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 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? Let’s find out together. The fourth episode of the second season of The Republic is now available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Hosted by Wale Lawal
Feb 12, 2025
Listen to the Episode
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.
Hosted by Wale Lawal.
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 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? Let’s find out together. The fourth episode of the second season of The Republic is now available wherever you listen to podcasts.
