The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ogonis

  • Ogonis welcome clean-up, seek conclusion of legal action

    The Ogoni people of Rivers State have praised the begining of the clean-up of their land and restoration of their means of livelihoods.

    The Bodo communities in the state are, however, seeking the conclusion of the case they filed in London against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for destroying their land.

    The communities, made up of over 16,000 people, have insisted that they would pursue the action to its logical conclusion.

    The Chairman, Council of Chiefs, Bodo Communities, Mene Slyvester Kogbara, at the weekend in Lagos told The Nation that his people are excited that the government has finally acceded to their demand that their land, waters and other natural habitats, be restored years after they were destroyed by the SPDC.

    He said his people were happy about the remediation exercise initiated by President Muhammad Buhari, stressing howver, that they would continue with the court case.

    He said: ‘’Without doubt, the sons and daughters of Bodo communities and the entire Ogoniland are happy that the government is planning to revamp their land. We received the idea with open arms. However, we are looking forward to a situation where the technical points or grey areas in the court case would be heard by our solicitors. We want our lawyers to get to the technical details of the matter.’’

    He said there is need to sort out the technicalities involved in the matter before the British court.

    The Bodo communities had, a few years ago, hired Leigh Day, a United Kingdom (UK) based legal firm to serve as their solicitors in a case involving them and the oil major.

    The people had demanded justice for the oil pollutions that have denied them opportunities of practising their traditional occupation of farming and fishing. Part of their demands included payment of an agreed sum as compensation and cleaning of their land by Shell.

    However, Shell has claimed responsibility for cleaning up the land in the past, contrary to the position held by the people of Ogoniland that the oil firm has neglected them.

  • Ogonis can dream again

    SIR; Several issues have emerged since the judicial murder of the stormy petrel of Ogoniland; the late Kenule Saro-Wiwa popular known and referred to simply as Ken. Part of the bequest of Ken is the sense of valour and fearlessness in tackling matters pertaining to the exploration of oil in Ogoniland and the attendant destruction of lives, the environment and properties. They were beaten and bloodied. They were used by rampaging trigger happy military personnel for target practice but they were not cowed into subservience. Curiously they refused to retreat and give away an inch of their soil to the combined might of the military, Shell and their local collaborators. They fought to retain self respect, overcame the intimidation and the pall of fear that wrapped the community like a dark blanket.

    Since the death of Ken, the Ogonis have taken with equanimity all that life with its vagaries has hauled at them. They have learnt so much but their major sources of knowledge are principally three books: the Bible, the UNEP report and the literatures of Ken. The Bible provided the anchor of faith that the turbulent years of their lives will invariably come to an end. With the UNEP report comes the knowledge of every kind of carcinogens that are prevalent in Ogoniland. Their conversations are always lavishly sprayed with names of chemicals like benzene, hydrocarbon, trace elements of chromium, metals such as iron, copper and vanadium. These are chemicals that the UNEP report said existed in Ogoniland at about 900 percent higher than acceptable standards. They quote copiously from the works of Ken to back their arguments which has given Ken a cult like followership in the land especially recalling his last comment. That statement rings through the creeks, the hamlets and the towns of Ogoniland egging them on to keep faith for victory. Ogoni has become the metaphor for the wrong choices made in building a sustainable energy livelihood in the country.

    The Ogonis have through the period acquired a very high level of numeracy especially the numbers that reduced so abruptly and sharply the life expectancy of the Ogoni people to just 50 years. Many of these innocent people have for no fault of theirs bathed in rivers flowing with chemicals, eaten produce that are tainted and inhaled hydrogen spiced air and have been exposed, all of their lives to the ravages that are unacceptable in any human habitation. Organ failure is more common than common cold in Ogoniland. There are a couple of families where the next in rank to the oldest person is merely in his or her thirties. With the cleanup they believe that life will be kinder and less brutal for them. That life will no longer be short and brutish. That life will once more be blissful, that they can sit by the fire and tell stories of how long ago they had to battle forces of environmental terrorism to get freedom from pollutants. It is a 30 years journey but with hope renewed at the launch there will be springs in their steps, songs on their lips and joy in their hearts. It will certainly be a less tedious walk for the people of Ogoni.

