By Olawale Lamina
The Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State have adopted a new orientation geared towards attainment of peace and development within the locality, charting a path towards a permanent resolution of over three decades of conflicts with the government and oil giant, Shell, over crude oil exploration and attendant underdevelopment.
This was part of the resolutions reached at the organized Congress over the weekend, under the aegis of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP.
Through speeches and interactive sessions, the participants resolved to move forward on the path of development and pledged commitment to support the leadership of MOSOP to achieve set goals.
Addressing the Congress, President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke stated the time had come to permanently solve the Ogoni problem. He noted that the Ogoni people must stand up to defeat both internal and external repression. Nuke regretted Ogoni’s inability to address its critical challenges of underdevelopment since the struggle was launched 34 years ago.
He said: “We launched the struggle in 1990. We are thirty four years into it and the problem was that we were protesting underdevelopment. For thirty four years, we have been unable to address this problem.”
But he expressed dismay over the growing number of splinter groups in Ogoni, attributing it to the commercialization of the struggle which he says had been “very costly in lives and assets invested and lost in the process.”
“The reason you see all these splinter groups is that we have left the primary goal of the struggle and have started chasing money and our pockets” he said.
He urged the Ogoni people to be ready and committed to resolve the problem permanently, noting that President Tinubu, being a listening leader, had provided a rare opportunity to permanently resolve the Ogoni problems.
“While I am not speaking for the government, I want you to know that the current president is a listening president and offers an opportunity to resolve the problem. Let us take the advantage,” he stated.
Also speaking, former deputy president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, Chief Dr. Fortune Okwa Chujor urged the Ogoni people to support the development initiatives of Nsuke, describing him as a non-commercial and non-political president of MOSOP.
A former president of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) and an elder of MOSOP, Chief Emmanuel Nkala pledged his support for the MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke and called on Ogoni youths to do same.
Chief Nkala canvassed for unity amongst Ogonis in general, urging the people to give the MSP development initiative a chance.
On his part, Ogoni Youth President, Theophilus Mbagha Esq, in his contributions urged the Nigeria authorities to dialogue with the Ogoni people to resolve the Ogoni question. He also backed the Nsuke-led initiative as acceptable to Ogoni youths.
Similarly, spokesperson for the Federation of Ogoni Women’s Association (FOWA), Lady Immaculate Kpopie assured the Congress of the support of the Ogoni women for the development drive of the Nsuke-led leadership, while calling on the MOSOP President to initiate and conclude discussions on the issue and to win a fair share of Ogoni resources which will be committed to Ogoni development.
At the end of deliberations, the Congress resolutions include
A vote of confidence on the leadership of MOSOP led by Fegalo Nsuke and declared willingness of the Ogoni people to work with leadership.
The Congress resolved that the leadership of MOSOP led by Fegalo Nsuke should negotiate for 20 percent interest on behalf of the Ogoni people in natural resource extraction.
The Congress demanded compensation for livelihood losses due to decades of oil pollution.
Also, the Congress resolved to set up a resolution committee bringing everybody including dissenting voices together.
Finally, the Congress resolved that the leadership of MOOP should set up a conflict resolution committee to address inter and intra communal conflicts in Ogoni.
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