26 Facts About Ken Saro-Wiwa

Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.

Ken Saro-Wiwa criticized the Nigerian government for its reluctance to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.

Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years.

Kenule Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Nigeria on 10 October 1941.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger who held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu.

Ken Saro-Wiwa officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil War.

Ken Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student.

Ken Saro-Wiwa received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia.

Ken Saro-Wiwa briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta.

Ken Saro-Wiwa followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State.

Ken Saro-Wiwa's best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English, tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time.

Ken Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power.

Ken Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chairman of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization General Assembly from 1993 to 1995.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month.

Ken Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them.

Ken Saro-Wiwa denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal.

At least two witnesses who testified that Ken Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer.

The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations, and six months later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize.

The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt.

The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York.

Ken Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation.

Ken Saro-Wiwa had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed.