By Donu Kogbara
Ken Saro-Wiwa Junior, the eldest son of the Ogoni author and activist whose 1995 execution sent shockwaves around the world, passed away, aged only 47, on Tuesday. And I am more devastated than mere words can ever express.

I had Issues with his Dad, Ken Senior, but was appalled when Abacha brutally killed him. Meanwhile, I had no reservations whatsoever about Ken Junior, who was very clever, very kind-hearted, very civilized, very principled, very responsible, very mature (even as a youngster) and the possessor of an excellent sense of humour.

*Ken Sarowiwa: Died in the struggle for Ogoni people

He often cracked jokes that made me hoot with laughter. And I absolutely adored him, embraced him as a little brother and I was SO proud of his achievements.

We both grew up in the UK and developed shared interests in journalism, literature and fascinating debates about all manner of human dilemmas that went on all night.

When he met a charming English girl called Olivia, he told me that he wanted to marry her. And I completely approved of her when he introduced her to me.

Olivia and Junior – who was as handsome as Olivia was beautiful – were such a lovely couple. And, in addition to being smart, she shared our sense of harmless mischief.

One day, they came to see me, giggling like naughty teenagers. They said that they had boarded a train separately, then Junior had pretended to be bumping into Olivia for the first time and had cockily propositioned her; and she had agreed, then and there in front of everyone, to follow him back to his place.

They were totally tickled by the shocked reactions of other passengers! I was also immensely amused, imagining predominantly White passengers (many of them racists) directing uncharitable thoughts at a White girl who allowed herself to be “picked up” by a Black dude she had, as far as they were concerned, only just met!

At one point, before we became established professionals, Ken Junior and I worked together from my flat in London. And we made a pact to stay put in Europe and stay away from the terrible tensions that were escalating back home in Ogoniland.

We didn’t want to be part of other peoples’ wahala – wahala we regarded as unsavoury and unnecessary. We desperately wanted uncomplicated, peaceful existences. But we were, alas, denied (by circumstances that were bigger than us and beyond our control) the neutrality, simplicity and detachment we craved.

Things got completely out of hand when Ken Senior was arrested; and Ken Junior was, of course, morally obliged to intervene to try to save his father, while I felt obliged to try to defend my father (who was at loggerheads with Ken Senior).

But even when we were under almost intolerable emotional pressure because our parents were on opposite sides of a seriously toxic political conflict that nearly destroyed Ogoniland and cost Ken Senior and some of our uncles their lives, Ken Junior and I somehow managed to stay in touch and maintain a warm bond.

To say that it wasn’t easy is a massive understatement. There were no-go areas. There were tears. There were topics that were too painful to discuss. There were embittered and bereaved relatives, friends and supporters in  two different camps.

There were times when Ken Junior and I had to meet discreetly, to avoid being accused of betrayal by the diehards around us who felt that it was no longer appropriate for any Saro-Wiwa or Kogbara to be on good terms.

But we weathered that storm and never forgot the fact that we were, essentially, Like Minds and Fellow Citizens Of The World who came from the same small corner of Rivers State. In a nutshell, we didn’t allow ourselves to get sucked into a humungous quarrel we didn’t start; and we flatly refused to throw each other away.

Ken Junior was a chip off the old block in terms of creative talent. Like Ken Senior, he was a natural scribe. In 1999, he took off to Canada to become a writer-in-residence at Massey College, University of Toronto. During this period, he wrote features and opinion pieces for The Globe and Mail newspapers and was twice (in 2002 and 2003) nominated for awards for his stylish articles on Canadian subjects.

Ken Saro Wiwa Junior

Ken Junior also wrote for other foreign publications, penned a critically acclaimed book about his complex relationship with Ken Senior and also became a broadcaster who produced and narrated radio/TV documentaries for international channels.

In 2006, Junior was appointed as a special adviser on peace and conflict resolution by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. And, according to the BBC website:

“He later served Mr Obasanjo’s successor, President Umaru Yar’Adua, as an adviser on international affairs and stayed on under President Goodluck Jonathan until he lost last year’s election. His willingness to work with the Federal Government marked him out as less militant than his father. But like his father, he was committed to the cause of the Ogoni people.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Ken Junior also happened to be a loving son to his dear mother, Maria, an inspirational father to his two sons with Olivia and a caring sibling to his siblings.

I visited him, his wife and their children, earlier on this year. And we had a really nice Sunday lunch. And I spoke to him regularly about Ogoni and other issues.

I still have three voicemail messages he recently left on my phone. Thank God I didn’t erase them. I will play them back often, to remind me of my darling Junior.

He has now been reunited with his father. May they rest in perfect peace.