Ken Saro-Wiwa’s fate had long been sealed. The decision to execute him and his companions was reached before the special tribunal was ordered to reconvene and pronounce a verdict that had been decided outside the charade of judicial proceeding. The meeting of the Provisional Ruling Council to consider the verdict was a macabre pretence, a prolongation of the cynicism that marked the trial proceedings from the outset.

--------Wole Soyinka, 1996.

 

 

Human rights is the only guarantee of peaceful co-existence of peoples, the insurance of justice for individuals and groups. Denied, it creates conditions of social and political unrest and often leads to violence and conflict – I therefore consider it a worthy service to humanity and a patriotic duty to protest the denial of rights to individuals and communities.

-------Ken Saro-Wiwa, 1992.

 

 

Sixty-five days in chains, many weeks of starvation, months of mental torture and, recently, the rides in a steaming, airless Black Maria to appear before a Kangaroo Court…where the proceedings leave no doubt that the judgment has been written in advance… The men who ordain and supervise this show of shame, this tragic charade are frightened by the word, the power of ideas, the power of the pen, by the demands of social justice and scared of the power of the word that they do not read.

------Ken Saro-Wiwa, March 1995.

 

 

Violence is not the answer to a fascist government. We must continue to a non-violent struggle. It is very expensive to do that, it is hard. But it is the only way that our way can proceed. There is no other way.

-------Ken Saro-Wiwa.

 

 

We will never resort to violence. But we will tackle the irresponsible leadership of this country. In any case, environmental degradation is a very high form of violence.

------Ken Saro-Wiwa.

 

 

Ken Saro-Wiwa wrote like a man who knew he was living a borrowed life….Ken Saro-Wiwa greatly suited a person K.O. Mbadiwe would call a man of “timbre and caliber” to show the level of his attainment in society. Saro-Wiwa rose to the highest positions in all fields he ventured in.

-------Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, 1998

 

 

 

Quote 6

Government is [meant] to protect the rights [of its people] and the creations of God… Giving responsibility (of leadership) to irresponsible persons is a sin.

------Abdullahi Dan Fodi in Diya al-siyasat (The Light of Politics), 1819.

 

Quote 7

Abu Sayyid reported that the Prophet said: “The best Jihad (Holy War) is that of one who speaks a true word to a tyrannical ruler.”

------Ibn Majah, Tirmizi, Abu Daud.2

 

Quote 8

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s polularity in political and literary circles around the world is growing with an unprecedented speed. Already many critics have declared that he is next to only to Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe in the amount of attention that his works have received in recent years.

------Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, 1998. 

 

Quote 9

We shall demand our rights peacefully and non-violently, and shall win… Ours is a just and non-violent struggle.

-----Ken Saro-Wiwa, 1993