PORT HARCOURT—FIVE civil society groups,
yesterday, in Rivers State accused Nigeria Customs
Service, NCS, Apapa, Lagos, of impounding a
sculpture made in living memorial of Ken Saro-
Wiwa.

According to Ogoni Solidarity Forum, Friends of
the Earth, Social Action, Environmental Rights
Action and Home of Mother Earth Foundation, the
sculpture was seized on September 8, and all
efforts to get it released had been fruitless till date.
The group said the sculpture was on display in
several places in the United Kingdom before it was
shipped into the country.

A statement by Ogoni Solidarity Forum, Friends of
the Earth, Social Action, Environmental Rights
Action and Home of Mother Earth Foundation said
the sculpture was to draw attention to the
environmental challenges faced by Ogoni arising
from pollution of their area.

According to the groups: “This statement is issued
to draw public attention to the seizure by the
Nigeria Customs Service of a “living memorial” to
Ken Saro-Wiwa donated by Platform – friends and
colleagues in the United Kingdom – to the Ogoni
people.

The memorial is a sculpture made in
remembrance of the struggles of Ken Saro-Wiwa
and 8 other Ogoni environmental rights activists
who were sentenced and killed by a military
tribunal in November 1995. It calls attention to the
environmental degradation and economic
deprivation, in which the Ogoni people live, despite
being naturally blessed with enormous deposits of
crude oil. The people of Ogoniland continue to
fight for remediation of their lands and
compensation after the devastation caused by oil
multinationals such as Shell.

“After being on display at various places in the
United Kingdom for 9 years, at the request of
Nigerian partners, the sculpture was shipped from
London to Nigeria via Lagos Port. On arrival in
Lagos, it was impounded by Customs officials on
September 8, 2015, who claimed that it had
‘political value’, due to Saro-Wiwa’s words which
are inscribed on the side: ‘I accuse the oil
companies of practising genocide against the
Ogoni’. The sculpture also displays the name of
Ken Saro-Wiwa on a white steel banner, and the
names of the other 8 Ogoni men on sculptural
barrels, currently stowed inside for transportation
purposes. Every attempt to get it released to the
Ogoni people has proved abortive. No further
reason has been given for the continued seizure of
the gift to the Ogoni people.

Similarly, a box of flyers and reports
commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the
murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, sent by friends Platform
in the United Kingdom through DHL, was also
seized for no justifiable reason by the State
Security Service. To date the box has not been
returned. We have submitted letters of appeal to
the Customs boss, Col Hameed Ali (retd), upon
receipt of the letter by his Personal Assistant, we
were assured that the sculpture would be released.
That has not yet happened.”



www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/rights-groups-accuse-customs-of-impounding-saro-wiwas-sculpture/

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FG is jst playing pranks on the ogonis. Unep report has been dump also.