The day Kenule Saro-Wiwa was judicially murdered was a deeply sad day for all progressive-minded Nigerians and the world at large. In fact, it is safe to say that his murder was the apogee or climax of Abacha’s barbarity.

On that day, I wrote two articles and was on my way to Rutam House, Isolo, the abode of The Guardian, to see the Editorial page Editor, Rueben Abati and submit these for publication when I ran into a combined police/army checkpoint close to the place. They searched the vehicle I was in, took out the hard copies of the articles I’d written (one of these was actually a Sonnet I wrote as a tribute to the great man) and tore them to shreds immediately. They then bundled me to a police station in Oshodi, accusing me of “sabotaging the government�. To cut a long story short, I spent the night at the station.

Below is that Sonnet (it was published at the time in some of the national dailies)