Lagos Papers in English Studies Vol.

1: 119-129 (2007)

AN ANATOMY OF THE DISCOURSE

STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY KEN SARO-WIWA,
THE MARTYRED NIGERIAN
ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
KEHINDE A. AYOOLA
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Nigeria

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the discourse strategies employed by
the late Nigerian environmentalist and political activist, Ken
Saro-Wiwa, to champion the cause of the Ogoni people, in
particular, and Nigeria’s Niger Delta people, in general. A
selection of his oral and written presentations reproduced
intertextually in his book, A Month and a Day (Saro-Wiwa
1995) which he finished writing shortly before his judicial
murder by the Nigerian authorities, form the basis of the
analysis in this paper.

With the aid of the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA),

our findings show that his choice of words are emotive and
his sentences are rich in cynicism, dysphemism,
presupposition, insinuations, etc. The work also contains
copious evidence of historical references, philosophical logic
and scientific arguments. We observe that his discourse
strategies have continued to serve as blueprint for champions
of the cause of the peoples of the Niger Delta.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, discourse strategies,

ethnic identity, environmental discourse, Niger Delta, Ogoni.

1. Introduction
At certain moments in the life of a nation, there are words in which is
concentrated a force of feeling and of will power which makes them
singularly beneficial or particularly formidable. A mere mention of them
will unleash the anger and enthusiasm of crowds, of parties, of
immense groups of people (Ulmann, 1977:132, cited in Yusuf 2005: 3)

The attention of the world has been drawn in the last two decades to
the scale of inequity and injustice experienced by the indigenes of the Niger
Delta region of South-south Nigeria, which is home to some 20 million
people from more than 40 ethnic nationalities which include: the Akita,
Andoni, Biseni, Buan, Degema, Edo, Efik, Ibo, Ibiobio, Ijaw, Ikwerre, Isoko,

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Itsekiri, Izon, Kalabari, Kana, Kwale-Igbo, Kirike, Nembe, Ndoni, Obolo,

Ogbah, Ogoni, Urhobo, and many more (see Adegbija 1997; Williamson
1979). The Niger Delta, as defined officially by the Nigerian Government,
extends over about 70,000 square kilometres and makes up 7.5% of
Nigeria’s land mass (Wikipedia 2006). It comprises the entire Akwa Ibom,
Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers States and parts of Abia, Imo
and Ondo States. Although the region has been responsible for generating
much of Nigeria’s export earnings for about four decades, it has too little to
show for the stupendous wealth generated from the area for about four
decades.
Since the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in 1958,
hordes of transnational oil corporations (TNOC) have descended on the Niger
Delta prospecting for crude oil, also referred to as black gold. For the past
two decades or more, the indigenes of the area appear to be fighting the
Nigerian authorities and the TNOCs with all the weapons at their disposal.
Not least of these weapons is the English language, which has been used
most effectively to champion the cause of the region by the late
environmental rights activist, creative writer and famed spokesman of the
Ogoni people, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Ken Saro-Wiwa’s autobiographical book, A Month and a Day (Saro-
Wiwa 1995), not only chronicles his experience in the hands of the Nigerian
authorities, but also contains some of his major speeches. Ken Saro-Wiwa
used his power of both the written and the spoken word to win the
sympathy of the international community to the cause of the Ogoni people.
How did he achieve this feat? This paper attempts to answer this question
through an examination of the discourse strategy employed in his selected
speeches reproduced in the book, a Month and a Day. Ken Saro-Wiwa,
probably more than any other Niger Delta indigene, achieved the effect of
putting the Niger Delta cause, especially the plight of the Ogoni people on
the front burner of international attention.
Ken Saro-Wiwa did not have a reputation for violence; as a matter of
fact, he always cautioned his followers against its use. Notwithstanding, he
became a thorn in the flesh the Nigerian military administration under the
leadership of General Ibrahim Babangida and later the late General Sani
Abacha. Charges were trumped up against him and a kangaroo military
tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him and eight others to death by
hanging. All nine were executed on 10 November 1993; an action that led to
the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations. It
is worthy of note that the book A Month and a Day, dated 17 May 1993, was
completed less than six months before his execution.

