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By Godwin Chukwumaechi
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has faulted what it described as the misrepresentation of the ongoing process for the return oil exploration in Ogoni to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing persons with selfish motives of falsely presenting themselves as the drivers of the process.
Factional MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, who made the allegation in a statement after the group’s emergency meeting in Port Harcourt, described the action as economic sabotage, accusing the representatives as impersonators.
He said that some of the persons who claimed to represent the Ogoni people in a meeting held on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 with the President in Abuja, lack the mandate of the Ogoni people.
He described those who claimed to represent the Ogoni people as paid chiefs driven by selfish interests, which contradicts the expectations of the Ogoni people on the development aspect of oil resumption.
He said that MOSOP would continue to pursue its goals as the only mandated voice of the Ogoni people based on the Ogoni Bill of Rights, which states that MOSOP has the mandate “to make representations on behalf of the nationality.”
The MOSOP president, who noted that those present at the meeting did not speak for MOSOP, called for a fair and just treatment of the Ogoni people through the operationalization of the Ogoni Development Authority (ODA) proposed to the government as an acceptable pathway to the resolution of the Ogoni problem.
Nsuke said: “The said meeting, being facilitated by a key player in the oil and gas industry in collaboration with some government, paid chiefs of Ogoni extraction, which is a slight on the Ogoni people in particular and a denigration of the struggles of the entire Niger Delta people. MOSOP strongly condemns the misrepresentation of the Ogoni people at the meeting and unequivocally dissociates itself from the meeting.
“The meeting which was motivated by greed, aimed at misrepresenting the situation on ground to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a listening president who has shown remarkable commitment in finding a lasting solution to the critical national issues and is counted upon for a fair and just solution to the Ogoni problem.
“MOSOP wants to emphatically state that these are people without any knowledge about how Shell left Ogoni; or what drives the Ogoni struggle. Also, they are completely ignorant of the painstaking efforts made by MOSOP at the village and community levels to sensitize our people on the need to revisit the oil production issue after decades of battling with selfish and divisive forces.
“The audacity to misrepresent facts on a sensitive issue like oil resumption in Ogoni is an act of economic sabotage, considering the progress so far made in resolving the Ogoni issue once and for all. That is why MOSOP sees the meeting as a failed attempt to make the Federal Government lose the Ogoni People’s confidence.
“Even though the said meeting was intended to frustrate the gains of MOSOP’s campaigns and community sensitization to permanently address the problems in Ogoni, MOSOP remains committed to its development goals and will continue to work with relevant stakeholders, especially the Federal Government to achieve them.
“MOSOP’s main objective is to achieve a peaceful settlement of this protracted conflict and to bring Ogoni on the path of growth and development. But we insist on a genuine, broad-based and transparent negotiation process that considers the interest of all parties for a mutually beneficial compromise.”
Nsuke added: “The progress recorded so far in convincing the Ogoni people to embrace the idea of development through the resumption of oil production in our area had been well thought of and anchored on mutual benefits.
“It is our wish that the gains of our community sensitization and reorientation efforts should not be destroyed by pecuniary interests of private businesses who think that 4,000 lives lost in the Ogoni struggle can be for their own benefits. God forbid.
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“To this end, MOSOP calls on Mr President to appoint a negotiator with credibility and national clout to promote a broad-based engagement with the Ogoni people and facilitate a peaceful resolution.
“MOSOP further pledges to cooperate with the process and hopes to see a speedy resolution of all issues affecting the Ogoni people. “
