Frontline Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) player, Emmanuel Nkala, is currently calling on the Buhari administration to resist the temptation of a military raid on Ogoni with the hope of killing civil rights protestors seeking justice for the Ogoni people of Rivers State.
But, President Muhammadu Buhari is urging Ogoni leaders to sensitise their people on the value of protecting national assets like pipelines and other oil installations, saying wilful damages usually create more havoc on their environment and hamper development in the area.
President Buhari’s Media Aide Lead, Femi Adesina, in a statement said his principal made the call when he received some leaders and people of Ogoni at the State House, Abuja, noting that his administration was committed to the cleaning up of Ogoniland so that indigenes can regain their lives, return to farms and reactivate economic activities.
“You will need to educate the people of Ogoniland and the region more than when pipelines are broken, the damage is more to the immediate environment and the people. The majority of farmers and fishermen struggle because the fishes now move to the deep sea’’, he said.
Buhari said bad industry practices coupled with security challenges had resulted in massive spills with attendant environmental degradation of Ogoni, leading to agitations and strife, assuring that his administration will bring to a close all pending issues on sons of Ogoniland.
“Your Royal Highnesses, distinguished representatives of the people of Ogoni Land, I note the need to ensure completion of a segment of the East-West road traversing Ogoni Land, and steps will be taken to ensure delivery under the Infrastructure Development Fund as earlier conceived. We intend to complete this vital artery of Nigeria.
“Furthermore, we are committed to ensuring clemency and national integration as part of this Administration’s bid to lay the foundation for genuine reconciliation and bring closure to the issues of Ogoniland.
“The unfortunate incidents of the early 1990s leading to the loss of lives of distinguished sons of Ogoni Land and the collateral judicial processes are indelible in our memories. Despite the grievous circumstances, the Federal Government will consider the request for the grant of pardon to finally close the Ogoni saga’’, the president noted.
According to him, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), had been granted a license to operate OML11, which will stimulate economic activities and integration in the zone.
“To ensure the stimulation of economic activities in Ogoni Land as underpinned by the vast petroleum resources underlying Ogoni Land and neighbouring communities, NPDC, a subsidiary of the NNPC has been granted license to operate OML11.
“Accordingly, NNPC is hereby directed to engage all host communities, particularly Ogoni people to ensure inclusive processes of oil and gas exploration and production is anchored on optimum involvement of host communities. NPDC will lay a broad-based programme for the emergence of a new Ogoni Land for the benefit of the Ogoni people and Nigeria as a whole’’, he added.
President Buhari said he was aware of the passage of the Bill on the Federal University of Environmental Technology by the National Assembly and awaits transmission for further necessary action.
“This Administration has placed the rehabilitation of the Niger Delta as a top priority and has committed a lot of resources to tackle existing problems, including launching a One-Billion-dollar oil clean-up exercise to reverse the terrible damage and restore the ecosystem.
“I am pleased that the restoration and amelioration activities under the auspices of the United Nations and the vehicle of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, has commenced work since we assumed office as we promised.
“We will take further steps to ensure faithful and speedy execution of the project so as to restore the environment and enable farming and fishing activities to resume in the affected areas,’’ he added.
The President also appreciated the leaders for recognition of the Federal Government’s efforts to clean up the area and stimulate more economic activities.
“Your Royal Highnesses and very distinguished people of Ogoni Land, I thank you very much for your kind words and recognition of efforts made by our administration to bring progress to your part and all parts of the country.’’
In his remarks, the President of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, His Majesty King Godwin N.K. Giniwa, thanked President Buhari for various interventions in the area, particularly on clean-up of the environment.
While the paramount ruler noted that the people believe in the unity of Nigeria and the future of every group could only be guaranteed in one nation, he congratulated Buhari for achievements in critical infrastructure in the country, especially in railways and road constructions, urging more efforts in the provision of potable water.
However, speaking at MOSOP congress at Bera in Gokana Local Government Area, Nkala who was reacting to some widely circulated rumours of a military raid under the guise of fighting insecurity said the plot was clear pointer to suppress civil rights agitations in Ogoni.
According to Nkala, “agents of the Nigerian state and oil industry sponsored by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) have openly argued for forceful oil resumption in Ogoni. But Nkala said they have promoted just one agenda and that was to suppress agitations for civil rights.”
While maintaining that there has been no unusual security situation in Ogoni to warrant a military raid, he accused Abuja of deliberately neglecting the Ogoni people to justify the campaign for a military intervention noting that what Ogoni needed is the creation of more Police units and equipping them to provide the needed security..
The MOSOP chief regretted that Nigeria was encouraging criminality by failing to provide security, especially for the Ogoni people.
Federal and state governments, according to him, should be concerned about the neglect of the Ogoni section of Rivers and noted that there had been nothing so exceptional about Ogoni apart from deliberate government neglect to force the people to submit to the repressive tendencies, poverty and allow oil production in the area against their wishes.
Continuing, he said the Ogoni people were peaceful and the reported cases of crime had been clearly linked to political sponsorship and charged the Buhari administration to explain why no one had been charged to court despite the numerous arrests associated with a series of politically motivated clashes between gangsters.
Nkala reminded Abuja that the Ogoni are an indigenous people and a distinct ethnic nationality in Nigeria and therefore are protected by international treaties and conventions to which the Nigerian State is a signatory and therefore bound by them.
He stated that any military invasion in Ogoni will be a clear violation of the rights of the people to peaceful habitation of their land.
The Ogoni people therefore must give their consent to any military operation in the land and should have a clear understanding of the purpose of the operations, Nkala advised.
Nkala said the struggles of the Ogoni people had been to protect their fundamental rights and freedom, especially the rights to self-determination within the Nigeria state, and called on Abuja to ensure that the Ogoni are adequately protected within Nigeria and warned against rolling out the Nigerian military against peaceful communities seeking to protect their fundamental rights and enhance their living conditions.
While warning against militarising Ogoni, especially for the purpose of forcing oil production in the area, will not be accepted and will run contrary to all known conventions and principles of a civilized society, he appealed to the Nigerian government to halt any action that could further worsen the already terrible conditions in which the Ogoni people live.