2. Dimensions of Critical Discourse Analysis in Saro-Wiwa’s

Language Use
Fairclough (1995) describes language as a social practice; Jameson
(1981) describes it as political; while Gumperz (1982) describes it as socially
situated identity. Language is used among humans to establish, adjust and
maintain interpersonal relationships and convey ideas and notions that are
believed to be in the overall interest of a group, institution or community
(Austin 1962; Searle 1969; Stubbs 1995). This in effect demonstrates that

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language is a form of action, which can generate counter actions and

reactions in forms other than language. Fairclough (1989) argues that
ideologies are closely linked to power and language because language use is
a demonstration of power. Language has often been used as a medium of
domination and social force; hence it plays a significant role in human
actions and reactions.
Social struggle may be more or less intense and may appear in more
or less overt forms. According to Foucault (1977), social developments and
exercise of power take place under conditions which he described as social
struggle. This assertion is corroborated by Fairclough (1992) who writes that
class struggle is a necessary and inherent property of a social system in
which the maximization of the profits and power of one class depends upon
the maximization of its exploitation and domination of another. The above
aptly summarises the historical, philosophical and ideological driving force
that prompts Ken Saro-Wiwa’s use of English to champion the cause of the
Ogoni people of Nigeria’s Niger Delta.
Discourse analysts are interested in the structures of conversations,
stories and various forms of written texts and the interaction between
linguistic and nonverbal communication. The central focus of discourse
analysis is that discourse is made up of units whose structures need to be
identified and analysed to effectively interpret the essence of the
communicative act. Consequently, words, phrases and sentences which
appear in the textual record of discourses are regarded as evidence of
attempts by the political activist to communicate his/her message to his/her
listeners (or readers).
Recent research has shown the relevance of discourse analysis for the
functional description of language use (c.f. Fairclough 1995; van Dijk 1993
and 2003; Wodak 2001). It has been found to be a scientific and helpful
means of examining the role of language as action especially in situations of
inequity and disgruntlement such as Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. CDA, more
than any other branch of discourse analysis relies on other fields such as
philosophy, sociology, history, anthropology, statistics, and many more in its
analysis. This is why it is able to reveal, among other things, the critical
investigation of social and cultural life, the composition of cultural groups,
and the management of social relations, and manifestations of bias and
social prejudice. Jaworski and Coupland (1999) note that discourse analysis
is not only language reflecting social order, but also language shaping social
order and shaping individuals interactions with society.
Philosophers such as Austin (1962), Searle (1969) and Grice (1975)
drew attention to the fact that we sometimes mean more than what we say,
less than it, or even something completely different from it (Schiffrin 1994:
59). CDA, being context sensitive, acknowledges that real texts are produced
and disseminated in real situational contexts. CDA employs interdisciplinary
techniques of text analysis to draw out how texts portray social identities,
social relationships and political ideologies. The complex approach often
used by practitioners of CDA makes it possible to analyse pressures from
above and possibilities of resistance from below to unequal power
relationships in the society.

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3. Discourse Strategies employed by Ken Saro-Wiwa

During his lifetime, Ken Saro-wiwa was a prolific writer. In addition to his
literary works, he was also a columnist in Nigerian newspapers such as: The
Punch, The Vanguard, and The Daily Times which he used consistently to
vent his anger against the persistent ills in the Nigerian society. Such ills
include: tribalism, ignorance of the rights of minorities, excessive
materialism, and wholesale graft. Writes Saro-Wiwa in the introduction of A
Month and a Day:
I’ve used my talents as a writer to enable the Ogoni people to confront
their tormentors. I was not able to do it as a politician or a
businessman. My writing did it (p. xv).

3.1 The Environment as a Unique Selling Proposition in the Niger

Delta Struggle
Environmental issues centre on issues such as soil degradation,
overgrazing, deforestation, desertification, etc. this was Saro-wiwa’s foremost
weapon in the struggle to draw attention to the plight of the Ogoni and other
indegenes of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. Writes Saro-Wiwa (1995: 96):

Mangrove forests have fallen to the toxicity of oil and are being replaced
by noxious nypa palms; the rain forest has fallen to the axe of
multinational oil companies, all wildlife is dead, marine life is gone, the
farmlands have been rendered infertile, by acid rain and the once
beautiful Ogoni countryside is no longer a source of fresh air and green
vegetation. All one sees and feels around is death. Environmental
degradation has been a lethal weapon in a war against the indigenous
Ogoni people.

