As global leaders prepare for COP30, they must remember the legacy of the Ogoni Nine, a group of activists executed by the Nigerian state 30 years ago for demanding what should be sacrosanct: the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The Ogoni Nine were leaders in the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), a nonviolent, grassroots campaign to resist and demand accountability for the environmental and human rights abuses being committed by Shell and the Nigerian state in Ogoniland, a kingdom in the richly biodiverse and oil-producing Niger Delta region.
The ecological integrity of the Niger Delta has been under threat since Shell discovered commercial oil in 1956, having gained control over Nigeria’s emerging industry, backed by British colonial laws and government support. By 1995, Shell was the largest and most prominent oil operator in the Niger Delta, pumping almost a million barrels of crude oil a day and contributing significantly to Nigeria’s foreign earnings, 95.7% of which came from crude exports.
As Shell’s shareholders pocketed billions of dollars of profit and Nigerian state officials embezzled significant proportions of the oil revenue, the Niger Deltans living on top of the oil fields were left alienated, starved and impoverished. Millions of barrels of oil were spilt, severely polluting the environment and destroying the livelihoods of the Ogoni people, who are predominantly farmers and fishermen, by contaminating rivers and ruining farmland.
The people pushed back. MOSOP mobilised local resistance through peaceful protest led by the eloquent and fearless Ogoni writer and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
In 1990, MOSOP presented the Ogoni Bill of Rights to the Nigerian government. The visionary document rooted the Ogoni struggle in broader fights against colonialism and extractivism and called for Ogoni people to have political autonomy over Ogoni affairs, including the right to benefit from the oil beneath their feet and to protect the environment from further degradation.
When the government failed to respond to the bill, MOSOP intensified its protests and declared Shell persona non grata in Ogoniland, forcing the company to close down its operations.
Soon after, amid a violent campaign of repression by the state, Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni men linked to MOSOP were accused of murdering four Ogoni leaders - Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Albert Badey, Chief Samuel Orage, and Chief Theophilus Orage -supposedly over a leadership conflict.
A sham trial followed, during which Saro-Wiwa accused Shell of maintaining a watching brief.
The Ogoni Nine - Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine - were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging on 11 November 1995.
Ongoing impunity in the Niger Delta
The 30th anniversary of this execution should be a timely reminder to world leaders that the energy transition must be ‘just’. It must be shaped by grassroots voices, not by multi-billion-dollar fossil fuel corporations. Litigation must address past injustices, prevent future harms, and deliver compensation and remediation to those most affected.
This is especially important when considering the legacy of corporate exploitation in regions such as the Niger Delta, where justice for the Ogoni Nine remains undelivered and their struggle unfinished.
Today, the Niger Delta is one of the most polluted places on Earth. Up to 40% of its mangrove forests have been destroyed, life expectancy is ten years below the national average, and international experts have documented severe public health risks. These interlinked crises have also fuelled deep-rooted grievances and widespread disillusionment, contributing to a state of chronic insecurity.
In June this year, the Nigerian government issued a symbolic pardon for the Ogoni Nine. But this gesture came months after President Bola Tinubu met with Ogoni leaders to discuss potentially resuming oil drilling on their lands – a move that many Ogonis considered to be insulting to the memory of the Nine.
Meanwhile, Shell continues to deny any wrongdoing, despite Amnesty International’s 2017 analysis of available evidence, which urged further investigation into Shell’s potential criminal liability for potential complicity in actions taken by the Nigerian military in response to the Ogoni protests, including murder, rape, and torture.
At least two witnesses to the Ogoni Nine trial have alleged that they were paid and offered jobs by Shell to give false evidence. In 2009, the oil giant agreed to a $15.5m settlement to end a lawsuit brought by Saro-Wiwa’s family that alleged the company was complicit in his execution and numerous other human rights abuses against the Ogoni people.
Instead of taking responsibility, oil companies continue to exploit Nigeria’s weak regulatory framework and have failed to implement meaningful clean-up efforts. Shell, in particular, has instead invested in PR campaigns that are widely considered to be misinformation; underreporting oil spills caused by operational failures, exaggerating those attributed to sabotage or illegal ‘bunkering’, relying on flawed spill investigations, and criminalising local communities.
