By Clifford Ndujihe

LAGOS — It is exactly 15 years that renowned rights activist, Mr. Ken Saro Wiwa, was hung by the military government of the late Gen. Sani Abacha and activists are not allowing the day pass by without eulogising him.

Remembering Ken yesterday, President of the Campaign for Democracy, CD, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, paid glowing tributes to the memory of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 8, saying that 15 years after “they still cannot hang the message.”

She said: “Saro Wiwa had led the Ogoni people in a peaceful struggle to demand justice and equity, exploitation and environmental degradation in the oil rich community. His intellectual militancy put the Ogoni cause on global focus and exposes the criminal activities of the Nigerian Government and oil companies against the people of the oil bearing region.

“Rather than addressing the issues that Ken Saro Wiwa-led MOSOP put on the front burner, the Nigerian State chose to hang the messenger thinking that it would hang the message by doing so.”

“Like Ken rightly predicted hanging peaceful campaigner like him would not solve the problem but rather lead to violent agitations across the Niger Delta, which explains why we are having amnesty for those who never ask for one today. The challenge on the occasion of the anniversary of Ken Saro Wiwa and Ogoni 8 is to address the issues that led to the murder of Ken Saro Wiwa and that can only be done by doing justice to the demands of the Niger Delta people for a new deal.”