Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The chairman of Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers and Chiefs and Gbenemene Tai Kingdom, King Godwin N.K. Gininwa and the president of KAGOTE, Dr Peter Medee, have vowed that no amount of blackmail will stop the ongoing clean-up project in Ogoni Land.
They spoke during a meeting at the palace of King Gininwa in Korokoro Community, Tai Local Government of Rivers State yesterday, over the ongoing clean-up exercise in Ogoni Land.
Dr Peter Medee, who is a member of the governing council of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Environmental Project (HYPREP), said the ongoing clean-up exercise has made nonsense of the criticisms by those he described as blackmailers, doubting Thomases and commercial activists in Ogoni Land.
“What we’re doing today will prove to all that the clean-up is a sincere project. It will prove to the doubting Thomases that HYPREP is committed to the clean-up project. We should not mind Ogoni sons saying all sorts of things on Facebook. They are commercial activists. They are angry because their own companies did not scale through for the clean-up…Some of them thought that they would have been included in the HYPREP board,” he said.
A barrage of criticism has trailed the ongoing clean-up exercise in Ogoni Land, with many indigenes of the area alleging foul play in the process.
Also, the recent call by the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers and Chiefs that oil exploration should commence in the area has been eliciting mixed reactions from Ogoni indigenes, some of who are questioning the rationale behind the call when the clean-up and other recommendations of UNEP have not been fully implemented.
Factional president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Fegalo Nsuke, for instance, described the ongoing clean-up as a scam, in a report published by TPCN recently.
But speaking at the palace of King Gininwa, Dr Peter Medee urged the Ogoni monarch not to be bothered about the criticism, assuring him of their support.
He said: “My king, we know you and we trust you. We know the sacrifice you have made for Ogoni people. Do not be bothered about these blackmailers and commercial activists. We are behind you. We will not be intimidated. We will not allow anybody to sabotage the clean-up project.”
He appealed to Korokoro people in particular and Ogoni people in general to give the clean-up contractors maximum cooperation to enable them complete the project successfully within record time.
In his own speech, King Godwin Gininwa warned that anybody trying to sabotage the Ogoni clean-up would not succeed, adding that he wants success for the people of Ogoni.
While thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for facilitating the commencement of the clean-up process, the Ogoni monarch noted that his people are not supposed to suffer when God has richly blessed them with mineral resources.
“My people of Ogoni should be comfortable. We have capable men and women and they should be taken care of,” he said.
King Gininwa advised critics of the ongoing clean-up exercise to desist and come and work with the stakeholders to move the place forward.
He added: “Anybody who wants to do something to help Ogoni should come forward, rather than to go and criticize.”
TPCN gathered that so far, 20 oil spill sites in Ogoni Land have been handed over to 20 contractors for clean-up out of the 21 contractors allegedly approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
TPCN’s investigations showed that the oil spill site in Korokoro Community, where King Godwin Gininwa hails from, taggedLot 16, was handed over to Newline West Africa Nigeria Ltd for clean-up.
