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 re-positon the MOSOP.
In a statement issued on behalf of the Conveners, Mr Ledum Mitee in Port Harcourt, yesterday, 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.”