Suage Badey is a son of Mr Albert Badey, one of the four Ogoni chiefs, now known as Ogoni Four, who were lynched on May 21, 1994 by irate youths. In this interview with DENNIS NAKU, Suage recalls the tragic incident
It’s nearly 29 years since the gruesome lynching of the Ogoni Four, one of who was your father. How do you remember that tragic incident?
Remembering the Ogoni Four brings sad and pleasant memories. Sad in the sense that they were unjustly tagged with derogatory names, which led to their gruesome murder and till this day, they haven’t been accorded the respect they deserve in the court of public opinion for their service to the Ogoni people, Rivers State and Nigeria. On the other hand, fond memories of their love for family, community and contributions to societal growth brings smiles and satisfaction that they led responsible lives worthy of emulation.
The lynching of the Ogoni Four happened at a meeting in Giokoo community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State on May 21, 1994. What exactly led to that ugly incident?
On May 21, 1994, my dad’s driver managed to get to Port Harcourt through public transport, which was about 45 minutes’ drive from Gokana, in those days when traffic congestion wasn’t much. He witnessed the destruction of the car my dad took to the meeting, and those of Chief Edward Kobani and Chief Samuel Orage by the hitmen assigned for the ugly deed. He witnessed, in particular, how my dad was beaten. He watched him helplessly as young men used weapons to hack him down while he bled profusely until he gave up the ghost.
On receiving this report, I dashed off to the residence of the Commissioner of Police, who quickly got in touch with the military Governor then and I was given military and police escort to Gokana. On arrival, I watched in amazement my fellow Ogoni celebrating the killing of my father, Edward Kobani, Samuel Orage and Theophilus Orage. They were all dancing and chanting songs I couldn’t really understand at the time due to my state of mind. It was unbelievable. The security men had to shoot in the air to disperse the crowd and that was how we found our way through these fierce-looking youths to rescue Alhaji M.M. Kobani, who was badly wounded, and Chief Francis Kpai, who was virtually at the point of death.
The truth is this; MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) at the time, propagated a lot of untruths, fuelled a lot of crisis, which culminated in countless deaths of ordinary Ogoni folks. Unfortunately, the orchestrated murder of the Ogoni Four took the crisis to an incredibly dangerous dimension and that couldn’t just be swept under the carpet.
It is a long story and many Ogoni and Rivers people, who lived in those times and are still around today, will tell you that the trial and sentencing of the Ogoni Nine was not in any way a travesty of justice. It was a judgment that put an end to a reign of terror, arrogance and acts of impunity. The Ogoni Nine, who include (Ken) Saro-Wiwa, were hanged after a trial for the murder of the Ogoni Four, which includes my father, Albert Badey. The narrative that has been drummed over time is that the Ogoni Nine’s trial was a sham and it was designed to achieve only one thing — the death sentence of Saro-Wiwa and others. But why hasn’t anyone been truthful enough to question the orchestrated and brutal murder of the Ogoni Four? It is sad though that we lost the Ogoni Four and consequentially the Ogoni Nine because we are all Ogoni on both sides of the divide. The Ogoni issue is a very sensitive and complicated story. These complications have led to a lot of setbacks for our people.
On that fateful day, did your father speak to you before he gave up the ghost and what did he tell you?
I didn’t have the opportunity to have a talk with him on that fateful day. I had spent the night at a friend’s and woke up at about 5am with a horrible dream, which clearly made me feel something bad was to going happen to him. I rushed to the house so I could stop him from travelling or to join him but on getting home, he had already left for Gokana.
