Confab: US-Based Ogonis Urge Equal Ethnic Representation

A United States based group,
the Ogonis in the Diaspora Organisation, has stated that only equal representation of ethnic nationalities in the proposed National Conference initiated by the Federal Government will enhance the prospect of Justice and National reconciliation in the country.
Executive Director of the organisation, Chief Ambrose Kii who spoke with The Tide in an interview said the move initiated by federal government would only achieve its desired objectives, if “tendencies of cheap political advantages are conceded for genuine interest in addressing issues of inbalances in our constitutional process to guarantee stability in the polity”.
According to the Executive Director, “Ethnic Minority Groups such as Ogonis that have suffered decades of marginalisation in Nigeria would avail themselves the opportunity to address the wrongs of the past”.
The group which aligned itself with the position of the movement for the survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) said the justifiable demands of the Ogonis were embedded in a Bill of Rights, which was first presented by MOSOP leadership to the government of former President Ibrahim Bagangida in August 1990. He said the conference would help in re-echoing the demands of the ogonis, which among other thing include the creation of Bori State.
The group also canvassed for unity of purpose among the ogonis to actualise the objective of producing an ogoni governor in Rivers State in 2015, noting that the demand was justifiable as ogonis had supported other ethnic groups in the past to attain that feat.
The organisation which cautioned against the politsation of the National Conference flayed the federal government over its reluctance to implement the UNEP report in Ogoniland, stressing that 18 years after the judicial killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his compatriot, the federal government was yet to redress the injustice perpetrated against the Ogoni people.

Taneh Beemene