President Bola Tinubu has posthumously conferred national honours on four slain Ogoni leaders, urging reconciliation in a region long scarred by conflict over oil exploration.
Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Theophilus Orage and Samuel Orage — collectively remembered as the “Ogoni Four” — were awarded the Commander of the Order of the Niger during a ceremony at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday.
The recognition comes nearly 30 years after the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists, killings that drew global condemnation of Nigeria’s military regime and spotlighted the environmental devastation wrought by oil production in the Niger Delta.
“May their memories continue to inspire unity, courage and purpose among us,” Tinubu said, receiving the report of the Ogoni Consultations Committee. He urged communities to “close ranks, put this dark chapter behind us and move forward as a united community with one voice.”
The President reiterated his government’s commitment to environmental remediation, economic revival and the return of oil exploration to Ogoniland. He welcomed what he described as “overwhelming consensus” from communities to resume production, halted in 1993 after years of protests against ecological damage and neglect.
“A dead asset is not valuable to the community, the country or the people. The longer we procrastinate, the worse it is for everyone,” Tinubu said. He directed the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to begin talks with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, its joint venture partners and Ogoni leaders to finalise modalities for restarting operations.
The Buhari administration had in 2022 transferred the Ogoni oil fields to the NNPCL, a move Tinubu pledged to honour. He also instructed the environment ministry to embed pollution cleanup in the dialogue framework.
Ribadu, who presented the consultation report, said the process engaged local communities, traditional leaders and the diaspora across the four Ogoni zones. “We must implement everything that has been agreed,” he said, adding that restoring peace in Ogoniland would bring wider benefits to the Niger Delta and Nigeria.
Prof Don Baridam, chair of the Dialogue Committee, said the report reflected the collective will of the Ogoni people, including demands for meaningful participation in oil production, renewed environmental cleanup and sustainable development planning.
Oil was first discovered in Ogoniland in 1958. Three decades later, extraction ground to a halt following mass resistance to pollution and economic exclusion, a struggle that culminated in repression and the executions of 1995 — events that remain a defining moment in Nigeria’s environmental and human rights history.
