The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) wishes to draw the attention of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian Federal Government to the fact that the Ogoni people are very disenchanted over repeated and endless killing of Ogonis over an attempt to force oil resumption in the area against the wishes of the Ogoni people.
This alarm has become necessary following government silence over incursions into Ogoni by someone said to be representing the Prince of Kuwaiti. We believe it will be absolutely irresponsible for the Nigerian Government to sit back and allow foreigners to fund crises in Ogoni.
The Ogoni people have suffered tremendously in Nigeria with state armies rolled out against a movement demanding fairness and equity in the distribution of revenues from its natural endowments. We strongly perceive the recent incursions to be another design to launch sponsored attacks on the Ogoni people.
In the past 25years, we have watched Shell Petroleum and the Nigerian Government devise all manner of divide and conquer strategies including direct killings by its security forces in desperate attempts to silence the people and our justifiable demand for fairness in the treatment of the Ogoni people in Nigeria.
We note that it is very disheartening that state-sponsored persecution of the Ogoni people appears to be endless and manifests in various forms of sponsored divide and conquer programs with latent backing of the government.
A recent invitation of someone said to represent the prince of Kuwait is one instance very worrisome. We wonder why the Nigerian Government will sit back and watch a foreign government sponsor division against its own people, ignite crises in Ogoni with the capacity to cause the death of many without taking any actions to check the dangerous trend.
MOSOP notes that the Ogoni demands for justice are very clear and our conditions to address these concerns are well documented in the Ogoni Bill of Rights and related documents including the approval by the MOSOP Central Committee for the implementation of the Ogoni Development Authority.
We warn that attempts to sponsor anyone, group or interests to create crises in Ogoni and give room for another repression of our people are not acceptable and we foresee another military clampdown which usually follows any resistance from the Ogoni people.
The Ogoni struggle for justice in Nigeria has cost our people an estimated four thousand lives and we demand an end to such repression. We note that no individual or single group can decide on the fate of the Ogoni people.
As a group with an express mandate of the Ogoni people to speak and act on its behalf, MOSOP strongly denounces the activities of one Douglas Fabeke whom with obvious intention to force oil production in Ogoni without the consent of the Ogoni people has manifested quiescential tendencies to cause crises in Ogoni. We urge the government of Nigeria to halt every attempt capable of causing further Ogoni deaths before they become manifest.
MOSOP insists that oil resumption in Ogoni should only commence after a proper negotiation. We warn that the future of the Ogoni people cannot be decided by the Kuwaiti people nor can Douglas Fabeke decide on the future of the Ogoni oil which has cost our people so much in human and material sacrifices.
MOSOP urges the Nigerian Government not to permit any further killings in Ogoni by entertaining any requests from Douglas Fabeke whose antecedents in Ogoni are highly questionable. Enough lives have been lost in Ogoni due to oil conflicts and only a negotiated settlement is best at this time. Fortunately, we have provided the roadmap for peace and progress through the prescriptions in the Ogoni Bill of Rights and the implementation of the Ogoni Development Authority..
We hope and believe that as it were in the past, Ogoni lives will not be threatened again by Kuwaiti sponsorship of splinster groups solely because of its interest in Ogoni oil and the Nigerian Government will not encourage another massacre of the Ogoni people.
Signed:
Alex Akori
Secretary General,
MOSOP