The above is Saro-Wiwa’s classic description of his homeland. It is such

descriptions that earned him the sobriquet, “environmental rights activists”.
It is this aspect of his utterances and writings that ultimately attracted the
attention of the international community to the yearnings of the Niger Delta
people. He writes further:

… the degradation of the eco-system must end and the dehumanisation

of the inhabitants of the area must cease and restitution be made for
past wrong (p. 84).
Let me state here for the avoidance of all doubt that my overall concern
was for the fragile ecosystem of the Niger River Delta – one of the
richest areas on earth…. I consider the loss of the Niger River Delta a
loss to all mankind and therefore regard Shell’s despoliation of the area
as a crime to all humanity (p. 168).
Over the past thirty two years, Ogoni has offered Nigeria an estimated
US thirty billion dollars and received NOTHING in return, except a
blighted countryside, and atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbons; a land which wildlife is unknown; a land
of polluted streams and creeks, of rivers without fish, a land which is in
every sense of the term, an ecological disaster (p. 74).

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Saro-Wiwa speaks with the passion of an informed environmentalist in his

public utterances. This tilt in his discourse earned him greater recognition
as an ‘environmental human rights activist’ than a political activist or
spokesperson of an unknown tribe in far away Nigeria.

3.2 Ethnic Identity

The ethnic nature of the Nigerian society features prominently in
Nigerian political discourse. For Decades, Nigerians have continually
demonstrated their predilection for lining up behind ethnic leaders. This,
according to Saro-Wiwa, is why he opts for this strategy to single out the
Ogoni, as a “good laboratory to make the experiments which will apply to the
delta as a whole” (p. 168). Saro-Wiwa argues that since the fifties, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello and Joseph
Tarka had successfully mobilised their kinsmen, the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa-
Fulani and Tiv, respectively, to speak with a single voice. The reward of this
strategy, according to him, “brought Nigerian independence sooner rather
than later (p. 192)”; “I thought I could do the same for the Ogoni” (p. 100).
He charges that Ogonis:

must proclaim their Ogoniness, from the rooftop if possible. There is

absolutely no shame and little restraint in doing so. The Ogoni are so
far down in the well that only by shouting loudly can they be heard by
those on the surface of the soil (p. 76).

He writes further: “the success of the Ogoni is bound to influence all

the others positively in the same direction – and by implication, the rest of
Nigeria (p. 168)”.

3.3 Appeal to History and Anthropology

An adept political activist often uses a combination of discourse
strategies to marshal his points. Ken Saro-Wiwa frequently resorted to
history and anthropology to drive home his point. Writes he:

The Ogoni people have settled in this area as farmers and fishermen
since remembered time and had established a well organised social
system before the British colonialist invaded them in 1901. ... By
1960, when colonial rule ended, the British had consigned the Ogoni
willy-nilly to a new nation, Nigeria, consisting of 350 or so other
peoples held together by force, violence and much argument in
Britain’s commercial and imperial interests (p. 95).

The same strategy can be found in much of the content of the Ogoni Bill of
Rights of Oct 1990:

We, the people of Ogoni … wish to draw the attention of the government
and people of Nigeria to the undermentioned facts:

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1. That the Ogoni people, before the advent of British colonialism, were
not conquered or colonised by any other ethnic group in present day
Nigeria.
2. That British colonisation forced us into the administrative division of
Opobo from 1908 to 1947.
3. That we protested against forced union until the Ogoni Native
Authority was created in 1947 and placed under the then Rivers
province.
4. That in 1951 we were forcibly included in the Eastern Region of
Nigeria, where we suffered utter neglect.
5. That we protested against the neglect by voting against the party in
power in the region in 1957, and against the forced union by
testimony, before the Willink Commission of Inquiry into Minority
Fears in 1958 (p. 67ff)

A strategy Saro-Wiwa uses effectively is the practice of repeatedly

referring to past Ogoni heroes. For instance:

The lives and achievements of modern Ogoni men like T. N. Paul Birabi,
S. F. Wika, the Reverends Wiko and Badey and Bishop Vincent … only
convince me that Ogoni people can claim for themselves a rightful place
in Africa and in human civilisation (p. 110).

T. N. Birabi is a past Ogoni hero that featured more prominently than others
in his spoken and written discourse. “The spirit of self sacrifice that moved
Birabi is still alive in our nationality today. The men who think as he did are
not lacking (p. 53)”. This strategy serves as an effective tool for galvanising
people towards emulating such heroes who put the interest of the
community above their individual interests.

