Shell Oil's complicity in the hanging of 9 Ogoni leaders, Ken Saro Wiwa and others is an issue that Ogoni people in Nigeria will neither forget nor forgive. Shell employed the services of a solicitor, O C J Okocha, to hold brief on its behalf at the kangaroo court proceedings which eventually murdered the Ogoni leaders.
But this is certainly not the only crime this multinational has committed against the Ogoni people. CHARLIE van GELDEREN explains:
Shell's environmental record remains the poorest in the Niger delta of Nigeria. According to the World-Wide Fund for Nature, Shell's flares of waste gases in Nigeria are the single largest cause of global warming in the region.
Shell applies racist double standards in its approach, carrying out oil exploration in Ogoniland and causing malicious damage to the environment there, while adopting different environmental practices in Europe and the US.
Shell continues to owe the Ogoni people oil royalties and mining rents for 40 years, amounting to about $6 billion and another $4 billion for environmental devastation.
Shell refuses to bury its oil pipelines in Ogoniland. These dangerous pipelines, which criss-cross farms, streams and village paths defy health and safety standards, and pose a great risk especially to Ogoni children.
The corporation refuses to clean its oil spills in Ogoniland. This has degraded farmlands, rivers and streams, thereby depriving the Ogoni people of their source of livelihood, resulting in endemic poverty, malnutrition and starvation.
Shell has profited immensely from the estimated $100 billion of oil taken from Ogoniland. But while their results for the third quarter of 2000 are estimated to be £2.2 billion, Shell has managed to circumvent the judicial system in Nigeria by refusing to pay the court compensation order of $40 million for the Ejaama Ebubu 1970 oil spill.
Shell sponsored genocide in Ogoniland between1993-1996 by providing income and weapons to the Nigerian military leaders, Paul Okuntimu, Dauda Koma and others, who declared war on the Ogonis, resulting in the killing of over 2000 Ogonis, innumerable maiming, raping, looting and the general destruction of Ogoni villages.
Shell refuses to implement the recommendations made by the United Nations fact-finding mission to Ogoniland after making environmental impact assessment of the company's exploration activities there.
According to Mosop (the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) "Shell is a corporate liar. It continuously uses high profile spin doctors and public relations machinery to mislead the public about its attitude to environmental issues. Its much publicised business policies on environment, health and safety and good community relations are not adopted in either Ogoniland or the Niger Delta."
Shell still refuses to meet with the Ogonis and address the problems it has caused in their land. Rather it is forcing itself on the Ogonis, thereby violating their rights to contribute to and participate on issues concerning their own welfare.
Shell encourages bribery and corruption in Ogoniland.
Shell was declared persona non-grata in Ogoniland by all Ogonis on Ogoni Day 4 January 1993. This remains the verdict of Ogonis on Shell.