The anniversary of the judicial murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other MOSOP
activists is fast approaching. It's Friday, November 10, 2000. Below is the
synopsis of a masterpiece whose title explains it all. This is a MUST READ
book.
BEYOND THE EXECUTION (Understanding the Ethnic and Military Politics in
Nigeria)
This 356-page book is not just about the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a
Nigerian author and environmentalist. The book also looks into the ethnic
politics that pervades Nigeria (the most populous countrty in Africa) going
back to the 1950s prior to gaining independence from Britain in 1960, the
turmoil that led to the first military coup d'etat of January 1966, and the
reprisal massacre of the Ibos that triggered the Nigeria - Biafra civil war.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, a fearless minority activist, had in 1990 emerged from the
oil
producing region of Ogoni in Nigeria and demanded economic justice for his
people. When his pleas were ignored, he took his message to the United
Nations and drew worldwide attention to the world's most polluted
environment. Saro-Wiwa and eight activists were arrested and falsely charged
with murder and consequently executed by General Abacha's military tribunal.
This book gives you in detail the minute by minute tribunal trial,
conviction, and the gruesome judicial murder that was heard around the
world.
The battle for ethnic dominance took a center stage with the seizure of the
petroleum resources that belonged to the minority and the subsequent
annulment of presidential election result in June 1993.
To maintain the Northern hegemony, General Abacha devised schemes to succeed
himself as a civilian president. His political opponents were either in
prison, dead, or in exile. Two months to his scheduled election, Abacha
suddenly died in the midst of international prostitutes. A month later,
Abiola, the presidential candidate he jailed also died, suddenly, in jail.
This is detailed in a chapter titled "When the Mandate Dies."
As the name suggests, Beyond the Execution has dealt with issues that have
never been addressed before, such as the politics of number (or of census),
of divide and conquer, the "regional" army, the oil politics, the corruption
of epic proportion, the advent of "419", the battle for the crumbs in the
Niger Delta, the rise of Odua'a, Arewa, Igbo, Edo, Ijaw, and Ibom Peoples
Congresses and much, much more. Essentially, this book covers years of
military syndrome and its aftermath.
This book is being released world-wide for the world audience. It is for
anybody who wants to know more about Nigeria and Africa. It is scheduled for
display and presentation at the International Book Fair at Frankfurt,
Germany
on October 19 - - 21, 2000. Detail and overview of the book can be seen at
www.theexecution.net.
You can obtain a copy at the cost of $25.00 each (shipping and handling
included) from: Beyond the Execution Publication, P. O. Box 1231,
Riverside,
CA 92502. Visa and Master Cards are accepted. Tel: 909-357-1192 or
909-320-2007, e-mail: tedey@aol.com.
Tom Mbeke-Ekanem