Over 30 civil society groups, led by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) staged a peaceful protest on Monday in parts of Ogoniland in Rivers State over the Federal Government’s decision to resume oil exploration in the region.
Other groups that participated in the march include: the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), the Federation of Ogoni Women’s Associations (FOWA), the Ogoni Living Martyrs, and the Ogoni Peace and Unity Forum, among others.
At the protest on Monday in Bori, protesters were armed with placards carrying various inscriptions such as “Clear Ken Saro Wiwa Name now,” “No to forceful oil resumption,” “We want justice for Ogoni 9,” “Ribadu and Mitee leave Ogoni oil alone,” “Stop the Ogoni genocide,” and “No exoneration, no oil resumption in Ogoniland.”
Protesters’ demands
The protesting groups made the following demands:
- Justice for Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Eight, who were executed in 1995 for their intense advocacy against environmental pollution and human rights abuses by the oil companies and the military regimes.
- Exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa, rather than a pardon, as he was denied a fair hearing by General Sani Abacha.
- Inclusion of all stakeholders, including MOSOP, in the process of oil resumption
- A halt of the process led by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the initiation of a new transparent process that will accommodate the views and concerns of the Ogoni people.
- Granting of operational licenses to Indigenous Ogoni companies to drill oil, and unbundling of OML11
- Provision of compensation to the Ogoni people for the loss of livelihoods as a result of years of environmental pollution.
- A panel of inquiry into the death of the Ogoni 4, who were killed at Giokoo, and for whose death the military regime of Abacha convicted Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists.
Addressing protesters at the Peace Park in Bori, the President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke maintained that MOSOP championed the struggles that led to the end of oil drilling in Ogoni in the 90s, so the group cannot be excluded from the process of resuming oil drilling by the government.
“There cannot be oil resumption in any part of Ogoni without inputs from MOSOP leadership,” Nsuke declared.
“We will not accept any decision that is imposed on us without our input. We will resist any attempt to marginalize us or to ignore our rights,” he added.
The President of NYCOP, Comrade Barinuazor Emmanuel, stressed that the demands of the groups must be met before oil exploration can be allowed to resume in Ogoniland.
He said, “Ken Saro-Wiwa was not guilty of any crime. He was a hero who fought for the rights of the Ogoni people, and his name must be cleared.”
Emmanuel appealed to the national security adviser to call the Ogoni political class to order, as their actions may sabotage the president’s plan for a peaceful oil resumption process.
“We are not asking for too much. We want the federal government to recognize our rights as Ogoni people and to involve us in the decision-making process regarding oil exploration in our land,” Emmanuel said.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported that in January, President Bola Tinubu announced his administration’s decision to resume oil exploration in Ogoniland, over 30 years after oil companies were chased out of the region by protests.
- The President set up a committee headed by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to dialogue with stakeholders in the region and assure them of peace, development, and environmental restoration.
- However, we reported that the dialogue is failing as major stakeholders, particularly MOSOP, which was at the forefront of the struggle in the 80s and 90s, have accused the NSA team of not following the President’s instructions.
