Issues
Ogoniland Clean-Up: A Step To Right The Wrong?
Shortly after his assump
tion of office, President Muhammadu Buhari approved several actions to fast-track the long delayed implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on the environmental restoration of Ogoniland.
The president’s approval was a fulfilment of his campaign promise to the Ogoni people when he visited the area in January 2015 to solicit their votes.
Expectedly, the president will officially launch the onset of the clean-up in the coming weeks, according to the Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Mohammed.
Oil spillage and pollution in Ogoniland began in 1968 at Ejamah, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, and in 1970, the area recorded another spill at K-Dere in Gokana Local Government Area.
The multinational oil company, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, is said to be responsible for the spills and its attendant environmental pollution.
Commenting on the spills, the Publicity Secretary of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni (MOSOP), Mr Fegalo Nsuke,0 1said that it was quite vexing to note that Shell made no tangible attempt to clean up the spills till date.
“Since Shell pulled out in 1993, there had been no normal activity in Ogoniland oilfields.
“However, we have had cases of illegal mining and stealing by Shell’s agents but no oil company is officially operating in Ogoniland today,’’ he said.
Nsuke stressed that the struggle for Ogoniland’s clean-up and the remediation of its environment had claimed several lives, including the lives of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Agbarator Otu, Edward Kobani Theo Orage, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuinen.
As part of preparations toward the launch of the clean-up, the minister of environment visited Ogoniland between March 3 and March 4 to inform the people of the impending exercise and seek their cooperation with government on the project.
The minister’s first port of call in Ogoniland was the palace of Gbeneme of Tai kingdom, Godwin Gininwa, who is also the President, Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers of Ogoniland, where she met with traditional rulers and other leaders of the area.
At the meeting, Mohammed conveyed the Federal Government’s commitment to implementing the UNEP report and pleaded for the people’s cooperation.
Responding, Gininwa commended President Buhari for keeping to his promise to clean up Ogoniland.
“We are happy that he kept faith because less than 100 days into his government, the president directed several actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report, as he promised,’’ he said.
Nevertheless, Gininwa appealed to Buhari to mop up arms in Ogoniland and rid the communities of violent militants, saying that this was very important as the area’s clean-up was imminent.
“Ogoni is faced with a dangerous situation as there are arms in almost all the communities; hence the Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers endorses continuous deployment of the military to Ogoni,’’ he said.
Sen. Magnus Abe, who was one of the dignitaries on hand at the palace to receive the minister, pleaded with the people to bury their differences so as to ensure the realisation of the clean-up’s objectives.
“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to Ogoni people that the implementation of the UNEP report is beyond politics. This is not a fight we started today.
“I do not think it will be right, proper or fair for us to do anything that will give anybody the impression that we cannot bury our differences for the sake of our land.
“If we do that, it will be very, very unfortunate. Anybody that creates that atmosphere is doing Ogoni people a great disservice and that will not be right,’’ Abe said.
After the meeting at Gbeneme’s palace, the minister proceeded to Bori, the headquarters of Khana Local Government Area, where she held a stakeholders’ meeting with a cross-section of Ogoni people.
Mohammed described the proposed clean-up of the area as a “right step to right the wrong of the past’’.
She believed that the exercise would mark the end of the long years of the struggle and the dawn of a new era for Ogoni people.
Mohammed admitted that the apathy of the government and oil companies to the plight of the Ogoni people, whose land had been degraded over the years by oil spillage and pollution, had created considerable tension in the area.
“We must protect the environment, it exists for our prosperity.
“Since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri (Bayelsa) in 1958, the environment in the Niger Delta area has been degraded and livelihood of the people negatively affected.
“This has led to agitations and public outcry, championed by notable sons and daughters of this region.
“Let me at this juncture emphasise that the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, is committed to changing the narrative of environmental degradation, pollution, erosion, desertification and unhygienic conditions in Nigeria,’’ she said.
Mohammed promised that the clean-up would be used to “jump-start a sustainable livelihood agenda for the people of the Niger Delta that is less dependent on oil.
“We intend to use the process to create jobs, improve capacity of the Niger Delta on environmental management and improve the economy.
“The process of the clean-up is being designed to ensure its ownership by Ogoni people and, indeed, the entire Niger Delta area,’’ the minister said.
The President of MOSOP, Mr Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, who responded on behalf of the people, said that the current efforts to clean up Ogoniland were the outcome of the struggle of the Ogoni people.
“Ogoni environment is bleeding. There cannot be sustainable development in Ogoni without a sustainable environment and vice versa,’’ he said.
Pyagbara, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to use the opportunity of the clean-up to bring to an end the environmental degradation of the area, while addressing the myriad development challenges facing the area.
The MOSOP president emphasised that poverty was also a causative factor of environmental degradation.
“Any clean-up and remediation of Ogoniland, which is not backed up by a clear practical development framework or plan to address other socio-economic issues, is not likely to succeed in the long term,’’ he said.
Besides, Pyagbara proposed that the environmental rejuvenation programme should involve three phases: “oil spills’ prevention, oil spills’ clean-up and environmental restoration’’.
He said: “Nigeria will be judged not only by its efforts to promote national integration but also how it actually protects the weak, the vulnerable and those whose lives have been imperilled by oil exploration by multinationals.’’
Also speaking, a youth leader in the area, Mr Kennedy Goodfriday, said that the faith of the Ogoni people in the government had waned considerably because of the delayed clean-up of the land.
Goodfriday demanded assurance from the minister that the exercise would not be jettisoned after all, while an elder, Mr Baris Gbama, pleaded with all leaders of Ogoni not to betray the hope of the ordinary people.
A bishop, who preferred anonymity, also appealed to the political class in Ogoniland to close ranks and mobilise the people for the clean-up.
The cleric, however, appealed to the Federal Government to channel whatever benefits that would accrue to the people in course of the clean-up to “the real Ogoni people and not crooks.’’
A woman, who simply identified herself as Mary, said that women should not be left out in the process “because the women usually bear the brunt of environmental pollution and degradation in Ogoniland’’.
While receiving the minister earlier, Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers advised the Federal Government to refrain from any form of partisanship by including all stakeholders in the clean-up process to make it a success.
“What I will appeal to you is that when you say stakeholders, I don’t know who drafted or compiled the list of the stakeholders but I do believe that if you really want to achieve, you must be careful not to bring politics into it.
“It doesn’t matter which political party anybody belongs to; these environmental issues do not affect a political party, they affect the entire state and the entire Niger Delta as a whole.
“Communities do not know about political parties, what communities know is about how to survive.
“And so, I will advise that we approach the exercise in such a way that it does not look political, particularly in Ogoniland because it is a very complex place and you have to be extremely careful.
“This is because if you are not careful, you may not achieve what you want you intend to achieve,’’ Wike said.
The governor observed that some of the crises in Ogoniland had political undertones, adding that explained why previous administrations had found it difficult to do what they were supposed to do in efforts to clean up the area.
During the minister’s visit to Bayelsa, Gov. Seriake Dickson called for the strengthening of regulatory bodies in the oil sector to make multinational companies operating in the Niger Delta area to live up to their responsibilities.
Dickson said that the multinational companies, whose activities largely caused the area’s degradation, had often cashed in on the weakness of the regulatory institutions to short-change the region and Nigeria in general.
“All of us must work to address the weaknesses inherent in our institutions in this country — the weaknesses which some of these oil majors are exploiting to create double standards,’’ he said.
The governor, who welcomed the nascent move to clean up the entire Niger Delta region, beginning with Ogoniland, described Bayelsa as the epicentre of oil pollution the region.
Eyiangho writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Johnson Eyiangho
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