What I do remember was the initial attempt on their (Ogoni Four) lives on November 13, 1993 by the then militant wing of MOSOP. The Gokana coordinator of the body and others constituted themselves into a court of the land and read out a judgment, sentencing my father and others to death and were about to carry out their decision when Chief Kobani came to the rescue of everybody because he had come to the meeting with quite a number of boys from Bodo community that resisted the MOSOP militia. Chief Kobani had the foresight to bring those youths because threats to life had become so pronounced and he suspected he and others could be walking into a deathtrap. My dad, on his return from that particular meeting, told my mum what happened. He kept telling us that those people were on a mission to take his life. He said he believed that the truth would come to light someday and that he didn’t mind dying if that was what it would take. Almost 29 years after, it worries me that that truth is still suppressed. On May 21, 1994, they eventually succeeded in killing him and his friends under the guise of environmental activism.
What exactly did the youths, who carried out the act, accuse the Ogoni Four of?
The question should rather be: What did MOSOP, at the time, wrongly and devilishly, label the Ogoni Four? The youths being referred to weren’t the entirety of Ogoni youths then, but rather the militant youth wing of MOSOP that was recruited by Ken Saro-Wiwa and his cohorts and under his leadership’s direct command. The pioneer president of MOSOP, the late Dr. G.B. Leton, was a former Minister for Education during the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo; while Saro-Wiwa was the movement’s Public Relations Officer. There were differences in opinion by the leaders on the best approach to tackle the government and Shell, as it relates to the problems affecting our people. This was between 1991 to 1993.
(Those in) Leton’s faction were moderates, who believed in the use of passive resistance and effective dialogue to achieve the objectives of MOSOP while Saro-Wiwa’s faction believed in outright confrontation, a mob approach and an ideology that triggered a lot of violence, destruction of private and public properties and arbitrary killings. All this was going on under a smokescreen of human rights and environmental advocacy. Dr Leton was a gentleman and couldn’t continue with the violent methods and threatened to resign. He and many others severally spoke to Saro-Wiwa without success. He was later to regret approving Saro-Wiwa’s request to extend his duties beyond PRO to include being the spokesman for the Ogoni people, which he granted putting into consideration Saro-Wiwa’s media expertise, not realising that it was a mistake. This he mentioned severally before he passed on as one big mistake he made because Saro-Wiwa used this to wreck a lot of havoc within Ogoni, which resulted in the disaster that culminated in the monstrous killings of the Ogoni Four.
The resignation of Leton too, in my opinion, was also another mistake because he played into the hands of Saro-Wiwa, who immediately seized the opportunity to declare himself President of MOSOP.
Now, back to your question. MOSOP, under the leadership of Saro-Wiwa, divided the Ogoni along so many lines. Saro-Wiwa and his lieutenants chose who could be spared and who to be given the death sentence by his contrived jungle court. He knew those he accepted as his own brand of Ogoni and those he labelled vultures for opposing him. Vultures meant those Ogoni he described as feeding on the miseries of the land or the people. Sadly too, he also divided Ogoni along dialect lines as well. Ogoni is made up of four dialects. He went ahead to develop a strong disinformation machinery that discredited all the elite that opposed his methods. In the course of time, he succeeded in poisoning the minds of unsuspecting Ogoni masses, particularly his militant youths. This was what eventually led to all sorts of unbelievable acts and the brutal murder of the Ogoni Four.
He (Saro-Wiwa) once said, “These men are the ones standing in between you and riches. They prevent the riches you deserve and have made you poor. We must do something to change the tide. This is a revolution and who does not join will go down with it.” These were inciting words. He sowed the seed of discord and watered it for only one purpose, the elimination of anyone with an alternative view or opinion. He never entertained superior or alternative reason or diverse thoughts. He was the numero uno, never to be opposed and went on like that until Ogoni became a land consumed by endless fires, which consequently consumed him as well. We lost it all. This has kept us in a perpetual vicious circle.
Ogoni needs a rebirth because we still grope in the dark after 29 years of the murders and it’s resultant effects — the trials, hangings and negative fallout. Ogoni’s remain polarised. We need a filtration process that would filter the ills of deceit, disinformation and destructive attitudes. We cannot go on distorting the facts with an endless glorification for murderers while disregarding these poor innocent men who did nothing except voice their opinion and for that, were brutally killed, their bodies dismembered in the most horrific manner and think we are making progress. That is what happened to the Ogoni Four. Their remains are still in the hands of their killers to date. This is callous and devastating.
