The quest for peace and development in Ogoniland, South-East of Rivers State has been an herculean one.
Vastly endowed in crude oil resources , the people for many years bore the brunt of oil exploration and exploitation on their land by both the federal government and the multinationals as they faced massive expropriation and devastation of their environment and livelihood till they began to make some modest demands for redress.
However, instead of paying attention to the modest demands of the people, the military government of the day with their jackboots visited the people with maximum force and decimated many of their intellectuals and advocates including the great poet and novelist, Kenule Beeson Saro Wiwa who had mobilized the people for resistance against further exploitation of the oil in their environment without a negotiated mutual terms.
The resultant crisis which also attracted international attention and condemnation forced the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company which was spearheading oil exploration in the area to pull of Ogoni.
For years, the people had stood their ground that no drop of oil would be taken from their land till the government implements in full the letters of the Ogoni Bill of Rights which is a compendium of their demands for inclusion in the sharing of the proceeds from the oil domiciled in their land.
On the return to civil rule in 1999, president Olusegun Obasanjo waded in to try to see if the people could shift ground and allow oil production to resume. He appointed a special rappatteur in the person of Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, a Catholic priest to drive the peace process in Ogoni.
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The Catholic priest only succeeded in forging peace between the families of the Ogoni 9 and 4 who had lost their benefactors in the struggle in very controversial circumstances and remained at daggers drawn.
However,the ultimate aim of appointing him which was to make way for oil production to restart remained unachieved.
With president Tinubu on the saddle and faced with the inexorable slide in the value of the naira, debilitating inflation and mounting local and foreign debt overhang, the president needed money from anywhere he could find it to stabilize the economy.
And with the sustained onslaught against oil thieves by the security agencies which has upped the nation’s crude production, any additional value that could come from opening the oil wells in Ogoni would make so much sense for the government.
Apparently on this ground, President Tinubu summoned the Ogoni stakeholders to the Presidential Villa, Abuja and preached peace and reconciliation for the ultimate purpose of getting the oil wells to start running again.
The meeting with the president was received with mixed feelings by many at home who felt that the attendees had sold out and since then, tongues have been wagging with accusations and counter accusations.
So on Saturday February 8, 2025 the Ogoni Dialogue Committee, ODC, which was created on the heels of the meeting with the president formally briefed the generality of Ogoni people on the outcome of the meeting with President Tinubu and the hanging fruits awaiting to be plucked as a fall out of the meeting.
The meeting slated for the Peace and Freedom.Center in Bori, Khana Local Government Area was attended by virtually all the who is who in Ogoni from the political class to the academia, business men and women, students, youth groups, women, etc
The surging crowd forced the organizers to take the meeting outside the hall of the Peace and Freedom Center because those outside of the hall were overwhelming.
Briefing the mammoth crowd at the premises of the Peace and Freedom Center,the Co-chair of the ODC, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey (retd) told the people that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the Ogoni delegation to the meeting with the president did not make any commitments on the resumption of oil exploration in the area.
He said that the delegation rather impressed it on the president to commence some confidence building initiatives to make the Ogoni people comfortable to engage in any dialogue.
Archbishop Kattey said the confidence building measures the delegation outlined for the president include, fast tracking the reconstruction of the East- West Road, establishment of federal higher institution in Ogoni, affirmative action for employment of Ogoni indigenes in the NNPCL and other federal institutions,infrastructural development in the area,creation.of a new State from Ogoni and renovation of secondary schools and hospitals in the area.
The Archbishop said that on arrival from Abuja, the delegation had swung into action with the formation of the Ogoni Dialogue Committee led by Prof Don Baridam as chairman, himself as Co-chair and Barr. Tom Jackson Orage as Secretary.
He said based on the demands for confidence building initiatives, the president had given directives for the fastracking of the reconstruction of the East-West Road with a assurance that by April, one section of the road would have been completed from Onne Junction to Eleme Junction.
The Co-chair also noted that the president had also signed into law the bill for the University of Environmental Technology in Ogoni, adding that funds for the infrastructural development in Ogoni had been built into the 2025 federal budget just as plans were underway to recruit qualified Ogonis into the NNPCL and other federal institutions.
He said, “As we move forward in the dialogue process, we have plans for series of consultations and town hall meetings”
According to him, the town hall meetings would be staged in the four local government areas in Ogoni, bringing together critical stakeholders such as traditional rulers, religious leaders, women, youth groups, MOSOP, KAGOTE, oil producing and host communities so that no voice goes unheard.
He said at the end of the consultations, the people will come up with a common position to present to the federal government on the planned resumption of oil production in Ogoniland.
The Archbishop urged the people to avail themselves of the communication channels opened by ODC to send their memoranda to the committee for consideration and action.
He appealed for cooperation and support from the people to move the area forward.
“We are calling on all Ogoni person to set aside individual interests and come together for the collective good of our people.
” This dialogue is an opportunity for us to come to the table united to ensure we secure a better future not only for ourselves, but for our children and unborn children.
“We believe this is the best time to right the wrongs that once plagued Ogoni land. With faith in our hearts and honest actions, we will not spare any effort to ensure the success of this process.
“We must stay united, focused, resolute and selfless for the betterment of Ogoni people in.many years to come”, he presched.
For now, it is not yet uhuru for either side, federal government or Ogoni people. The road to resumption of oil production in the area remains bumpy and strewn with torns.
The people are still agitated and divided in their opinions. There are still a lot of suspicion that government has come with another antics to deceive them.
Many of them were waving placards with varying inscriptions either mocking their own people or asking the government to steer clear of their oil.
Some were demanding the exoneration of Ken Saro Wiwa and other martyrs before any other thing could be done.
Nobody knows how far the three member ODC will go. Will they win the heart of the people or incur their wrath?
