Chieftain of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Sunday Abel Gbarabugbe, says Mr. Ledum Mitee belongs to the generation that failed the Ogoni people. Sunday Abel Gbaranugbe who is the secretary of MOSOP in Eleme kingdom said Mitee is a disappointment and only standing in the way of progress for the Ogoni people.
Gbaranugbe said Mitee’s 16 years as President of MOSOP hadn’t any idea on how to address the Ogoni problem, rather, it was an era of wasted opportunities which failed to provide a clear path to Ogoni development despite the enormous resources and advantages that were available to MOSOP at the time.
Comr. Gbaranugbe said Mitee’s recent actions were an attempt to halt the development program initiated by MOSOP under a younger leadership led by Fegalo Nsuke. He said the Ogoni people and MOSOP have already considered and approved Nsuke’s development proposals for the implementation of the Ogoni Development Authority as a clear and acceptable pathway to development and the resolution of all conflicts including the mistrust between the people and the Nigerian Government and the oil industry on the other hand.
Gbaranugbe said “Ledum Mitee was president of MOSOP at the peak of global sympathy for the Ogoni struggle and could not do anything with the opportunities”.
According to Gbaranugbe, Miite failed to take advantage of the advantages he had as president of MOSOP. After 16 years, he abandoned MOSOP and was appointed by President Jonathan to chair a federal government department.
“He abandoned us and when we saw moves by Pyagbara to illegally extend his tenure in 2018, I personally called Mitee and he told me that he has grown beyond Ogoni”. Gbaranugbe said.
Mr Gbaranugbe further said after Jonathan lost the 2015 election, Mitee eventually became jobless and returned home and in his desperation for relevance, he formed “Gbo Kabari Ogoni”. Unfortunately for him, “Gbo Kabari” could not make the expected impact. Mitee has now redirected his focus to the same MOSOP he abandoned ten years ago. Gbaranugbe described Mitee’s conduct as disappointing and advised Mitee to understand that the members of MOSOP can no longer trust him.
Sunday Gbaranugbe emphasized that the failed generation which Mr Mitee belonged to cannot be allowed to waste the opportunities of the Ogoni people this time.
Gbaranugbe therefore advised Mitee to look elsewhere to make up for his failures as Ogoni has already accepted the implementation of the Ogoni Development Authority as the way to peace and resolution of the lingering Ogoni crisis.
According to Gbaranugbe, Mitee is desperate for relevance having wasted all the opportunities he had to move the Ogoni society forward. Gbaranugbe stated that Ogoni can no longer wait for Mitee and have moved on.
He said the failure of Mr Ledum Mitee is even more obvious by the condition of the Secretariat of MOSOP which was undertaken supervised by Mitee while he still served as president of the movement. Gbaranugbe said the secretariat was less than 10 percent completed despite being funded by the federal government of Nigeria and Mr Ledum Mitee owes the Ogoni people an explanation for the condition of the MOSOP Secretariat amongst others..
Gbaranugbe advised the Ogoni people to stand by the truth, join hands to defend the progressive leadership of MOSOP under Mr Fegalo Nsuke so as to preserve the integrity of MOSOP and drive a brilliant development initiative already put forward by Nsuke to actualize the Ogoni dreams..
He also said the recent actions of Mitee were founded on falsehood and a justice campaign movement like MOSOP cannot build it’s foundation on falsehood.