Was there ever any confrontation or open disagreement between any of the Ogoni Four and Ken Saro-Wiwa?
I just mentioned earlier that they disagreed on methods of approach on the Ogoni issue. While Saro-Wiwa and his supporters believed in direct confrontation they (Ogoni Four) felt it was better to adopt the principle of passive resistance. This was the bone of contention between both factions except there were other reasons that may be personal. Things got out of hand when the cocktail of lies being spun by Saro-Wiwa’s propaganda machinery took a new dimension and violence erupted everywhere. The attendant violence that ensued led to police stations all over Ogoni being sacked, arms carted away by thugs and the concomitant destruction of houses of perceived opponents who were tagged as vultures. There was also the destruction of the palaces of first-class chiefs who were opposed to their violent reign. These kings of the various kingdoms that comprise Ogoni were chased and narrowly escaped death as they fled from their domains. This all began as skirmishes but as time passed, it moved from these incredible disturbances to full-blown anarchy, which eventually crystallised into multiple inter-tribal wars with our neighbouring communities. The Ogoni at this point were no longer only fighting Shell and the government but also Andoni’s, Okirika’s, Oyigbo (communities) and very sadly, ourselves. Thousands of deaths occurred, villages were razed down and scores of children, women and young men lost their lives prematurely.
It was a confusing and chaotic period of our history. Ogoni had never had any form of revolution and before they reason could prevail, they had been consumed by an inferno of sorts.
Many were swept by this new phenomenon of an Ogoni where everybody would be a millionaires — a propaganda phrase by the Saro-Wiwa disinformation machinery — and that the least Ogoni would ride nothing less than a Mercedes. The propaganda was overwhelming and people put their lives on the line to achieve this dream. Meanwhile the destruction of lives and property went on unabated. As this persisted, the environmental crusaders and architects of this ill-conceived disturbances brazenly went about documenting the deaths and destruction in what was to be known as “Delta Force”. This was aired on British television for the purposes of discrediting the government while advancing their recognition as environmental right crusaders. It was that sophisticated. This was what Ogoni had to go through in the hands of one who I want to believe was passionate about Ogoni but put personal ambition above the lives of the very people he and his ilk claimed to be fighting for. In my opinion, the struggle was just,timely and achievable only that it took a divisive and dangerous turn. Ogoni had a good case, which could have been arguably articulated and persuasively considered with resultant positive outcomes and no bloodletting.
I remember the government granting us the opportunity to have the Ogoni State under the ( Gen. Ibrahim) Babangida government with Ogoni’s as majority in the proposed state but it all crashed due to the confrontational posture of the movement. Mismanagement of the movement and selfishness led to all our calamities. However, there are other aspects that could be viewed as beneficial too despite the enormity of the pains. For instance, the killing of the Ogoni Four led to the search for the murderers who were mostly members of the then National Youth Council of Ogoni People. Their brutal murder, though painful, served as a sacrifice for many Ogoni to leave the shores of Nigeria for greener pastures. This, in itself, is a consolation for the families of the Ogoni Four because thousands of Ogoni benefited form the United Nations refugee programme as a result of the search for the murderers.
In all, we lost the Ogoni Four, the Ogoni Nine and many many Ogoni to the struggle.
I think that we should celebrate them despite the unfortunate things that transpired, which led to the gruesome murder of the Ogoni Four and the consequent hanging of the Ogoni Nine.
What matters now above everything is healing. We can achieve healing and reconciliation when we speak the truth and stamp out falsehood. We must do this with a good measure of sincerity which will guarantee and usher in a new era of genuine embrace, love and understanding.
Altering records, through falsehood, is like brewing another stew for disaster. May their souls — the Ogoni Four and the Ogoni Nine — rest peacefully in the bosom of the Almighty.
