About me
I am an Ogoni. Ogoniland is an ethnic minority in the southeastern part of Nigeria's Niger Delta. Ogoniland is rich in crude oil and natural gas. However, inspite of its richness in natural resources, Ogoniland has continued to suffer from multinational oil exploration and exploitative activities. I am from a land whose blessings have turned into curses. For more than forty years now, Ogoniland has lapsed on the threshold of extinction. It remains politically marginalized, economically deprived, environmentally devastated, and socio-culturally raped. Sad enough, successive Nigerian governments (in collusion with Shell and other oil companies) have continued to make matters worse for the Ogoni people and Ogoniland. I left my beloved land as an exile - for protesting against the excesses of Shell and the Nigerian nation-state in Ogoniland. I came to the USA as a refugee. Iam an educationist, an activist and a writer. I love writing poems and short/folk stories. My books of poetry: Voices In Exile and De Blackman's Smile should be in stores early and late 2006. I call on the international community to impress on Shell and the Nigerian government to adequately and without a recourse to violence, intimidation, and incarceration, address the Ogoni situation with immediate effect. Kenule Beesor Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni compatroits were hanged on November 10, 1995 at the Port Harcourt Maximum Security Prison for a crime they did not commit. This event shocked the world, even the Commonwealth of Nations that was in sitting on that fateful day. Yet, ten years later, the comity of nations still sits on the fence, impervious to the horrors against an innocent people for the sake of OIL! This is not acceptable, is it? Something must be done to stop these excesses.

Well, as William Shakespeare once said, "Above...my state is well. I am a gentleman." I am an Ogoni. Ogoniland is an ethnic minority in the southeastern part of Nigeria's Niger Delta. Ogoniland is rich in crude oil and natural gas. However, inspite of its richness in natural resources, Ogoniland has continued to suffer from... (more)