President of Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke has proclaimed hope for a free Ogoni in Nigeria.
Nsuke in his new year address to the Ogoni people said freedom for the Ogoni people in Nigeria must be pursued vigorously.
His speech followed his assumption as the new president of the movement following the expiration of the tenure of the previous executives led by Pyagbara Legborsi.
Nsuke who addressed a crowd at Yeghe in Gokana Local Government Area on Tuesday, said: “Today, the Ogoni struggle is reborn, our hope for a better tomorrow is rekindled and we must all be prepared and determined to change our history and let the Ogoni star shine.”
“When in 1990, our progenitors launched the Ogoni struggle with the publication of the Ogoni Bill of Rights, it was a collective move to re-write our history and give us hope. Tonight, that hope is rekindled as we turn a new page and together decide to match on so we can win together.
“MOSOP will focus on fighting for the political rights of the Ogoni people to self determination, the protection of human rights especially the rights of women, development of our educational standards, development of our culture and monitoring the implementation of the cleanup exercise amongst others.
“MOSOP will continue to challenge the discrimination against the Ogoni people in Nigeria.”
Nsuke noted that the Ogoni generates 185000 barrels of oil daily and everything was shared by the rest of Nigeria while the Ogoni people get nothing, stressing that “That is the basis of our struggle, the reason we are aggrieved and we won’t stop until our political rights to self determination is respected and freedom is won for our people.
“Ogoni contributes more to the Nigerian economy than 20 Nigerian states put together yet are the poorest in this country. Our huge natural endowments are exploited for the benefit of other Nigerian nationalities and nothing is left for us. Over $100billion had been taken out of our land leaving us with a wreaked environment, poisoned and unable to support reasonable livelihoods.
“Currently, over 200 persons die weekly from the coastal communities alone and that is a sign that if nothing is done now, the entire Ogoni will eventually die. These are the reasons we have to stand to tell the Nigerian government we can no longer tolerate these injustices.”