3.4 The Force of Argument

‘Argument’ is a term in logic that refers to a fact or assertion offered as
evidence that something is true. Saro-Wiwa uses argument in his
presentations to assert that the Niger Delta situation beggars belief. For
instance:

The notion that the oil bearing areas can provide the revenue of the
country and yet be denied a proper share of that revenue because it is
perceived that the inhabitants of the area are few in number is unjust,
immoral, unnatural and ungodly. Why should the people on oil-bearing
land be tortured? Why are they entitled to but 1.5 percent of their
resources? Why has this money not been paid as and when due?
Where is the interest the money has generated over the past ten years?
(p. 64)

If the above assertions were true (at the time the statement was uttered),
there is something inherently lopsided in a system of revenue allocation that
permits the use of 98.5% of wealth generated from an area outside the
region. An argument that is logically presented and backed up with

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scientifically verifiable facts and figures is bound to make an impact on

rational human beings. The following is another example from the text:

The Nigerian constitution which emerged offered a stronger central

government and left the ethnic minorities unprotected … For instance, it
vested the entire mineral resources in the country in parliament to
share as it pleased. In a situation where the ethnic minorities provided
most of the mineral resources (oil) and yet were minority in parliament,
and where oil was the be-all and end-all of Nigerian politics and the
economy, as well as the central focus of all budgetary ambitions, there
was no way the ethnic minorities, including the Ogoni, could protect
their inheritance (p. 55).

Reacting to the creation of eleven new states in Nigeria 1990, thereby

increasing the number of states in Nigeria from nineteen to thirty, Saro-
Wiwa argues:

None of the local governments or states so created was viable: they all
depended on oil revenues which were to be shared by the states and
local governments according to the most outrageous of criteria such as
expanse of land, equality, underdevelopment and all such stupidities
(p. 100).

3.5 English as a Weapon

As stated earlier, Saro-Wiwa used his dexterity with the English
language to champion the Niger Delta cause. The profile of English as an
international language makes it a potent weapon in the struggle against
inequity and injustice that aptly summarises the Niger Delta struggle. Saro-
Wiwa communicates effectively in both spoken and written English; a skill
that endeared him to both his people and the international community. His
knowledge, courage and communicative power made him the natural
spokesperson for the Ogoni people. The following are some linguistic
features of his speeches and writings in A Month and a Day:

(i) Plural Pronouns (we and us)

Political activism entails winning converts to become a part of the struggle. A
skilful orator does not talk down to his followers from a high horse (so to
speak). Saro-Wiwa’s use of collective pronouns ‘we’ and ‘us’ expresses the
commonness of the struggle. It makes the listeners easily accept him as one
of them fighting a common cause (c.f. Ayoola 2006). Consider the following
extract:

But we do not ask that the disgrace of the past should be our armour
against the future. We must each of us immediately resolve not to
repeat the mistakes of the past. We have now been given an
opportunity to reassert ourselves side by side with all nationalities in
the Nigerian federation. We cannot let this opportunity slip past us. If
we do, posterity shall not forgive us and we shall disappear as a
people from the face of the earth… (p. 52, underlining ours).

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(ii) Expletive
The sharp edge of Saro-Wiwa’s tongue was used remorselessly against the
Nigerian erstwhile military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida. Among
others, he is described as:
the cunning dictator (p. 66)
Kabukabu president (p. 88)
Kakistocracy (p. 112)
the conman and dictator of Nigeria (p. 117)
He didn’t spare the transnational oil corporations either. His impression of
Shell can be read in the extract below:

For a multinational oil company, Shell, to take over US thirty billion

dollars from the small, defenceless Ogoni people and put nothing back
but degradation and death is a betrayal of all humanity (p. 131).

His description of the Nigeria authorities was equally harsh. E.g.:

the crude and harsh nature of Nigerian domestic colonialism, a

colonialism which is cruel, unfeeling and monstrous…
you will meet men and women from the slave areas known as the
modern slave-state called Nigeria (p. 7, underlining ours).

military politics (P.57)

Sap-induced slavery (p. 85).

(iii) Dysphemism
Like many political activists, Ken Saro-wiwa has a tendency to
overstate his case (see Yusuf 2002). He argues that the Ogoni has been
pushed so far down in the pit that only shouting can deliver him.
Dysphemism, a form of overstatement is a weapon in political struggle. Even
if the information is not perfectly accurate, the intention is to draw attention
to evidence of injustice. The following are examples of dysphemism in the
book:
At the moment, the number of our people in the junior and senior cadre
of the federal public service and the corporations can be counted on the
fingers of one hand (p. 53).
The Ogoni are being consigned to slavery and extinction (p. 97).
Petroleum was discovered in Ogoni in 1958 and since then, an
estimated US hundred billion dollars worth of oil and gas has been
carted away from Ogoni land. In return for this, the Ogoni people have
received nothing (p. 95, underlining ours).

