Indigenes in the four Ogoni-speaking local governments of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme in Rivers State have given the Federal Government till November 30, this year, to end environmental terrorism in the area or face increased resistance until justice is achieved.
President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, made the disclosure, last Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the 23rd Ogoni Martyrs Day.
The solemn day is set aside to mark the hanging of a renowned environmentalist, Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa, and eight other Ogoni activists at Port Harcourt Prisons, during the regime of the late Gen Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995.
Pyagbara stated that with Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) declared persona-non-grata in Ogoni, another oil company would only be allowed to resume oil production in Ogoniland, after a broad-based discussion with Ogoni people.
The Anglo/Dutch oil giant (Shell) was sent packing from Ogoniland in 1993, with MOSOP President disclosing that in the last one year, there had been intense pressure by unnamed oil companies to re-enter Ogoniland, for the ultimate purpose of resuming oil production in the area.
On the vexed issue of resumption of oil production in Ogoniland, Pyagbara said: “In the last one year, we have seen intense pressure to re-enter Ogoni for the ultimate resumption of oil production in our land.
“While Shell remains persona-non-grata in Ogoni, we have stated repeatedly that Ogoni oil assets cannot be partitioned and allocated like the partitioning of Africa, to any investor without the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of the Ogoni people, as guaranteed under international human rights law, particularly the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)”.
The Ogoni Martyrs Day was attended by the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Victor Giadom; Nigeria’s Ambassador to The Netherlands, Hon Oji Ngofa; the pioneer Secretary-General of MOSOP, Prof. Ben Naanen of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT); Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers South-East); and the Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Dr. Marvin Dekil.
Naanen was the chairman of the 23rd edition of the Ogoni Martyrs Day, which was held in Port Harcourt, instead of Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoniland, due essentially to security reasons occasioned by the tensed atmosphere in the area.
