Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Dr. Sam Amadi has shared a rare personal account of the late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa’s resistance to legal defence during his trial under the Abacha regime.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News from 4:05 , Dr. Amadi recalled the early days of Saro-Wiwa’s prosecution, revealing that the Ogoni leader initially refused to be defended in court. According to him, it took persuasion from prominent human rights lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi and others before Saro-Wiwa agreed to stand trial.
“When we wanted to defend Ken Saro-Wiwa, I remember very well when he came to our office with Gani Fawehinmi,” Amadi recounted. “He said that we shouldn’t defend him. We had to convince him to go for trial.”
The scholar explained that Saro-Wiwa’s hesitation stemmed from his belief that the judicial process under the military regime was compromised and that the outcome of his case had already been predetermined. However, Amadi noted that his eventual agreement to proceed with the trial was a testament to his courage and commitment to the Ogoni cause.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and environmental activist, led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in protesting environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. His execution in 1995 by the military government sparked international outrage and remains one of the darkest chapters in Nigeria’s human rights history.
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