Former aide to Saro Wiwa speaks on conditions for resumption of oil production in Ogoni

Environmental public policy consultant and former aide to the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, Dr. John Barika Idamkue, has outlined four key hurdles President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must overcome to ensure the peaceful resumption of oil production in Ogoniland, Rivers State.

In a chat on Saturday, marking his first public intervention on the Ogoni crisis since the execution of the Ogoni 9 on November 10, 1995, Idamkue urged the Tinubu administration to establish a Ken Saro-Wiwa Mitigation Fund, model engagements after Barack Obama’s post-BP oil spill response, and avoid security-led dialogue initiatives that have historically alienated the Ogoni people.

Idamkue, who described the executions as “an unjust termination that should never have happened,” said he was moved to speak following President Tinubu’s recent actions acknowledging the historical injustice.

These include the posthumous national honours conferred on the Ogoni 9 on June 12, 2025, and Tinubu’s January pledge to grant them presidential pardon.

“The words of the President have aroused some often suppressed, traumatic memories of the pro-democracy struggle in Nigeria, particularly the environmental and social justice campaigns of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), of which I was a key participant as a young man,” Idamkue said.