ABUJA, Nigeria — President Bola Tinubu has posthumously granted full state pardons and conferred national honours on Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight other members of the Ogoni Nine, nearly 30 years after their execution under the regime of late military ruler General Sani Abacha.
Speaking on Thursday, June 12, 2025, during a joint sitting of the National Assembly to commemorate Nigeria’s Democracy Day, the president announced that he had exercised his constitutional powers under the prerogative of mercy to grant what he described as a “full and unconditional pardon” to the environmental and human rights activists.
“I shall also be exercising my powers under the prerogative of mercy to grant these national heroes a full pardon, together with others whose names shall be announced later in conjunction with the National Council of State,” Tinubu said.
The late Saro-Wiwa, who led a non-violent movement to draw attention to environmental degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta, was awarded the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).
The eight others—Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine—each received the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).
The announcement follows decades of local and international calls for justice, recognition and rehabilitation of the Ogoni Nine, whose deaths in November 1995 drew widespread global condemnation.
Their executions, following a controversial military tribunal that was denounced by human rights organisations as deeply flawed and politically motivated, led to Nigeria’s suspension from the Commonwealth and intensified international pressure on the Abacha regime.
Saro-Wiwa, a renowned writer and environmentalist, was the spokesperson for the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).
The group campaigned against environmental destruction allegedly caused by oil exploration activities, particularly by Shell Petroleum Development Company, and demanded more equitable resource distribution from the federal government.
The government’s crackdown on the group and its leaders, culminating in the 1995 executions, sparked what Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch described as one of the darkest moments in Nigeria’s human rights history.
The president said additional names would be announced later, following consultations with the National Council of State.
