KEN SARO WIWA MEMORIAL STEEL BUS SCULPTURE SEIZED AT LAGOS PORT

KEN SARO WIWA MEMORIAL BUS

Nigerian Customs officials have seized a bus sculpture made in London by Sokari Douglas Camp in memory of the late Nigerian environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists. The steel bus was denied entry into the country when it arrived the Lagos port on September 8, 2015 intended to be a gift to mark the 20th anniversary of their execution by the Sani Abacha military government.


The bus was confiscated on grounds of its “political value”. Also confiscated were leaflets and reports sent by courier to commemorate Saro-Wiwa’s life and death.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Social Action, etc. have been unsuccessful in their bid to have the work released and a memorial vigil in Bori-Ogoni could be held without The Bus - Living Memorial.

However, the national coordinator for the Ogoni Solidarity Forum-Nigeria, Mr. Celestine AkpoBari has been trying over the past two months to have the sculpture released from the Lagos port and he has expressed his determination to have it at Ogoniland as soon as possible. He said he had seen the bus in London but was overwhelmed to see it in Nigeria. He stated that it was the symbol of our struggle now that Ken is not with us and noted that the presence of the bus would begin another era of the Ogoni’s campaign for justice

The Bus was commissioned in London in 2006 and its artist described her work as a spectacle and a symbol of the importance of transport to environmental debate.

The Bus has also had its share of struggles having spent four days at the bottom of the Thames in August, 2015 after it fell while being loaded on to a ship at the Port of Tilbury in Kent, and had to be repaired before leaving the UK for Lagos on 19 August. It was supposed to make several stops in Nigeria en route to its final destination in Ogoniland.