Tinubu has killed my father again” — Son of slain Ogoni leader rejects national honours for Saro-Wiwa, others

Suage Bade, son of the late Albert Bade—one of four prominent Ogoni leaders murdered in 1994—has sharply criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for granting posthumous pardons and national honours to Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others, known as the Ogoni-9.

Speaking on Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS, Bade accused President Tinubu of reopening deep wounds by honouring the same men his family holds responsible for his father’s brutal killing.

“Since yesterday (Thursday) night, I started mourning my father again,” said Bade, son of the retired Rivers State permanent secretary who later became a traditional ruler in Ogoniland.

Bade suggested the gesture was driven by a desire to resume oil drilling in Ogoni land, without regard for the painful history of violence in the region.

The President had announced the pardon during his Democracy Day address on June 12, 2025—marking the anniversary of the 1993 presidential election. Though Tinubu did not clear the men of guilt in the crime that led to their execution by a military tribunal under General Sani Abacha, he still awarded them national honours.

Reacting with pain, Bade condemned the act:

“It is a complete disregard for the memory of our fathers, who actually served this country diligently without blemish over the years and were killed, murdered in cold-blood in broad daylight by the same men that are being honoured today – yesterday – and they made no mention of the four. It’s a very sad development.”

Although he admitted that Saro-Wiwa and the others may not have carried out the killings directly, Bade held them responsible by association, pointing to their leadership of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), whose members allegedly incited the mob that murdered the Ogoni-4.

“It is actually a vicarious responsibility on the part of those who were at the leadership of MOSOP at that time. So, if they were leading MOSOP and people were defamed and at the end of the day, they conspired, hacked them down, butchered them and today we have not seen their bodies, how else do you – you know that if somebody assigns somebody to go and kill and you’re not there, you have also killed that person.
So, he was the mastermind of the killing. I’ve said that before, he was the mastermind for the murder of the four.”

While accepting the President’s right to grant pardons, Bade said the decision to honour the individuals crossed a dangerous line:

“Pardon is okay, as I said. It’s the President’s prerogative to grant pardon. But to now honour murderers, I think we are now introducing a new low in our Nigerian society… You can now be a career murderer and be given an honour in Nigeria. That’s what it means. That’s the new low.”

Bade, visibly emotional, refused any symbolic or material compensation that would put his father’s memory alongside those he sees as responsible for his death.

“I’m not in a hurry to betray my father for any form of compensation. In fact, honouring him and putting him side by side with murderers, I don’t think I will accept that. I don’t need compensation.”

He blamed widespread calls for the total exoneration of the Ogoni-9 on misinformation and a lack of understanding of the true events. According to him, younger generations who support the decision do so because they are unaware of what actually happened.

“Just imagine that a man left his house and then he was hacked down. I was there. I saw blood splatter all around the wall in the palace. Today, they refer to that place in Gokana as ‘slaughter.’ People leave their homes and say they’re going to ‘slaughter.’”

Bade added that the actions of some MOSOP leaders have left Ogoniland in a state of division that could last for generations.

“People like Ledum Mitie, Professor Ben Nanem and all those who are agitators for MOSOP, who have the responsibility to turn around for good, they have created a transgenerational catastrophe in Ogoni land.
This is going to pass through generations and Ogoni is remain divided. I’m so sad. What the President did is wrong. I used to see him as one who listens to both sides and does the right thing. But unfortunately, I think he is misguided and I don’t know why he fell to that.”