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About Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a novelist television producer and environmental activist born in Bori Nigeria in 1941. Saro-Wiwa won a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan and taught briefly at numerous universities before the Nigerian Civil War in 1967. A prolific writer his work ranged from the wildly successful satirical television series Basi & Company (19861990) to a non-fiction account of his experiences during the Civil War On a Darkling Plain (1989). After 1991 Saro-Wiwa devoted himself full-time to political and ecological causes becoming president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. The movement fought against the irreparable environmental damage that oil corporations were causing to the surrounding land and waters. After years of non-violent protest against government inaction Ken Saro-Wiwa was unlawfully imprisoned under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. He was executed in 1995. His death sparked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.