Home News Ogoni not ready for resumption of oil exploration—MOSOP 

Ogoni not ready for resumption of oil exploration—MOSOP 

by Business News Report

The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, has rejected the move for the Federal Government to resume oil exploration in Ogoniland, stating that the people were still reeling in the pain inflicted on them by oil business. It would be recalled that some leaders of Ogoni extraction, led by King Samuel Nnee, Paramount Ruler of Kpite Tai, who represented the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers of Ogoni, in company of the Minster of Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, had during a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, requested the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni. Reacting to the development, the President, of MOSOP, Engr Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, noted that the people were not ready for resumption of oil activities in their area, adding that they are only focused on the remediation of the already destroyed environment of the people. Wai-Ogosu dismissed the claims that the visit at the Villa represented the interest of the Ogoni people, describing the participants at the meeting as impostors.

He said: “We would like to make it clear that those who participated and paraded themselves in the meeting with the President as leaders and representatives of Ogoni are not recognized by MOSOP or any of its affiliates and organs. We find it unfortunate that the President’s handlers could not do due diligence in vetting individuals given access to the President and allowed imposters and paid agents to have access to the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. We find it even more unfortunate that the core of the conversations had in the meeting with the President was the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoniland which is a sensitive issue for the Ogoni people. MOSOP wishes to state that the sponsored individuals who met with the President did so on their own volition and do not in any way represent Ogoni people or its different representative organisations and as such lack the social license to discuss the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni.”  Wai-Ogosu noted that the Ogoni environment is still undergoing remediation from years of pollution from oil exploration, noting that the people are not ready to allow for resumption of oil business in the area at the moment.

He said “While Ogoni people are focused on the remediation of our environment as being currently done by the Federal Government via HYPREP, we would like to make it clear that our people are still reeling from the effects of the trauma brought about by the General Sani Abacha’s Government instigation of the killing of four (4) Ogoni Chiefs, the eventual extra-judicial murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 8, the killing of thousands of Ogoni men, women and children, and the sacking of Ogoni communities. Ogoni is yet to recover from this violence, and we fear that the stage is now currently being set by oil companies to re-enact this sad event in Ogoniland by the sponsoring of individuals and activities capable of disrupting the peace and instigating crisis.” MOSOP would also like to make it clear that the issue of oil resumption in Ogoni has at no point been discussed or deliberated on by the plurality of Ogoni people as organised in its six (6) kingdoms, one (1) National Territory, and one (1) Special Unit. Whilst MOSOP is not against oil exploration in our land, it is important that such conversations are done taking into cognizance the social dynamics of Ogoni and the critical stakeholders and organizations with the social license to discuss those issues with the Nigerian Government.”

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