Listen to our trailer
About the Show
The Republic is a narrative podcast series exploring pivotal Nigerian and broader African historical events and figures. Our second season focuses on the life and legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and one of nine non-violent Ogoni activists the General Sani Abacha military government brutally executed in 1995.
The Ogoni are an ethnic group situated in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. For years, they have suffered pollution and environmental degradation stemming from crude oil extraction on their land. Saro-Wiwa’s protests against oil companies such as Shell, including his leadership of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), frustrated the Abacha government, which relied heavily on oil exports.
On 10 November 1995, after controversial court trials, the Abacha regime sentenced Saro-Wiwa along with eight other Ogoni activists to death by hanging. The eight were: Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine. Their brutal arrest and murder marked a pivotal moment not only in Nigeria’s history but also in the history of global environmentalism.
Nearly 30 years since the Ogoni 9 execution, host Wale Lawal traces the life and legacy of Saro-Wiwa, and the implications of the Ogoni 9 execution. You’ll travel to the Niger Delta and hear about life in Nigeria under Abacha’s regime, the political rise of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the troubled history of oil in the Niger Delta, the arrest and trial of the Ogoni 9, and how Abacha’s execution of the Ogoni 9 continues to shape the politics of Nigeria’s oil wealth and what it means to be Nigerian today.
Read our introduction to Season 2.
The Republic is now available, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Host
Wale Lawal is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Republic.
Listen & Subscribe
Choose your preferred player:
Episodes
DEC 22 2024 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 1
Abacha’s Offer
The second season of our podcast launches with the story of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s infamous ruler from 1993, and why environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, rejected his offer of a ministerial position.
DEC 29 2024 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 1 (Part I)
The Political Rise of Ken Saro-Wiwa (Part I)
In our second episode, we explore what it was about the Ogoni movement that made it (to borrow from the American writer, Toni Cade Bambara) ‘irresistible’ to Ken Saro-Wiwa.
JAN 12 2025 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 1 (Part II)
The Political Rise of Ken Saro-Wiwa (Part II)
In March 1973, a radio bulletin announced that the Rivers State government had fired Ken Saro-Wiwa. In the second part of episode two, we explore what Saro-Wiwa did next and ask: who was Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, and why does he loom large in the origins of Saro-Wiwa’s eventual activism?
JAN 19 2025 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 3
The Ogoni Crisis
In January 1993, a peaceful protest by the Ogonis led by Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) against Shell was met with violence from the Nigerian government. But what exactly happened? How did the Ogonis’ peaceful protest turn into a nightmare that many in Ogoniland today are still shuddering from?
JAN 26 2025 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 4
The Kangaroo Court
On 19 January 1994, General Abacha sent a federal ministerial committee to Ogoniland to meet with Ken Saro-Wiwa in Bori. Lieutenant Colonel Komo, who acted as the official escort and guide of the Committee, saw the tour as an opportunity to impress Abacha. With such differing goals between Saro-Wiwa and Lieutenant Komo, what kind of collision was about to happen?
FEB 02 2025 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 5
The Ogoni 8
Following the murders of the Ogoni chiefs, Rivers State military administrator, Lieutenant Colonel Dauda Musa Komo, and the Abacha regime finally had their way in to disrupt MOSOP. On May 22 1994, Komo held a press conference, where he accused MOSOP of the murders, using a bag of bones retrieved from the scene of the crime. But how did the government decide who to arrest?
FEB 09 2025 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 6
The Execution
Many Nigerians and international observers pushed for the Abacha regime to recall its sentence but on November 10 1995, they woke up to devastating news. From their homes, Nigerians wondered: despite the worldwide appeals, why did Abacha stick to his decision to sentence Saro-Wiwa and the other eight Ogonis to death? What message was Abacha trying to send to the world?
FEB 16 2025 × SEASON 2: EPISODE 7
‘We All Stand Before History’
In our final episode, we discuss the immediate aftermath of the execution of the Ogoni 9, and reflect on how their families—and the Ogoni people more broadly—have come to terms with their deaths while grappling with the unresolved environmental crisis caused by the oil exploration activities of Shell.
OCT 29 2023 × SEASON 1: EPISODE 2
MKO: The Man Nigeria Waited to See
In our second episode, we’re asking, how did a poor, ‘nameless’ son of a cocoa trader born in the old Yoruba city of Abeokuta go on to become the almost-president of Nigeria?
NOV 05 2023 × SEASON 1: EPISODE 3
SDP & NRC: Two Sides of the Same Coin
How do you control a democratic transition? You create the illusion of it. Our six-episode miniseries continues with a deep dive into the IBB regime’s two-party smokescreen.
NOV 12 2023 × SEASON 1: EPISODE 4
June 12: Freest and Fairest of Them All
After eight years of anticipation, and eight years of promises from General Ibrahim Babangida’s junta, Nigerians were finally about to have their say at the ballot box. In this week’s episode, we head to the polls!
NOV 19 2023 × SEASON 1: EPISODE 5
June 12: Hope Deferred
On the 23rd of June 1993, just eleven days after June 12, the election that had inspired so much hope, Nigerians had their fears materialize when IBB announced he was annulling the election. How did Nigerians react to this?
NOV 26 2023 × SEASON 1: EPISODE 6
June 12: The Rest Is History
Buckle up as we enter the final stretch of MKO Abiola’s presidential journey.