By: Felix Ikpotor
The apex socio-cultural organization of the Ogoni people, KAGOTE has said that the area cannot be developed without government’s support.
President of the group, Hon. Emmanuel Deeyah who stated this, assured that the group would continue to protect the Ogoni nation from all forms of oppression, exploitation, discrimination and injustice.
Deeyah, a former federal lawmaker spoke in reaction to a statement credited Dr. Innocent Barikor who is also laying claim to the presidency of the body.
Barikor, a former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, had stated that the challenges confronting Ogoni could only be resolved by the people themselves.
He regretted that some individuals in Ogoniland, instead of consulting Ogoni people on how their problems could be tackled, would prefer going to the Government House to present them.
The former state lawmaker had argued that the problem of the Ogoni could only be resolved by the Ogonis and called for unity among leaders and stakeholders in the area.
But Deeyah insisted that no community could develop fully without government’s support, noting that most of the developmental projects like roads and bridges going on in the area were approved and funded by government at the federal and state levels.
He maintained that the group had continued to remain the unofficial link between Ogoni people and any government of the day to advance development in the area.
While insisting that Barikor’s group could not speak for the Ogoni, as it was not recognised, the Ogoni leader explained that the president of Ogoni Supreme Council of Traditional rulers, King Godwin Gininwa, introduced the new executive members of KAGOTE led by him and the interim leadership of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) to the Ogoni people in Bori on January 4, this year.