The underlined expressions are examples of dysphemism. In the first

example, it is unlikely that the number of Ogoni in the public service about
1992 were not more than five. Likewise, the Ogoni experience is certainly
not slavery and the threat of extinction is certainly overstated. The figure of
one hundred billion US dollar differs markedly from his usual figure of thirty
to thirty five US dollars.

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(iv) Direct Call to Action

There are times he charges his listeners/readers to rise and take
action:
We must remember that no matter the system of government, unless a
people take their destiny in their own hands, no improvement will come
to them (p. 53).
The road ahead remains quite perilous, and treading it will require the
total energies, the total faith, the total endurance and the total
commitment of all Ogoni people, no matter their calling or their abilities.
Just as I have been able to use my literary abilities to re-establish the
identity of the Ogoni in national and international circles, so can any
other Ogoni person… (p. 111).
I call upon you my brothers and sisters, to fight relentlessly for your
rights. As our cause is just… (p. 132).
(vi) Sloganeering
A good example of the use of slogans or catchy expressions is:

We must now move to the next item on our list: to establish a

government of Ogoni people by Ogoni people for Ogoni people in Ogoni
within a con-federal Nigeria. (p. 112)

7. Literature
To Saro-Wiwa, “writing fiction about the Ogoni and Nigeria seemed a
worthwhile alternative to military politics or any politics for that matter
(p.57)”. A Month and a Day contains a few lines of poetry here and there. The
example below could not have been found amusing by the management of
Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC):

The flares of Shell are flames of hell

We bake beneath their light
Nought for us save the blight
Of cursed neglect and cursed Shell (p. 79)

Literature, in the words of Saro-Wiwa:

must serve society by steeping itself in politics, by intervention, and
writers must not merely write to amuse or take a bemused, critical look
at society. They must play an interventionist role…. Therefore, the
writer must be l’homme engage: the intellectual man of action. He must
take part in mass organisations. He must establish direct contact with
the people and resort to the strength of African literature – oratory in the
tongue. For the word is power and more powerful is it when expressed
in common currency (p. 81).

4. Conclusion
The tools of CDA have been used in this paper to show the extent to
which the late Ken Saro-Wiwa used language to internationalise the Niger
Delta struggle. Although his prophetic utterance “To die fighting to right the
wrong would be the greatest gift of life… (p. 19)” may not be subscribed to by

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many a political activist in contemporary Nigeria, the spirit of the utterance

continue to ring true as it is clear that his life and death earned the Niger
Delta struggle a great measure of international recognition and attention by
the current Obasanjo-led political administration.

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Appendix
Index of the ten speeches of Ken Saro-Wiwa in: A Month and a Day
1. “The Ogoni Nationality Today and Tomorrow” (p.52 – 54).
2. A speech delivered on 22 March 1990 in Lagos, Nigeria during the
launch of On a Darkling Plain and five other books authored by Ken
Saro-Wiwa (p. 62 – 64).
3. “The Ogoni Bill of Rights” of October 1990 (p. 67 – 70).
4. An address to the Kagote Club in Bori Nigeria, on 26 December 1990
(p. 71 – 77).
5. An address at the launch of eight books authored by Ken Saro-Wiwa
on 10 October 1991 to mark his 50th birthday at the J. K. Randle Hall,
Lagos, Nigeria (p. 82 – 87).
6. An address delivered at the 10th session of the Unrepresented Nations
and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) in Geneva, Switzerland in the
summer of 1992 (p. 94 – 98).
7. A speech delivered by Ken Saro-Wiwa on 27 December 1992 at the
first Ogoni Merit Award in honour of Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Finimale
Nwika Conference Centre, Bori, Rivers State, Nigeria (p. 110 – 114).
8. A speech delivered on 4 January 1993, the day of the protest march
embarked upon by Ogoni indigenes in Bori, Rivers State, Nigeria (p.
130 – 132).
9. A speech delivered on 27 February 1993 at Bori, Rivers State, Nigeria
(p. 147 – 151)
10. Press conference held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria on
June 6 1993 (p. 176 – 177).

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