The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) welcomes yesterday’s judgment delivered in favour of the Ebubu/Ejamah communities in Eleme Kingdom of Ogoni. The judgement is a sign of hope for the rest of the Ogoni people who seek justice following years of irresponsible business practices of The Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC..
The judgment further reaffirms our claims of environmental devastation of the Ogoni country by Shell. But more than that, it opens up a window of hope and relief for thousands of Ogonis whose lives have been turned miserable by state-backed repression and several others who lost their loved ones in the cause of seeking justice and redress from Shell’s genocide in Ogoni.
MOSOP regrets that despite scientific and factual evidences against Shell, the Nigerian authorities have not considered a penalty for Shell and tacitly have endorsed the genocide and repression of the Ogoni people, sustained the political discrimination against the Ogoni as a distinct ethnic nationality in Nigeria and encouraged multinationals to promote double standards especially the prosecution of business practices that they won’t dare in their home countries..
We are deeply pained that despite our enormous contributions and capacity to contribute to the Nigerian economy, in excess of NGN20Billion daily, resources extracted from Ogoni are being deployed for the development of Abuja, Enugu, Lagos, Kanu and other regions of Nigeria while the Ogoni people receive nothing from the resources extracted from the area.
We note strongly that notwithstanding the reliefs brought by yesterday’s judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Ogoni people desire to see some restitution initiated by the Nigerian government and Shell especially the decriminalization of the nine Ogonis hanged by the Sanni Abacha’s military dictatorship on November 10, 1995.
We demand respect for the political rights to Self Determination for the Ogoni, the right to dignified living and respect for the Ogoni identity as a distinct ethnic nationality in Nigeria.
We call for an overhaul of the so-called Ogoni cleanup project to make it more transparent, credible and urge a probe into the finances of its management following obvious criminality and financial recklessness associated with the program.
We call for an end to the use of repression to forcefully resume oil production in Ogoni and urge the Nigerian Government to refrain from further acts that endanger the lives of the Ogoni people including backdoor moves to sneak into the Ogoni oilfields without the consent of the Ogoni people thereby provoking civil protests and endanger the lives of Ogoni people..
We call for dialogue as a way to resolve all legacy issues surrounding the Ogoni conflicts and hope that the government of Nigeria will adopt the proposals put forward by MOSOP as the pathway to peacefully resolve the Ogoni issues and set the Ogoni community on the path of development.
We urge the Nigerian Government to reintegrate the Ogoni people into the affairs of Nigeria by respecting our rights as a people to equal representation in all institutions of government and protecting our identity as a distinct ethnic nationality in Nigeria.
Signed:
Fegalo Nsuke
President,
MOSOP
August 12, 2021
