The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People has flayed its exclusion from the meeting of some Ogoni stakeholders with President Bola Tinubu on the proposed resumption of oil production in Ogoni.
MOSOP faulted the composition of those invited for the meeting, describing it as inappropriate and expressed surprise that no invitation was extended to the body, which championed the cause of the Ogoni struggle.
On Tuesday, the President held a closed-door meeting with Ogoni leaders led by the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja as talks to resume oil exploration in Ogoni land resumed.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed details of the meeting in a statement titled ‘President Tinubu pledges peace, justice, development in Ogoniland.’
At the meeting, Tinubu 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 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.
While oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta began in the late 1950s, operations were suspended in Ogoni land in the early 1990s due to disruptions from local public unrest. The oilfields and installations have since largely remained dormant. However, major oil pipelines still cross through Ogoni land and oil spills continue to affect the region, due to such factors as a lack of maintenance and vandalism to oil infrastructure and facilities.
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, environmental contamination in Ogoni land from oil spills remains untreated, or only partially remediated, today.
Between 1976 and 1991, more than two million barrels of oil polluted Ogoni land in 2,976 separate oil spills as Nigeria became one of the world’s largest oil producers.
In 1990, Ogoni leaders, including environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, formed the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, a non-partisan organisation, to stop the exploitation of the Ogoni by oil companies and the government.
Three years later, due to increasing local and international protests, Shell suspended production in Ogoni land and hasn’t pumped oil from most of its wells since, but its pipelines still run through Ogoni land, reportedly leaking oil. January 4, 1993, about 300,000 Ogoni people protested peacefully against Shell and oil pollution. Later that year, Shell requested military support to build a pipeline through Ogoniland.
On November 10, 1995, despite international appeals for clemency, the Sani Abacha-led military government executed Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni human rights activists on charges of murder of four Ogoni elders.
Following Tuesday’s meeting there were agitations by the MOSOP over the planned resumption of oil production in Ogoni land in Rivers State.
The umbrella body of the Ogoni people on Tuesday said any meeting by the Federal Government aimed at resuming oil exploration in the area without involving key stakeholders would not be accepted.
MOSOP president, Olu Wai-Ogosu, argued that a lack of broad-based consultation with recognised Ogoni leadership could undermine ongoing peace and reconciliation efforts.
On Wednesday, one of the leaders of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, stated that those invited to the meeting were not in touch with the grassroots, decrying the exclusion of Ogoni youths and women from the meeting, saying their input and position were important on the issue at stake.
Nsuke stated, “MOSOP was not notified so that we could send a representative to the meeting. It is not about picking people from the corners. MOSOP ought to have been notified and we send a representation or a delegation to that meeting.
“And that delegation would have presented the position of MOSOP. So, MOSOP was not represented.”
He said if MOSOP was notified it would have convened a steering committee meeting and go to Abuja first with the issue of justice for the people.
“All that MOSOP would have demanded and spoken about is justice for the Ogoni people; first is the issue of marginalisation, the denial of the rights of the Ogoni people to function within Nigeria as Ogoni people. That demands that because of the extent of resources that are being extracted out of Ogoni, a certain percentage of that resources should be committed to build a future for the Ogoni people to develop Ogoni,” he said.
Nsuke said the second would be the injustice done to Ogoni, adding, “They (the Federal Government) cannot sweep under the carpet the issue that thousands of Ogoni people were killed because of oil, especially the gruesome murder of nine prominent Ogoni men on November 10, 1995.”
He insisted that the gruesome murder of Ogoni hero, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight of his kinsmen was an issue that could not be underestimated by anyone because “it has the capacity to mess up everything.”
He added, “These are critical issues that must be addressed holistically. We cannot say we will do anything without looking at the injustices meted out on the Ogoni people. Look at the recognition, it was inadequate.
“First of all the recognition (meeting with Tinubu) was done mainly for those who are not in touch with the grassroots. Secondly, I didn’t see proper representation of women and youths at that meeting.
“And all of these people ought to have brought their position on the table. If MOSOP was notified and represented, we would have called a steering committee meeting, which included the women and youths.
“So, if you are sending a delegation that delegation would have conveyed the position of all of these groups.
“We are not condemning; we are also not rejecting the meeting outright. But we are saying that it was inappropriate for MOSOP that led the struggle of the Ogoni people, who they know the Ogoni people listen to, to have been alienated from such a crucial meeting.
