President Bola Tinubu has posthumously conferred the national honor of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) on the Ogoni Four, Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Theophilus Orage, and Samuel Orage, who were killed in 1994.
During a meeting with the Ogoni Consultations Committee at the State House in Abuja, Tinubu called for reconciliation and unity among the Ogoni people after decades of social and political division.
He urged them to “close ranks, put this dark chapter behind us and move forward as a united community with one voice”.
Tinubu expressed optimism about resuming oil exploration in Ogoniland and directed National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu to lead talks with stakeholders, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its partners. “A dead asset is not valuable to the community, the country or the people,” he emphasized, stressing the need to finalize modalities for restarting operations.
The president also instructed the minister of environment to prioritize pollution remediation and environmental recovery in the ongoing dialogue.
This development comes three months after Tinubu granted a state pardon to Ken Saro-Wiwa and other members of the Ogoni Nine, nearly three decades after their execution under General Sani Abacha’s military regime.
