Ken Saro-Wiwa

10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a Nigerian writer, television producer and environmental activist from the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. He led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in a campaign against oil pollution by Shell and the Nigerian government. He was executed by the military government of Sani Abacha in 1995 after a tribunal widely condemned as unfair.

Comparing
Compare

Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Life events

Born in Bori, Rivers State, Nigeria
10 October 1941

Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Studied English at the University of Ibadan
c. 1962

After secondary school at Government College Umuahia he took a degree in English at Ibadan and later taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Education ?
Served as Civilian Administrator of Bonny during the Nigerian Civil War
1967

He supported the federal side in the war and administered the oil port of Bonny.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Published the novel Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English
1985

The novel, narrated in a form of Nigerian pidgin, follows a young soldier during the civil war.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Produced and wrote the television comedy Basi and Company
1985 – 1990

The series ran on Nigerian television and became one of the most watched programmes in the country.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Co-founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)
1990

MOSOP issued the Ogoni Bill of Rights, demanding a share of oil revenues and remediation of environmental damage.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Awarded the Right Livelihood Award
1994

He received the award, with MOSOP, for his campaign for the environmental and human rights of the Ogoni people.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Arrested in connection with the killing of four Ogoni chiefs
May 1994

He was detained in May 1994 after the deaths of four Ogoni leaders and held for more than a year before trial.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Personal ✓
Awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize
April 1995

He was named the Africa recipient of the prize while in detention awaiting trial.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Executed by hanging in Port Harcourt
10 November 1995

He and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged after conviction by a special military tribunal, prompting Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