The people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State have reinstated their demand for an end to all forms of environmental, social and political injustice against them, regretting that the cloud of injustice still hangs over Ogoniland. The people of the area, who came together on the platform of Ogoni Beyond Oil and Politics, BOP, also urged the federal government to set up a committee to carry out proper burial rite for all the Ogoni leaders who were killed in course of their quest for justice for Ogoni people. The Convener of BOP, His Royal Highness, Mene Kadilo Kabari, in Poort Harcourt, during an event to mark the 30 years of murder of the four Ogoni Chiefs: Chiefs Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Theophilus Orage and Samuel Orage, said BOP is a project aimed at uniting the leaders of Ogoni in the interest of the development of the oil rich area.
Kabari in an address titled, ‘Three Decades after Toeing the Path of Self-Destruction, Ogonis must Think Beyond Oil and Politics to Reunite and Rebuild Ogoniland,’ regretted the disunity among the ruling class in the area. He urged the people of Ogoni to de-emphasise politics and oil and give attention to other sources of livelihood, adding that too much dependence on oil and politics has only hampered development in Ogoni caused more disunity in Ogoni. The Mene stated that the killing of the four prominent Ogoni leaders that led to other killings worsened the socio-economic and politically marginalisation of the Ogoni people, adding that till date the cloud of injustice still hangs over Ogoni.
He said “this anniversary once again calls for sober reflection on where we were, where we are and where we ought to be in the actualisation of the hopes and aspirations of our forebears that culminated in a struggle for which they lived and died. It is saddening however to note in all honesty that we are a far cry from the lofty dreams of our great leaders who lost their lives in the Ogoni struggle. It is therefore the position of members of the B.O.P Ogoni project, that Ogonis far and near must go back to the drawing board, reflect on the struggle that was developed around the tripod of environmental, social and political injustices, which still stares us all in our faces.
The social stigma of a disunited people, whose leaders were gruesomely murdered first by themselves and, then by the state leaving behind a nightmare of failure from the Ogoni bill of rights to even producing a Governor, Deputy Governor, Speaker or Chief Judge of Ogoni extraction since the creation of Rivers State is indeed a darkling plain which requires concerted efforts of all and sundry to change the narrative in every front.” Kabari urged the federal government set up a committee that would organise a proper burial for the Ogoni leaders who were murdered in their quest for justice for their people and grant pardon to late Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others. He also urged politicians of Ogoni extraction to work together to end the age long political marginalisation, even as he tasked the FG for a holistic review of the ongoing implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoniland and demanded a quick completion of the Centre for Excellence and its conversion to a University for Environment.
