Desperate to increase the nation’s crude oil production for enhanced revenue generation, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is seeking to prepare a peaceful environment in Ogoniland, Rivers State for the recommencement of oil exploration activities in the area.
Ogoniland in the South East of Rivers State has numerous oil wells that have remained dormant since the Anglo-Dutch oil company, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC was forced to shut down operations in the area following irreconcilable differences with Ogoni folks which had culminated in the killing of many Ogoni activists, notably Kenule Beeson Saro Wiwa.
One of the nagging issues the people of Ogoni have been clamoring for is the implementation of the Ogoni Bill of Rights which they have severally presented to successive administrations.
With the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP sponsored clean up ongoing in the area and other ancillary activities being coordinated by the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project, HYPREP, the federal government is perhaps convinced that enough had been done to pacify the people to make them cooperate with the government to resume oil production in the area.
This perhaps may have informed the meeting the president had with expanded Ogoni stakeholders Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with Governor Siminalayi Fubara in attendance including the Federal Capital Territory FCT minister Chief Nyesom Wike.
At a meeting at the State House in Abuja, President Tinubu passionately called for unity and reconciliation, urging the Ogoni people to set aside historical grievances and work together to achieve peace, development, and a clean environment.
“We cannot in any way rewrite history, but we can correct some anomalies of the past going forward. We cannot heal the wounds if we continue to be angry,” he said.
President Tinubu directed the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to coordinate the negotiations as he called for inclusive consultation and mutual understanding.
The President commended the delegation for embracing the Federal Government-led dialogue and emphasised the need for collaboration, trust, and inclusiveness to resolve lingering issues in the region.
“We must work together with mutual trust. Go back home, do more consultations, and embrace others. We must make this trip worthwhile by bringing peace, development, and a clean environment back to Ogoniland,” President Tinubu said.
He asked ministers, the NNPCL, and the Rivers State Government to cooperate with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to achieve the mandate.
“It is a great honour for me to have this meeting, which is an opportunity to dialogue with the people of Ogoniland.
“It has been many years since your children and myself partnered to resist military dictatorship in this country. No one dreamt I would be in this chair as President, but we thank God.
“Many of your sons present here were my friends and co-travellers in the streets of Nigeria, Europe, and America.
“I know what to do in memory of our beloved ones so that their sacrifices will not be in vain,” the President said.
On his part, Governor Fubara thanked the President for his support of the Ogoni people and for welcoming an all-inclusive representation of the people to the Presidential Villa.
He said the meeting was a follow-up to an assignment the President gave him through the National Security Adviser.
Emphasising the importance of resuming oil operations in Ogoniland, the governor pledged the delegation’s commitment to adhering to the President’s instructions and providing the necessary support to achieve the government’s objectives.
“What we are doing here today is to concretise the love and respect we have for the President for being behind this meeting and for him to tell us to go back and continue the consultations with a timeline so that the resumption of oil production in Ogoniland will commence,” he said.
The National Security Adviser, Mallam.Nuhu Ribadu also spoke and commended the Ogoni people for their trust in President Tinubu and for embracing dialogue as a path to meaningful progress and enduring solutions.
“Guided by Mr. President’s vision that every voice is heard and every interest is considered, my office, the DSS, the government of Rivers State and the Minister of FCT embarked on a diligent and consultative process to assemble this delegation,” Mallam Ribadu said.
He noted that the over 50-member delegation that met with the President reflected the rich diversity of Ogoni society, representing various constituencies, interests, and viewpoints.
“The presence of this delegation is a testament to the Ogoni people’s readiness to engage constructively in the pursuit of peace, justice, and sustainable development,” he said.
King Festus Babari Bagia Gberesaako XIII, the Gberemene of Gokana Kingdom, who spoke on behalf of Ogoni people expressed the community leaders’ willingness to engage in the process of finding lasting solutions to the lingering challenges in Ogoniland.
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However, observers are wondering how far Tinubu can go in achieving his economic interest in Rivers State without first having a stable political environment which ought to be the superstructure that would underpin the economic motives.
At the meeting with the president were two personalities who are very central to the attainment of the much needed peace in the larger Rivers State, beyond the core Ogoni area, but who at the moment are like two parallel lines that would never meet- the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara and the Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Chief Nyesom Wike.
President Tinubu had attempted a perfunctory reconciliation of the two gladiators who were like father and son, but later torn apart by their political interests.
Interestingly, the president didn’t consider it expedient to draw the ears of the two political leaders again and insist on a peaceful resolution of their differences.
The much needed peace was disappointingly sacrificed on the altar of political exigency as the president preferred to massage the ego of the FCT minister who in all intents and purposes has been the aggressor in the festering political crisis in Rivers State.
Now with Rivers State politically unstable with cases flying in different law courts involving the FCT minister and Governor Fubara and their allies, the same people are the ones Tinubu is asking to go back home and build peace. Can two work together unless they agree?
Even among the Ogonis in the meeting with Mr President were allies of the Governor and the FCT minister who are now like the Israelites and the Palestines in their relationship. So how are they going to sit and talk peace when the political differences between Wike and Fubara have permeated all facet of life in the state where we now have political leaders for Fubara and those for Wike, elders for Wike and those for Fubara, youths for Fubara and those for Wike, Ogonis for Fubara and those for Wike and so on.
The overriding economic interest of Tinubu in Ogoni, nay Rivers State over a wholesome peaceful coexistence among the political leaders might provoke deeper crisis along the line which could ultimately frustrate the envisaged boom from the oil wells domiciled in the volatile Ogoni enclave.
Just few days ago in a media chat, the FCT minister was almost bringing down the roof as he was swearing that he would never reconcile with Fubara. So the presidential assignment to go home and meet, talk and make peace could be considered dead on arrival.
Many people who saw the group photograph the delegation to the meeting took with the president with their faces beaming with smiles were not deceived because behind those faces were hidden effervescent animosity which they carried from events in Rivers State to the meeting.
It is advisable for the president not to put the cart before the horse. He should first genuinely ensure the restoration of peace in Rivers State so that he could have everybody on the same page working to achieve his ultimate goal of surpassing in quantum leap the current 1.88 million barrels per day crude output . That is the way to go.
