By: Felix Ikpotor
The lawmaker representing Rivers South East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has said the cleanup of Ogoniland is not just about the exercise but a move at ensuring that the $170 million paid into Ogoni Trust Fund is secured from being hijacked by some power brokers in the area.
Abe said this in Bori, Khana Local Government Area, where the local branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, held the first memorial lecture in honour of the first Ogoni lawyer, Sen Cyrus Nunieh .
He said: “Ogoni cleanup can no longer be viewed as mere rhetorics because as we speak, over $170 million has been released and paid into Ogoni Trust Fund.
“In this entire nation, no trust fund contains that amount of money, except the Ogoni Trust Fund. We must, however, be vigilant to ensure this money is not filtered away. We must be determined to achieve good results.
“The rhetorics will now come in the sense of how we actually handle these issues moving forward so that the impact of the cleanup will be felt not just by those who have power, but every Ogoni indigene.
“Our society lacks honour, integrity, and truth. These were the core values of Nunieh’s generation. How do we rebuild our society? Without these values, a lot of efforts we make will end up as a smokescreen.’’
The lawmaker, also stated that with current federal structure in the country, it is difficult for the creation of a new state which could have given birth to the possibility of a Bori state labored for by the late lawmaker.
However, daughter of the deceased, Mrs. Joi Nunieh said the family will continue with the legacies of his father especially the pursuit of the Bori state creation.
