Lagos — A group of four Ogoni widows, seeking to hold Shell liable for damages in the Netherlands after their anti-oil activist husbands were executed by the Nigerian government in 1995 have cancelled further legal proceedings against the multi-national oil company.
Their decision on the cancellation of further legal proceedings on the matter was conveyed in a statement by their lawyer, Channa Samkalden, quoted by Reuters .
“Obviously this is not without disappointment and frustration,” Samkalden said, announcing that the widows have cancelled an appeal launched after the Hague District Court rejected their case earlier this year.
“This has been a lengthy and demanding procedure, which makes them re-live horrible events, while the outcome is most uncertain.”
The widow’s husbands had been among a group of men that later became known as the “Ogoni Nine”, who were arrested and hanged, in the heat of the crisis in Ogoniland, after a flawed trial that turned international opinion against Nigeria’s then-military rulers. The activists included writer Ken Saro-Wiwa.
