A chieftain of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says the purported attempt by some individuals to dissolve its executive is an assault on MOSOP’s democratic values.
A chieftain of MOSOP in the Gokana Kingdom, Friday Bemah made this known in a statement in Bori, Khana local government area on Thursday.
Bemah who spoke on the issue for the first time since the attempt by some politicians and former members of the movement to cause crises in the organization by plotting the dissolution of its executive committee against the intents of the MOSOP Constitution said the action was illogical, contemptuous and must have been influenced by a dominant Nigerian military and repressive mentality.
Bemah said there was no justification for the action. He said the action degraded the personality of those involved as they simply failed to acknowledge the truth about the situation in MOSOP We all witnessed the election of Fegalo Nsuke as president of MOSOP on December 19, 2018 and mischievous attempts by people who lost the elections to create crises in the organisation should not be encouraged or tolerated.
“You do not pretend not to know that there is an elected executive of MOSOP, even when you do know there is one, and you tolerate all kind of indecent behaviour from people just to justify your predetermined intentions”
“The failure of the so-called elders to speak the truth but rather choosing to make baseless claims against the dictates of the constitution of MOSOP which does not empower anyone or group to dissolve its executive is undemocratic, repressive and runs contrary to our core values of fairness and justice”.
The MOSOP chieftain further said he suspected sinister motives in the whole episode, desperate connivance against MOSOP and the people to be able to build the image and relevance of another Ogoni group.
“Nobody should try to destroy MOSOP to raise and build another organisation. If anyone wants to build another organisation to push forward his interests, let him do so and not seek to destroy MOSOP to achieve his goals”.
The MOSOP chieftain said the actions of the so-called elders were tantamount to an illegitimate overthrow. Something similar to a former president of a country assembling his friends to say he is removing a sitting president from office.
“Can you imagine former president Jonathan, Obasanjo, Abubakar and Babangida putting themselves and their friends together to pronounce the leadership of president Buhari dissolved? That is what these guys have done and it is absolutely wrong” Bemah said.
He said the military mentality of rising up to overthrow legitimately elected leaderships must be discarded in our system and regretted that those who should uphold decency in society were acting to destroy our shared values.
Friday Bemah questioned the source of the power of a former president of MOSOP and his friends noting that only the Central Committee of MOSOP chaired by the president can take disciplinary decisions in MOSOP which constitutionally does not include the power to dissolve MOSOP or its executive.
Bemah said the actions of the self-acclaimed elders were baseless, repressive and a sad turn of events as it reflects how much our values have been eroded and puts some questions over the integrity of our movement.
The MOSOP leader said it is unfortunate that some of those who yesterday stood for social freedom, fought to enthrone democracy and social justice are today standing against those ideals of freedom for whatever reason.
“An executive has been elected and people who should speak the truth are upholding repression and promoting double standards only to push forward their personal agenda. This is unfortunate and not acceptable” he said.
“The conduct of this group of people is not only dictatorial but debases our claims to decency and is not different from the prevalent hostile environment we have faced in Nigeria. This afront should not be tolerated and we must all speak out against these repressive actions and insist on upholding our free will as was expressed in the December 19, 2018 elections”
“It is indeed sad that our own people have tolerated indiscipline and all kinds of disregard for our principles and values by failing to speak against people who act so unwholesomely, only to justify the push for their personal interests on us”
“We denounce these actions and will continue to uphold our values of freedom and justice,” Bemah said.
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