After years of denials, multinational oil companies are now fleeing the scene of their devastating pollution. In January this year, Shell announced its full divestment from onshore Nigerian assets, following a decade-long withdrawal from individual oil mining leases. While framed as a response to operational challenges and a commitment to the energy transition, many international organisations and Nigerian activists have argued that this is a calculated retreat to avoid accountability for billions in accrued liabilities.
Local resistance and international solidarity
Despite the deteriorating situation on the ground, the Ogoni people and Niger Deltans more broadly remain steadfast in their determination to continue the fearless struggle ignited by the Ogoni Nine.
Grassroots activist and director at We the People, Ken Henshaw, believes the core pillars of Saro-Wiwa’s campaign – community mobilisation, inclusive organising, and international solidarity – endure today. “The tactics might have developed, but the fundamental strategy remains unchanged,” he said.
This was made clear at the Niger Delta Climate Change Conference I attended in July, which convened grassroots actors and international allies. Stressing Saro-Wiwa’s vision for ecological justice, self-determination and a rights-based approach to resource governance, activist Celestine AkpoBari spoke about the Niger Delta Alternative Manifesto. This paper builds on the Ogoni Bill of Rights to call for a comprehensive ecological audit, reparations, bans on gas flaring (the controlled burning of excess natural gas that is released during oil extraction), and long-term climate resilience strategies.
As the struggle evolves, new tactics have also emerged to demand accountability – most notably, litigation, with communities pursuing justice through international courts.
In 2015, Ogoniland’s Bodo community, represented by UK law firm Leigh Day, won a landmark £55m settlement from Shell for damages caused by two devastating oil spills in 2008, which released over 500,000 barrels of oil and destroyed over 2,000 hectares of mangrove forest. The oil giant’s inadequate clean-up efforts came under further scrutiny at an ongoing trial that began in May this year, with the claimants requesting further remediation costs estimated at over £500m. That the environment allegedly remains unclean 17 years after the spill – despite litigation having placed it in the spotlight - reveals Shell’s resistance to clean up across the Niger Delta broadly.
Leigh Day is also representing more than 13,000 members of the Bille and Ogale communities in ongoing claims for compensation and environmental remediation. Following a four-year meritless jurisdictional challenge by Shell, the case, which was filed in 2015, is finally set for trial in 2027, after a key legal ruling in June 2025 that clarified Nigerian law in favour of the claimants.
These cases highlight both the promise and the limitations of litigation: while not a panacea, legal action can amplify community voices, expose corporate wrongdoing, and reinforce the nonviolent, democratic values that Saro-Wiwa championed.
As the energy transition has been co-opted by corporate interests, the Ogoni Nine’s legacy reminds us that the struggle for environmental justice is a global fight against corporate exploitation. It must endure until true accountability and liberation is achieved universally.
In this spirit, we stand in solidarity with the Ogoni people’s resistance to the proposed resumption of crude oil extraction in Ogoniland. We urge the UK government to use its leverage over North Sea licences to press Shell for environmental remediation and compensation in Nigeria. We call on citizens everywhere to stand in solidarity with the Niger Delta and all oppressed peoples, demanding a just transition, including justice for past harms and liberation from neocolonial grip of corporate power.
Saro-Wiwa’s final words before his execution were prophetic: “The struggle continues.”
Indeed, it does – and we all have a role to play.
*Editor's Note: A previous version of this article said Shell kept "a watching brief" during the Ogoni 9 trial. The op-ed author has asked to change this to reflect that this was Ken Saro-Wiwa's words and not his.
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Anthony Hayward is an associate solicitor at Leigh Day, working on litigation against Shell plc and its Nigerian subsidiary seeking remediation and compensation for decades of oil spills. He holds a First-Class degree in History from the University of Manchester, where his dissertation on Britain’s engagement with the Biafra War won the Warren Kinsey Prize for ‘best thesis on a historical subject'. Views are his own.
