The 1990's: Ken Saro-Wiwa, MOSOP, and the International Response
The MOSOP, or the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, started with a bang in August, 1990. The MOSOP submitted the Ogoni Bill of Rights to the Nigerian Government, and by the end of October, 1990, the whole world knew about them.
[introduce your source with a signal phrase please] Ken Saro-Wiwa started the MOSOP, or the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, to nonviolently advocate for democracy in Nigeria, as well as protection against oil companies and of cultural rights in the Ogoni and other native tribes slighted by the government. The first action taken by the MOSOP was the Ogoni Bill of Rights, which called for exactly those things, and then some: the Ogoni control of Ogoni affairs, the revenue gained from Ogoni oil to be utilized in Ogoni expansion, one hundred percent citizenship rights for the Ogoni people, and the right to protect the Niger River Delta from further environmental ruination [are you sure these are not direct quotations of their bill of rights? Maybe use bullet points and list them?]. However, a year after the MOSOP submitted their bill of rights, signed August 26th 1990 ([use MLA and cite by specific author within this collection of writings] Ogoni's Agonies 116), to General Ibrahim Babangida and his other important members of government, Nigeria's leaders still hadn't addressed it. So in July, 1992, Ken Saro-Wiwa took the MOSOP's bill of rights and their complaints to the United Nations, to alert them that the Nigerian government wasn't acting beneficially for its citizens. The MOSOP was part of the Unrepresented Nations and People's Organization (UNPO) General Assembly for three years between 1993 and 1995. The UNPO protects and advocates for the human and cultural rights of native and minority peoples and territories. International attention was achieved when on October 30 and 31, 1990, members of the MOSOP had a formal protest at a Shell Oil Company facility near Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Shell asked the Nigerian government for military aid against these nonviolent protesters and the government sent the Nigerian Mobile Police (NMP), also known as the "kill and go," to protect Shell. 80 defenseless protesters were murdered and almost 500 homes in the surrounding area were destroyed by the NMP. [identify all of your sources with bookening of signal phrases and parenthetical reference to page number or source]
However, MOSOP stood strong against military and government attacks. [need a signal phrase here too] December 1992, the MOSOP sent demands to the three biggest oil companies in the area: Shell Petroleum Dutch Company, Chevron, and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, along with an ultimatum: pay our reparations within thirty days, or get out. The total sum was over 10 billion dollars. At the very beginning of 1993, the Nigerian Government banned public gatherings, but the MOSOP continued to meet. It is at about this time the Nigerian government became blatantly violent against the MOSOP and other resisters. Amnesty International (AI) became very interested in Nigeria as well; in the middle of May, 1993, AI tried to stop Nigeria from being violent against peaceful protesters, and had the government release Ken Saro-Wiwa from prison. The government didn't let Saro-Wiwa return home until a month after his arrest.
August 31, 1993, is the first time any part of the Nigerian government meets to talk about Ogoniland. The Interim government, at this point lead by General Ibrahim Babangida, meets with MOSOP leaders. However, this success doesn't last. In November, General Babangida and his government resign, and General Abacha takes over. General Abacha makes deals with the oil companies, and military aid is brought back in to help control angry tribes.[avoid plagiarism--identify source(s)!]
May 21, 1994, is where it starts getting impressively bad. Four Ogoni chiefs were murdered at an MOSOP rally; chiefs who were rumored to have been favoring the oil companies. In order to find the perpetrators, members of the Rivers State Internal Security acted violently against the Ogoni population, to such a point where Amnesty International labels it conscious terrorism. General Abacha's government blames Ken Saro-Wiwa, head of the MOSOP, with incitement to murder, and on the 1st of November holds a trial to find him, and eight other Ogoni leaders, guilty. The catch is, Saro-Wiwa wasn't even at the rally. He was turned back at the gates and driving in the opposite direction while the whole thing happened. The Ogoni Nine, as they would be called, are sentenced with execution. On November 10, 1995, the Ogoni Nine are hanged, and the entire world is outraged. Later, the UN would agree that the results of the trial could be held up to no standards whatsoever, be they international or intranational. Nigeria is almost immediately kicked out of the Commonwealth of Nations, diplomats from everywhere are called back and discussions are had. But no country boycotts Nigerian oil, and that is the one thing that would really have made Nigeria shape up. Without the influx of money that black gold provided, the Nigerian government would either crumble or start to behave, either of which would be better than what was happening. [avoid plagiarism--identify source(s)!]
Now, in 2010, [huh?] fifteen years after Ken Saro-Wiwa was murdered by his own government, do we finally see some sort of results. As rumors would have it, the Nigerian military were apparently accepting bribes, and probably killed the four Ogoni chiefs so that Ken Saro-Wiwa and others could [be blamed for it] take the blame for it.
Andy Rowell and Eveline Lubbers. "Ken Saro-Wiwa was framed, secret evidence shows." Independent. 4 December 2010. n.d. Web 22 March 2016.
"Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 March 2016. n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
Na'Allah, Abdul Rasheed. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria. Africa World Press, Inc., 1998. Print.
"Nigerian Mobile Police." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 9 February 2016. n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
