Mr. Dum-Ale Tanee was born in Ogoni, Nigeria on April 17, 1966. His parents Pa Nu -Ue Tanee and Madam Ba-ep (Tornwini) Tanee of Ue-Gwere, Bo-Ue both died when he was a very young child and so Dum-Ale was orphaned and didn’t have the privilege of knowing his parents. His elder brother, Kiadum, who precedes him in death, his elder sister, Ms. Sigah Magdalene Inu-Ue, and himself were raised by their mother’s sister and their grandmother.
Never-the-less, Dum-Ale was not segregated, but was beloved and accorded the same fair treatments as other children in the family. When he attained high school age, he attended Government Secondary School, Onne, Nigeria where he did exceedingly well and graduated in 1992.
By act of providence, he was hired by KCA, Deutag, a global drilling, engineering, and oil services firm as a welder. He worked on oil rigs at Forcados-Yorki river estuaries field, Escravos, and Saghara oil fields amongst others. He gained enormous knowledge and expertise including the technicalities of horizontal oil drilling; which in later years became very useful to the Ogoni community.
It was at this company that he was exposed to Labor Unionism and ultimately became a Union chairman. One of the techniques we heard him talk about the most, and the one that drew the attention of the company and the Nigerian government was called “down-tooling” also known as labor strike which proved to be very effective.
Being a titan in his own right, when the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was formed by Ken Saro Wiwa in the 1990’s he quickly registered in November 1992. He thereon became a warrior and ardent advocate for the survival of the Ogoni people and its environment until his demise on Saturday March 15th, 2025. He was a fierce and fearless warrior who defended his point of views with research, education, and conviction.
His activism was not undercover, hence, he and others became marked men and hunted by the Nigeria military government and the Shell Oil Company. The heat and persecution led him to flee Nigeria to Benin Republic in March 1996; where he sought political asylum with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
He was granted political asylum by the United States of America and was resettled in September 1999. He became a permanent U.S. resident on January 1, 2001 and received U.S. citizenship on July 16, 2009.
In the United States, he worked as a Welder at Schroer Manufacturing, Kansas City from October 1999. He also worked as a Welder/Fabricator at the KC Structural Steel, Missouri where he worked until his passing on Saturday March 2025. He was a very dedicated worker.
As an elected Public Relations Officer of the National Union of Ogoni Students’ USA, he participated in organizing and planning of several events including protests on Capitol Hill and The White House against the excesses of Shell Oil Company in Ogoni land in 1996 amongst others.
He extended the same leadership, passion, and love for Ogoni to the Ue-gwere community, his place of birth. His desire had always been to improve and develop the lives of his community and the Ogoni people.
Dum-Ale’s story would be incomplete without narrating his craving for education. He loved education and domesticated it. This endeavor drove him to enroll and studied Political Science at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), where he was awarded a Bachelor's degree in Arts in Political Science in 2008.
He was a prolific writer and some of his published works includes, Ogoni: Still nothing has been put on the table., Federal Government, Shell Ogoni Struggle, A letter to Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, A Deprived Community, Shell to Resume Oil Activities in Ogoni soon, Ogoni of Niger Delta: The price of Being One of the Richest Oil Region on Earth.
Dum-Ale is survived by his wife, Jana, whom he met in early fall 2004 while attending University of Missouri-Kansas City together. They married on May 24, 2014 and had a total of four children: Baridoosia, LeraBari, Kenule, and NiaBari Tanee. They lived in Gladstone, Missouri from 2007 until his death. His love for his family and Ogoni was admirable and this was demonstrated through the names he gave to his children and events he took them to. He guided them to their ancestry and legacy.
Dum-Ale Tanee was a force of nature. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, Ue-gwere, Ogoni, as well as the human and environmental rights communities.
Dum-Ale, you fought a good fight. Your legacy lives on. Farewell.
Service of Songs and Tributes Friday May 23, 2025
Funeral services will be held Saturday May 24, 2025 at 10:30am with visitation from 9:30am to 10:30am at St. Therese Catholic Church North 7207 MO-9 Kansas City, MO 64152. Reception following funeral service at St. Andrew’s The Apostle Catholic Church 6415 NE Antioch Rd. Gladstone, MO 64119.
Internment will be Wednesday May 28, 2025 at White Chapel Memorial Gardens Cemetery 6600 NE Antioch Rd Gladstone, MO 64119.
Please help celebrate the life Dum-Ale by sharing a memory or expressing your condolences to the family.
