By: Bulou Kosin.

The Niger Delta Initiative Austria (NDIA) says President Ahmed Bola Tinubu should “fully exonerate Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight other Ogoni activists unjustly executed by the military regime of General Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995′.

NDIA President and founder Nyerhovwo Ochuko Ohimor-Eriema made the appeal at the 30th anniversary of the death of the Ogoni 9, in Austria.

The group said “A pardon implies guilt, but these men were never guilty. They were wronged. Until they are formally exonerated, Nigeria will continue to carry the moral burden of that injustice’.

“The world remembers Ken Saro-Wiwa not as a criminal, but as a visionary who spoke truth to power and gave his life for the land and people of the Niger Delta,” he added.

The NDIA also used the occasion to demand urgent action on the ongoing environmental crisis in the Niger Delta, which continues to suffer from oil spills, gas flaring, and widespread ecological degradation decades after Saro-Wiwa’s campaign began.

“The Niger Delta still bleeds,” Ohimor-Eriema said, stressing: “Our rivers are poisoned, our farmlands destroyed, and our children grow up breathing gas flares instead of fresh air. The government must move beyond promises and deliver genuine cleanup, regulation, and accountability.”

The group tasked the government to involve community participation in full implementation of the Ogoni clean up”.

The NDIA said government should “enact and enforce stricter environmental laws to hold multinational oil companies accountable”, adding that it should “invest in sustainable development and alternative livelihoods for communities affected by decades of oil pollution”.

Appealing to the international community, global media and human rights organizations to support movements demanding environmental justice, the NDIA stated: “The struggle for the Niger Delta is not just a Nigerian issue; it is a human issue, a climate issue, and a justice issue,”

Ohimor-Eriema emphasized. “We call on the world to stand with us, to amplify our voices until justice flows like our rivers once did.”