As the contention over mining of oil in the Ogoni region rages on, and with the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP, officially resuming the clean-up of the Ogoni Environment, Ogoni people have agreed to dialogue with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for the resumption of oil exploration.
They also asked for the relocation of the headquarters of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) from Port Harcourt to Ogoniland.
These were parts of the decisions reached on Wednesday during the Ogoni General Assembly meeting organised by the Conscience of Ogoni People in Bori, Khana Local Council.
Gani Topba, the national leader of the group explained that the era of agitation was over.
According to him: “Shell’s operational licence will expire in the next four months. What we are talking about is how development will come and make Ogoni better. We are giving them (Shell) 14 days to come for dialogue.”
They also asked President Mohammadu Buhari to reinstate Derek Mene as Executive Director, Finance and Administration (EDFA) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), stressing that anything to the contrary would affect the electoral fortunes of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming elections in Ogoniland.
They said: “We are not happy that our son, Mene Derek, was removed as the EDFA of Niger Delta Development Commission by the presidency. His removal showed how Ogoni people are hated, not minding our contribution to the economy of this country.
“Our position is that we want our son to be reinstated. We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to rescind the decision.”
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