality education for
their children and economically beneficial ways to fight
global warming.
These challenges cry out for American ideas and American
innovation. When Barack Obama unleashes them, America
will save lives, win new allies, open new markets, and
create wonderful new jobs for our own people.
(APPLAUSE)
Most important of all, Barack Obama knows that America
cannot be strong abroad unless we are first strong at
home.
(APPLAUSE)
People the world over have always been more impressed by
the power of our example than by the example of our
power.
(APPLAUSE)
Look...
(APPLAUSE)
Look at the example the Republicans have set.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
In this decade, American workers have consistently given
us rising productivity. That means, year after year,
they work harder and produce more.
Now, what did they get in return? Declining wages, less
than one-fourth as many new jobs as in the previous
eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits,
rising poverty, and the biggest increase in income
inequality since the 1920s.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
American families by the millions are struggling with
soaring health care costs and declining coverage.
I will never forget the parents of children with autism
and other serious conditions who told me on the campaign
trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't
qualify their children for Medicaid unless they quit
work and starved or got a divorce.
Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud
of?
What about the military families pushed to the breaking
point by multiple, multiple deployments? What about the
assault on science and the defense of torture? What
about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the
well-connected?
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
And what about Katrina and cronyism?
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that.
(APPLAUSE)
And Barack Obama will do better than that.
(APPLAUSE)
Wait a minute. But first...
AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we
can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!
Yes, we can!
CLINTON: Yes, he can, but, first, we have to elect him.
(APPLAUSE)
The choice is clear. The Republicans in a few days will
nominate a good man who has served our country
heroically and who suffered terribly in a Vietnamese
prison camp. He loves his country every bit as much as
we do. As a senator, he has shown his independence of
right-wing orthodoxy on some very important issues.
But on the two great questions of this election -- how
to rebuild the American dream and how to restore
America's leadership in the world -- he still embraces
the extreme philosophy that has defined his party for
more than 25 years.
(APPLAUSE)
And it is, to be fair to all the Americans who aren't as
hard- core Democrats as we, it's a philosophy the
American people never actually had a chance to see in
action fully until 2001, when the Republicans finally
gained control of both the White House and the Congress.
Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies
they had talked about for decades actually were
implemented. And look what happened.
They took us from record surpluses to an exploding debt;
from over 22 million new jobs to just 5 million; from
increasing working families' incomes to nearly $7,500 a
year to a decline of more than $2,000 a year; from
almost 8 million Americans lifted out of poverty to more
than 5.5 million driven into poverty; and millions more
losing their health insurance.
Now, in spite of all this evidence, their candidate is
actually promising more of the same.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
Think about it: more tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans that will swell the deficit, increase
inequality, and weaken the economy; more Band-Aids for
health care that will enrich insurance companies,
impoverish families, and increase the number of
uninsured; more going it alone in the world, instead of
building the shared responsibilities and shared
opportunities necessary to advance our security and
restore our influence.
They actually want us to reward them for the last eight
years by giving them four more.
AUDIENCE: No!
CLINTON: Now, let's send them a message that will echo
from the Rockies all across America, a simple message:
Thanks, but no thanks.
In this case...
(APPLAUSE)
In this case, the third time is not the charm.
(APPLAUSE)
My fellow Democrats, 16 years ago, you gave me the
profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead
our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared
prosperity.
Together, we prevailed in a hard campaign in which
Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced
to be commander-in-chief.
(APPLAUSE)
Sound familiar?
AUDIENCE: Yes!
CLINTON: It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the
right side of history. And it will not work in 2008,
because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, Senator Obama's life is a 21st-century incarnation
of the old-fashioned American dream. His achievements
are proof of our continuing progress toward the more
perfect union of our founders' dreams. The values of
freedom and equal opportunity, which have given him his
historic chance, will drive him as president to give all
Americans -- regardless of race, religion, gender,
sexual orientation, or disability -- their chance to
build a decent life and to show our humanity, as well as
our strengths, to the world.
We see that humanity, that strength, and our nation's
future in Barack and Michelle Obama and their beautiful
children.
We see them reinforced by the partnership with Joe Biden,
his fabulous wife, Jill, a wonderful teacher, and their
family.
Barack Obama will lead us away from the division and
fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope.
So if, like me, you believe America must always be a
place called Hope, then join Hillary and Chelsea and me
in making Barack Obama the next president of the United
States.
Thank you, and God bless you. Thank you.
to be continued
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