The Kangaroo Court

The Republic

On 19 January 1994, General Abacha, who had been Nigeria’s head of state for just two months, sent a federal ministerial committee to Ogoniland to meet with Ken Saro-Wiwa in Saro-Wiwa's hometown of Bori. The primary mission of the committee was to investigate the oil crisis in the Niger Delta region and make a report on how to solve the crisis. The committee consisted of Alex Ibru, the federal minister of internal affairs; Chief Donald Etiebet, the minister of petroleum resources; Melford Okilo, the minister of tourism and commerce; and Lieutenant Colonel Dauda Musa Komo, the military governor of Rivers State.

Ibru, the publisher of The Guardian, one of Nigeria’s most influential newspapers at that time, was a close friend of Saro-Wiwa. Due to his friendship with Saro-Wiwa, The Guardian had given MOSOP a lot of positive coverage and publicity in the news. Saro-Wiwa imagined that with Ibru on the tour, the Ogoni cause would get the seriousness of their struggle conveyed to the country, and to Abacha. However, Lieutenant Colonel Komo who acted as the official escort and guide of the Committee, saw the tour as an opportunity to impress Abacha and show his superiors in Abuja that he had Saro-Wiwa and the Ogonis under his control. With such differing goals between Saro-Wiwa and Lieutenant Komo, what kind of collision was about to happen?

In this episode, Wale Lawal finds some answers. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠republic.com.ng/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠.