Ogoni Goes Tough on Self-Rule, Warns State Institutions

Ogoni Goes Tough on Self-Rule, Warns State Institutions

THE Ogoni people of Rivers State in Southern Nigeria, and kinsmen of Ken Saro-Wiwa, have declared that there will be zero-tolerance for corruption, political dictatorship, and behind-the-scenes oil deals.

President of Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Dr. Goodluck Diigbo, said in an online statement to AkanimoReports on Sunday, that they will no longer accept dictation from any institution, and government.

According to him, ''any corporation interested in investment in Ogoni will enjoy transparent partnership, because we will end corruption and irresponsible governance in Ogoni. This means that partnership with the Ogoni people will be based on free, prior and informed consent before any of our partners can adopt and implement any project, and before the national government adopt any legislative or administrative measures that may affect Ogoni''.

Diigbo said they declared self-government in a frantic bid to enforce the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

''The urgency behind the declaration is that self-government for Ogoni was overdue in view of many important issues bordering on indigenous rights of the Ogoni people being tampered with now. The UNEP Ogoni Report is one out of many'', he said.

Adding, he said, ''the Ogoni declaration of self-government now guarantees the Ogoni people the right to participate in decision-making in all matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by the Ogoni in accordance with own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop all our own indigenous decision-making institutions, which we started to set up since 2011''.

Continuing, Diigbo said, ''it is my hope that this self-government will help to provide just and fair redress to decades of deprivation of our indigenous rights''.

On Friday, August 4, he addressed the Ogoni who took their celebration of the declaration of self-government to Bane, hometown of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was Diigbo’s closest associate before he was murdered for demanding for environmental impact assessment study of Ogoni. On August 4, 2011 UNEP issued an inconclusive report that Ogoniland will take 25-30 years to restore.

The MOSOP leader reminded the world that Ogoni has for decades, been devastated by petroleum operations by the Nigerian Government operating through Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell, in alleged corrupt alliance with other multinational oil corporations.ENDS

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