The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has accused the campaigners for forceful oil resumption in Ogoni of patronizing criminal gangs that are currently terrorizing the Ogoni area. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, made the declaration on Saturday, August 17, 2019 at a meeting with MOSOP kingdom coordinators and affiliate heads held at the organization’s headquarters in Bori, Ogoniland.
Nsuke said the oil resumption campaigners were being sponsored by the oil industry to destabilize Ogoni and force oil resumption against the wishes of the Ogoni people.
He warned that forceful oil resumption in Ogoni will only kill the Ogoni people and should not be encouraged by any responsible government noting that Ogoni lives were far more important than the oil and so should be given priority.
The MOSOP president warned that if the government goes ahead to resume oil production in Ogoni, the citizens will protest and as usual, government will send in soldiers who will kill us and that is why we are against forceful resumption of oil production now. We do not want any Ogoni lives lost again, he retorted.
Nsuke expressed sadness over the attitude of the Nigerian government towards Ogoni describing it as huge a national shame and a sad reflection of our degrading national values. He urged the government to take responsibility for the crimes of its cronies in Ogoni and call them to order noting that the friends of the Nigerian oil industry and the government were behind the violent crimes being perpetrated in Ogoni today.
The MOSOP leader further said the intention of the oil resumption campaigners is to completely destroy the Ogoni social life with the hope that the Ogoni people will become helpless and unable to rise against any military intervention. He said the calculations of the oil industry and their allies is to create room for a military barracks to be sited in Ogoni to pave way for forceful oil resumption in the area.
Nsuke said those behind the current criminal gangs want to push the Ogoni people to a point where insecurity will force the Ogoni to accept the militarization of the area giving way for a military-backed forceful resumption of oil production.
Ogoni is bleeding because of her oil and the oil industry does not care about the lives of the people in as much as they can gain access to the oil, he said.
Nsuke called for an independent inquiry into the so called “cult clashes” asserting that the revelations an investigation will uncover about oil industry sponsorship of crime in Ogoni will be stunning.
While insisting that the attackers are known, Nsuke charged the government to end the attacks on Ogoni by asking Shell and the Nigerian industry as well as those who organized the Saakpenwa meeting of June 22, 2019 to halt the crazy push for oil resumption in Ogoni and also stop the patronage of criminal gangs.
He emphasized the need for increased Police presence in Ogoni and called for greater government and private sector support for the Police in Ogoni.
