By: Felix Ikpotor
Crisis may now be brewing in Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State following the purported authorization given to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC) to resume oil exploration in the area by a group known as the Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI).
This is even as the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers of Ogoni (SCTRO) and Gbo Kabaari (Ogoni Elders Forum) have all distanced themselves from the said authorization.
President SCTRO, His Majesty, King Godwin Gininwa in a statement by HRH, Mene Samuel Nnee, Spokesperson of the council urged the people of Ogoni to discountenance the purported authorization, accusing OLI of attempting to bring NPDC into the area through the back door without due consultation with relevant stakeholders.
Gininwa said, “On Monday, 23 August, 2021, the OLI reportedly brought the NPDC into Bori-Ogoni having sneaked the firm through the back door into Ogoni and authorised them to resume oil extraction in our communities, ignoring consultation and endorsement of the people.
On behalf of the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers of Ogoni and the entire traditional institution in Ogoni, we wish to state that we are unaware of the reported development. Thus, we frown at the activities and assertion of the pseudo body, Ogoni Liberation Initiative. Insofar as we are concerned, the Ogoni people especially the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers of Ogoni, MOSOP, KAGOTE, Political Class and the elites have not met and permitted that oil mining either by the NPDC or any other investor should commence in Ogoni now. We therefore warn the OLI against actions what would throw Ogoni into crisis”.
Continuing the monarch said: ““For any company to be qualified for our social licence, it must qualify in all ramifications, including ability to meet our conditions spelt out in the Ogoni template regarding investment in Ogoni; technical competence, environmental protection and management, respect for our rights including acceptable corporate social responsibility amongst others.
“We would use this opportunity to call on all sons and daughters of Ogoni to be calm and cautious and resist all lures or temptations to rush into any engagement with any company or individual with regards to oil production resumption or any other investment in Ogoni. That at an appropriate time an all-inclusive meeting of the people shall be convened to deliberate on this sensitive matter and a resolution representing the common interest of the people reached and made public.
However, we would warn prospective investors including the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited to avoid passing through the back door as that would not yield any valuable result. We would likewise caution the indigenous corporation and other potential investors to beware of quasi groups and commercial activists that are just out to dupe unsuspecting investors. Furthermore, we counsel the NNPC subsidiary to desist from under hand tendencies that would rather than accord it encomiums, decimate its reputation while her desires remain unmet”.
Also, Chairman of Gbo Kabaari, Chief Monday Abueh in a statement issued on Monday said there has not been any conversation with the Ogoni leadership and no agreement has been reached as alleged or at all.
The statement reads in part: “we want to categorically state that there has not been any conversation with the Ogoni leadership and no agreement has been reached as alleged or at all. The issue of resumption of oil and gas production activities in Ogoni is a very sensitive issue requiring a painstaking multi-stakeholder consultation, which has not occurred. The Ogoni ethnic nationality cannot be represented in such conversations by an NGO of doubtful pedigree which we understand has been hoodwinking and coercing some unsuspecting village chiefs into signing papers to them on some bogus promises.
We therefore call on the Ogoni people to be steadfast and vigilant and resist any attempt at using the current situation or any other similar guise to provoke any violence or division in our land. We always, and would, win when we are united in our non violence”.
