Amnesty International has described President Bola Tinubu’s state pardon granted to the nine Ogoni activists, executed in 1995 by the Sani Abacha military regime, as inadequate.

The rights organisation urged Mr Tinubu’s government to declare the murdered activists “innocent of any crime“.

Amnesty’s reaction came on the heels of Mr Tinubu’s June 12 Democracy Day address, during which he issued a posthumous pardon and award of Commander of the Order of the Niger to Ken Saro-Wiwa and Officer of the Order of the Niger to the other eight activists.  

Amnesty’s director in Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, on Wednesday, explained that Mr Wiwa and the other activists were unjustly executed for speaking candidly about the destructive activities of Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta.

Calling for full justice, Amnesty International is demanding full compensation for the ruin that oil spillage, gas flaring and pipeline leakages have caused affected residents and communities.

The organisation mentioned that Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria remains accused of complicity in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of the nine men.

Mr Sanusi stated, “This is welcome news, but it falls far short of the justice the Ogoni Nine need and deserve – the Nigerian government must recognise formally that they are innocent of any crime and fully exonerate them.”

He added, “The Ogoni Nine, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria’s leading author and campaigner, were brutally executed by a regime that wanted to hide the crimes of Shell and other oil companies that were destroying – and continue to destroy – the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people across the Niger Delta as a result of their devastating oil spills and leaks.”

Mr Sanusi explained that the execution of the activists nearly 30 years ago “has given the Nigerian government and oil companies, including Shell, licence to crack down protests and intimidate people in the Niger Delta who have been demanding justice and an end to their toxic pollution.”

The Amnesty chief pointed out that “full justice for the Ogoni Nine is only a first step – much more needs to be done to get justice for communities in the Niger Delta, including holding Shell and other oil companies to account for the damage they have done and continue to do”.

“They must pay the Niger Delta’s communities full compensation for the devastation their oil spills and leaks have caused and clean up their toxic mess before they leave the region,” Mr Sanusi said.