“So, it is not inclusive for whatever reason, selfish or whatever justification they could find. It was an error not to have MOSOP properly represented at that meeting because they know very well that the views of MOSOP are fundamental in the way the Ogoni people reacted to certain things, especially an issue like resumption of oil production.”
Nsuke said if the Federal Government was committed to getting things done right they should not have excluded MOSOP from such a crucial meeting.
However, the Presidency on Wednesday said President Bola Tinubu’s recent meeting with Ogoni leaders was only the start of wide-reaching consultations expected to involve all stakeholders in the region.
It said stakeholders who attended Tuesday’s gathering were tasked to talk to as many indigenous groups as possible to ensure consensus.
“The President has also told Governor Sim Fubara and all the Ogoni people to consult more…they will talk to all groups before they conclude. That is the spirit of what happened yesterday (Tuesdasy),” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, told our correspondent.
Meanwhile, a monarch and one of the Ogoni leaders that attended the meeting, His Majesty Suanu Baridam Baridam, who is the King of ancient Bangha Kingdom in Khana Local Government Area of the state, however described the Ogoni representation at the meeting as men of high caliber.
The monarch, in a chat with one of our correspondents, said the issue of oil resumption was sensitive following the experience of the Ogoni people.
He said, “We received a message from the President inviting very critical stakeholders from Ogoni for us to look at the situation of Ogoni viz-a-viz the resumption of oil production in Ogoni. However the president was very specific, he knows the history of Ogoni, It’s not something that should be done with force and so he asked us to go home so that he appointed the National Security Adviser to negotiate with the Ogoni people in that regard.
“The President made a lot of promises to change the narrative that has happened in Ogoni before and after the suspension of oil drilling. And after that we went into an indoor meeting with the NSA who asked us to go home, talk to our people, know what the people want and we start from there. But as a people that have suffered a lot from oil drilling on their land we have also made some demands.”
The monarch added that four people were appointed as facilitators headed by a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Don Baridam.
“One person was picked from each of the four local government areas that make up Ogoni. So, that is where we are to discuss with our people and ask what they want.
“However, most importantly what is in the mind of every Ogoni is to ensure that any company coming to Ogoni must first of all have the needs of the face of the Ogoni people. If they are coming to drill oil, what are the things the Ogoni people need based on what has happened previously?
“Are we just going to allow them (company) to come and take the oil? These are some of the discussions we will be looking at in the next one month, after which we will go back to Mr President.
“But the people who are driving this are the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara and the NSA, according to the President that gave the mandate. The meeting was very critical to us as Ogoni people because of the caliber of people that were on that visit.
“It was not a mere selection but people of very high caliber. The four kings of Ogoni were there.”
He said one of the key issues the Ogoni people would want addressed is the dilapidated East-West Road, which he said was in “critical condition”, adding that it must be immediately fixed from the Eleme Junction to Akpajo and Trailer Park.
“And the President should also sign the law setting up the University of Environment, which was proposed before him, by appending his signature.”
While noting that there had been serious agitations from the people to “right the wrongs” of what had happened in the past, he said, “If not for compensation, but for them to acknowledge that the problem that happened in Ogoni land was caused by the oil companies and the Federal Government; and then we begin to look at infrastructural development of the area.
“We are talking about issues of health and road construction education. These were some of the things presented to the Federal Government before now. That is why we said we have to go home and get the input of our people before oil resumption.
“We must know where we are going to because we know where we are coming from,” the monarch added.
On his part, The Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, Jerry Omatsogunwa, suggested that the Ogonis should adopt the Indorama model, describing it as the most effective.
Omatsogunwa said, “Oil production is on the exclusive list, so I think what they should do is that any company that is coming should use the Indorama model.
“The Indorama model shows that Indorama for instance has 60 per cent of the shares of whatever production, then the state has 10 per cent federal has 20%, then the community has about 7.5 per cent, while the workers have about 2.5 per cent
“So if they do the Indorama model, it means everybody will be carried along in the scheme of things, nobody would want to disrupt activities. Just the way you see Indorama producing and you see communities that are host communities within that Ndorama area are smiling to the bank every month by the time they declare their dividend and provide development for their people.
“I think that is what I should suggest, that everybody should be carried along in the scheme of things.”
