Twenty years ago, on 10th November 1995, the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed, alongside eight colleagues, for crimes they did not commit. They were campaigning against Shell’s exploitation and environmental destruction of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. As a Living Memorial, The Battle Bus, a large-scale mobile interactive steel sculpture was created by Nigerian-British artist Sokari Douglas Camp in 2006. It was the winning proposal from an international competition held by Platform. The Ogoni people requested the Bus to commemorate the 20th anniversary since the executions, and in August 2015 the Bus was sent from London to Nigeria as a gift, to be held in trust by MOSOP (Movement for the Surivival of the Ogoni People) which Saro-Wiwa co-founded. On arrival the Bus was seized by Nigerian customs and has been held ever since because of its ‘political value’.