    Let the clean up as it has begun with the sense of euphoria and expectation for the most good for most of the community be a moment for dreams of development and growth and not a period to worry over the memories to catch and hang vultures.

     

    • Tive Denedo,

    Lagos.

  • Ogonis set committee to resolve MOSOP crisis

    Ogonis set committee to resolve MOSOP crisis

    Ogonis have set up a committee to resolve the leadership crisis that has engulfed the umbrella body of the people, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) of recent.

    It would be recalled that the crisis reared its ugly head on December 30, 2015 when MOSOP conducted its election at Peace and Freedom Square, Bori in Khana Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State.

    At the end, two persons: Legborsi Pyagbara who has just completed his first tenure as President of MOSOP and Mike Lube-Nwidobie came up to claim that they had emerged President.

    The next day, Lube-Nwidobie ran for another rescheduled election at the same venue and later claimed to have been elected MOSOP President.

    Consequently, he was sworn in by the traditional ruler of Tai, Godwin Giniwa, thus throwing the MOSOP into leadership crisis.

    To resolve this crisis, some Ogonis made up of mainly some past leaders and activists of the Movement, Leaders of Thought and Elders from Ogoni met on Wednesday, January, 20, 2016 to seek means of resolving the crisis and properly repositon the MOSOP.

    In a statement issued on behalf of the Conveners, Mr Ledum Mitee in Port Harcourt Thursday, he said that at the end of the meeting, a Resolution Committee was set up.

    Members of the committee comprise of Mitee himself, Professor Don Baridam, Dr. Meshach Karanwi, Rev. Dr. Abraham Olungwe, Lenusikpugi  Kpagih, Chief Monday Abueh and Ms Rose Nwigani.

    The committee, he said is “directed to meet with all sides, including traditional rulers and other leaders from the area, with a view to resolving the crisis and reposition the Movement appropriately in order to meet its avowed objectives.”

    Mitee who handed over to Pyagbara also stated that “the meeting appealed to all sides to the present crisis to cooperate with the Resolution Committee and to refrain from actions or public statements capable of undermining the current peace process.”

  • Ogonis protest Senator Abe’s shooting

    Thousands of Ogoni people from four local government areas in Rivers State – Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme on Monday protested Sunday’s shooting of the representatives of Rivers South-east Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, who was flown on Sunday night to London in air ambulance.
    Protesters blocked East-West Road in front of Eleme Petrochemical Company and no vehicular movement to refineries in Eleme, ports in Onne, Akwa Ibom and Cross River State were allowed.

  • We are economically frustrated, Ogonis tell Amnesty Intl

    We are economically frustrated, Ogonis tell Amnesty Intl

    The people of Bodo community in Ogoni, Rivers State, on Tuesday called on Amnesty International to get justice over Shell oil spillage which they claimed has frustrated the community’s economic life.

    The people stated this at the market square were they gathered to welcome members of the  international watchdog and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) to the community.

    Members of the Amnesty International as well as chiefs and elders of Bodo community visited the sites affected by oil spillage and condemned the level of damage in the areas.

    Speaking on behalf of the community, the chairman of Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders, Mene Sylvester S. Kogbara, said the inhabitants of the community have “no future, ” adding that  fishing system, farmlands and other economic trees have been put out of existence as a result of the oil spillage.

    He said: “We the people of Bodo community in Ogoniland had expressed our gratitude to Amnesty International for visiting our community, especially the oil spillage sites which had attracted intentional concern and reactions over the level of damage on our land.

    “We are giving you our total support in the cause of this struggle to force Shell to pay compensation to the community. On our part, you have manifested that Bodo is in your heart by personally coming to mingle with the tangible realities of the suffering of our people.”

    Responding, the Secretary General of Amnesty International Mr. Salil Shetty said: “We are here to give you all necessary support and we have decided to fight for you as far as Amnesty International is concerned.”