What do you think Ogoni land really needs now?
Ogoni needs peace, but that peace can only be achieved when we put an end to the lies. This will then pave the way for genuine reconciliation, which will make the Ogoni 13 concept real and not imaginary.
We have never been this divided, but it is not impossible to get back to the united Ogoni that we used to be during the era before the killing of the Ogoni Four and subsequent hanging of the Ogoni Nine.
It will bring smiles to the faces of all if only we can encourage ourselves and speak to our conscience. We must remain together in love and harmonious courage. That is the Ogoni I wish we begin to put together for generations yet unborn. What I will rather prefer is for those actors within the international community that influence public opinion to have a rethink and help to heal Ogoni by conducting a genuine research into the truth. It is so unfair that four gentlemen were so gruesomely murdered and the world looked the other way and glorified the perpetrators. This is so callous and ridiculous.
What has the Ogoni lost in your opinion by the death of the Ogoni 13?
The Ogoni’s have lost so much, we have lost love, togetherness, sincerity, genuine environmental advocacy, cultural potency, humility, patience, hard work and respect, truth, our traditional institutions, our art and many more. And in its place, we have hate, divisiveness, rancour, deceit, a growing depletion of our culture and heritage, arrogance, impatience, mediocrity, violence and so forth. This is not peculiar to us but we must make concerted efforts to pull ourselves back on the shore, safe from these drowning issues with a clear view of the horizon, which offers us relentlessly that love we once possessed.
Have the Ogoni learnt any lessons from those historical moments?
We don’t seem to have learnt much, especially when one puts into consideration these peddlers of disinformation. They appear to be in a sizeable number, which is dangerous for the younger generation who are constantly being fed with this poisonous fabrications. What I see or rather notice is that there is at least three mindsets. One, those who know the truth and have learnt and understood but are quiet and docile for fear of being hurt. Two, those who know the truth but thrive on lies, they remain adamant and are boisterous, provocative and unrepentant with a mindless mien. And three, those who do not know, but have swallowed the falsities hook, line and sinker and are unfortunately on a train not of their own making, to a destination unknown. This is our albatross. We just have to figure out solutions and navigate our way back to safety.
How would you describe your late father and what d0 you miss most about him?
He was a devoted Christian of the Methodist faith and had the best result for Arts in Nigeria in the year 1958, which earned him a Cambridge University scholarship. As a family man, he loved my mum and provided all the assurances a child needed and expected from a father to my siblings and me. He was a disciplinarian and wouldn’t tolerate any form of misconduct, which he discouraged with an inexorable love. His sudden absence left in us a huge vacuum, a hole in our hearts that can never be filled. There are too many memories, the early morning family payers at 6am every day, his knack for keeping to time, which I think made him predictable and an easy target on the day he was murdered.
I recall how as a Permanent Secretary, Commissioner and Secretary to Government/ Head of Service and even as the Caretaker Chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention in Rivers State, he always got to the office by 7.30am prompt, which many admired. He had an engaging personality, very unassuming, humble and lived a life of contentment.
He had a way of making every situation lighter through jokes and I recall how he always fooled my mum and my sisters using us, the boys, every April 1 with a new April Fool prank. He played table tennis with us every weekend, particularly my sisters. He would also take us out as little boys and teenagers to watch him play lawn tennis and he taught us how to play too. He would drive us around every other weekend to the then Challenge Bookshop and pick novels for us to read, then tasked us to finish reading within a specified period of time and summarise what we read in a number of words.
He was a lover of football, being a footballer himself, who played on his school team from his junior days at the Methodist Boys High School, Uzuakoli and this brings to mind the emptiness we felt in May 1994 when they took him away from us. It was an extremely sorrowful period of our life as a family when we lost him in the most gruesome manner through the machinations of wolves masked as sheep. We never saw his remains, taken away by these evil perpetrators. A calamitous end for a peaceful man and lover of his people. We miss his smiles, admonition, love, overwhelming care and guide.
