The Politics of Bones: Dr. Owens Wiwa and the Struggle for Nigeria's Oil

The gripping story of a peoples battle against a corrupt government and a powerful oil company.

On November 10, 1995, Nigerias military dictatorship executed nine environmental activists. Among them was Ken Saro-Wiwa, the charismatic spokesman of the Ogoni people, whose land in the fertile Niger River delta has been grotesquely polluted by Royal Dutch Shell Corporation. During Kens incarceration on a trumped-up murder charge, his brother, Dr. Owens Wiwa, fought valiantly to save his life even though he himself was on his governments most-wanted list. When his quest failed, Owens narrowly escaped Nigeria with his life, fleeing the country on foot with his wife and newborn son, first to London, where he was embraced by the likes of Anita Roddick and Doris Lessing, and then to Toronto, where he now lives.

Owens Wiwa has taken up his brothers environmental crusade and fought, against terrible odds, to have his brothers remains returned to the family for a proper burial. His story is a heart-stopping saga of personal courage and official corruption, of individual selflessness and corporate greed, of a mans abiding love for his brother and extraordinary determination to honour him.

November of 2005 marked the tenth anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other Nigerian environmental activists by Nigeria's military dictatorship, an event that resulted in worldwide protest and condemnation. Here, Canadian journalist Hunt describes these and surrounding events as Ken Saro-Wiwa's brother, Dr. Owens Wiwa, witnessed them. The narrative describes the environmental and social damage wreaked upon the Wiwas' Ogoni communities by international oil companies, Dr. Owens Wiwa's sadly futile efforts to free his brother from imprisonment, and his own flight from Nigeria in fright for his own life.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

November of 2005 marked the tenth anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other Nigerian environmental activists by Nigeria's military dictatorship, an event that resulted in worldwide protest and condemnation. Here, Canadian journalist Hunt describes these and surrounding events as Ken Saro-Wiwa's brother, Dr. Owens Wiwa, witnessed them. The narrative describes the environmental and social damage wreaked upon the Wiwas' Ogoni communities by international oil companies, Dr. Owens Wiwa's sadly futile efforts to free his brother from imprisonment, and his own flight from Nigeria in fright for his own life. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Toronto journalist J. Timothy Hunt is a regular contributor to many of Canadas most prominent magazines. He is the recipient of three National Magazine awards and the prestigious Canada Council Creative Writing Grant.