The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People *MOSOP) says the Ogoni people will resist any coercion into Ibo Biafra. Speaking in Eeken, Khana local government area yesterday (Monday) where he met with the Kingdom Coordinators and Chapter Leaders of MOSOP in Babbe Kingdom of Ogoni, President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said the Ogoni people will resist any force of coercion into an exclusive Ibo nation whose design is to advance the powers and domination of the Ibo people over the Ogonis of the Niger Delta region.
The MOSOP President who was in Eeken as part of his Ogoni tour to monitor the ongoing membership revalidation exercise of MOSOP noted that while the Ogoni people have no issues with the Ibo people pursuing their legitimate causes that seek to enforce their desired freedoms, the Ogoni people should not be coerced into the struggles of the Ibo people.
He said the Ogoni people have pursued the cause of justice in Nigeria and have not coerced any sections of Nigeria into their struggles. We will likewise resist any attempt to impose Biafra or anything like it on us.
The MOSOP leader acknowledged that the Ogoni people were grappling with serious abuses that threatened their very existence in Nigeria. However, he acknowledged that the Ogoni people still feel better in a multi-ethnic Nigeria than in an Ibo dominated Biafra where experiences prove they could completely go extinct.
He asserted that the Ibo interest in Ogoni is no more than targeting the enormous natural endowments of the Ogoni people and called on the Ogoni people to protect their dignity and integrity by preserving the Ogoni nationality from enslavement…
He further warned against land grabbing, murders and all other crimes being perpetrated by agents of secession and coercion against the Ogoni people in border communities with the Ibos including Ban-Ogoi, in Tai local government area.
Nsuke said forcing the Ogoni people into Biafra will be a nightmare. He said documented evidence shows an estimated 30,000 Ogonis died in the Biafran civil war between 1967 and 1970. He noted that more painful is the fact that more Ogonis died being deliberately murdered by Ibos than those who died from gun shots, diseases and hunger.
He warned that “Ogonis are not Ibos, we are not Biafrans, Ogonis are Ogonis and we settled in the South Eastern parts of Nigeria before the Ibos arrived. We want an end to the discrimination against the Ogoni people, we demand to be respected and allowed our political space to function within Nigeria but we definitely do not and will not be a part of Biafra.”
“MOSOP denounces any inclusion of Ogoni in Biafra and we will resist any attempt to force us into an unnegotiated union. While we are dealing with the present discrimination in Nigeria, we do not want to move from the frying pan into the fire itself” Nsuke said today.
“Biafra is a bigger threat to the protection of our identity, a bigger threat to our very existence, a bigger threat to our security and there is no reason we should be more comfortable in Biafra than Nigeria” Nsuke said.
Nsuke urged Ogoni people to be very vigilant to protect the land in this difficult period, defend their territories, work closely with intelligence and resist any attempt to enslave the Ogoni people.
He said “the United Nations recognises our rights as an indigenous ethnic nationality and while we strive to realize those rights, we completely reject Ibo enslavement in the form of Biafra.”
Finally, the MOSOP President called on the Nigerian people to stem the tide of retrogression in the country by addressing the structural and political imbalances in the country. He said the Ogoni people consider it very unfair for our resources to be used to run the Nigerian State while we do not have any representation within the structural framework of Nigeria.
Nsuke called for the creation of a Bori state for the Ogoni people to guarantee our rights to self determination. He assured that the Ogoni people will deploy every legitimate means to end the discrimination against its people within Nigeria but noted that Biafra was out of the context.
