The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) USA chapter has rejected the move by the Tinubu administration to restart oil exploration in Ogoniland.
In a strong worded statement signed by their leaders which was released to journalists Friday evening in Port Harcourt, the MOSOP-USA lamented that since 1958 when Shell discovered and produced crude oil in Ogoni, the people have received nothing but pollution, degradation, and death, while government and the companies enjoy the money.
The group which outlined a litany of injustice and oppressive acts of Nigeria government against the Ogonis insisted that the confidence building the government has said to be embarking on preparation for resumption of oil exploration will not hold any water unless it addresses the issue of state creation for the Ogonis.
“Confidence-building would involve creating a state for the Ogoni people.
“It would also have required Shell, NNPC, and others to pay the Ogoni people reparations and hold Shell, NNPC, and other operators accountable in Nigerian courts.
“Confidence-building would have involved bringing all oil companies that operated in Ogoni to task for failing to follow their own best practices in their operations in the Niger Delta, and for working with the military governments to repress dissent in Ogoni and other Niger Delta communities.
“And confidence building would have involved putting measures in place to ensure the heinous crimes of the past are not repeated by the Nigerian government and any other entity. We note that despite efforts to bring attention to the deplorable state of the Port Harcourt-Eleme Federal Road, popularly known as East-West Road, the government has failed to fix it despite the significant loss of life. Instead, it focuses on the resumption of oil”, the group stressed
In view of the foregoing, the people demanded among other things the full implementation of the Ogoni Bill of Rights.
“This begins with creating a state for the Ogonis to fulfill the Ogonis’ right to political autonomy in Nigeria. This demand is nonnegotiable and a prerequisite for any dialogue with the federal government”
According to them, the new state being demanded must comprise all Ogoni territories and local governments to maintain their unity and strength.
“We will reject any attempt to separate the Ogoni people into different entities or states. A state for Ogoni will foster development, create jobs, and address the issues of oil spills and lack of basic social development, such as public safety and healthcare”
They further called on the Federal Republic of Nigeria to publicly acknowledge and apologize for the historical and ongoing injustices it imposes on the Ogoni people, including environmental devastation, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses.
“This must accompany a formal commitment to justice, including the comprehensive review of the Military Tribunal’s wrongful trial and convictions before the exoneration of the Ogoni 9 who were wrongfully persecuted and executed. The Ogoni 4 must get the justice and proper burial they deserve, and closure given to their family and Ogonis. Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni activists who Nigeria and Shell murdered by hanging should be accorded full national honors as heroes, not just of Ogoni, but of Nigeria.
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” We demand the full implementation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report of August 2011, which calls for Ogoniland’s environmental remediation and restoration alongside sustainable development. The clean-up process must be transparent and done to the highest international standards, with the progress checked and evaluated by UNEP or other neutral and credible environmental and scientific bodies agreed upon by the Ogoni people. Discussions of oil resumption while Ogoni land remains catastrophically polluted are non-starters.
“We seek fair compensation and reparations for the communities affected by environmental damage, health issues, and economic losses from oil extraction. Despite international awareness of our plight, Nigeria and Shell are not held accountable by the international community for their actions, and crimes against Ogoni, including the sacking and destruction of many Ogoni communities. We demand the return and rehabilitation of Ogonis sacked from their ancestral communities in the Oyigbo region in 1994, suffering as internal refugees in their country, Nigeria, and statelessness in the Benin Republic.
” MOSOP-USA demands an immediate Environmental Assessment and Health Impact Study (EAHIS) in Ogoni to evaluate and ascertain whether the discussion of oil production is reasonable, feasible, morally right, and environmentally right for Ogoni land and people.
The group said stated that no group of elites is qualified to negotiate oil resumption against the collective will of the Ogoni people. hence a “unified agreement among Ogoni civil society groups, politicians, chiefs, elders, farmers, fishermen and women, the youths, and all citizens of Ogoni is essential for any progress to be made”
The statement was signed by Elder DineBari Augustine Kpuinen, President, MOSOP-USA
Pastor Tombari Samuel Nweemuu, Secretary, MOSOP-USA, among others.
