Former President, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ledum Mitee, has advised the Federal Government against deployment of security agencies to monitor the clean-up exercise in the area.
Mitee, gave the advice in Port Harcourt, while reacting to a recent protest against alleged shutting out of contractors from the clean- up exercise.
He wondered why security operatives should be used to monitor a process that was meant to address the yearning of the Ogoni people, saying such contemplation was not necessary if government was doing the right thing.
“The fact that you need soldiers to do something means you are not doing the right thing. Ordinary people should clap for you once you are doing those thing they have been clamouring should be done.
“Because the whole thing appears to have been done as a patronize machine where contractors are being imposed from Abuja and then they are supposed to come into Ogoni and do it like that without even involving people from Ogoni not to talk about other parts of the Niger Delta.
“What is the clean-up that you are going to do? Where are the sites that are going to be cleaned and what determines the choice of those sites?
Mitee, a frontline activist urged the apex government to as a measure of urgency put emergency measures in place as recommended by the United Nations Environment (UNEP) report before kick starting the proper implementation of the clean-up.
Recall that the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubrin had said that the 21 contractors that would handle the Ogoni Clean-up would be drafted to site at the end of this month.
But the Mitee expressed worry that the federal government was not competent enough to start the processes, saying years after the report was released provision of portable water, a major clean up point of the UNEP report was yet to be sighted at the affected areas in Ogoni land.
The ex-MOSOP leader also faulted the timing of the federal government decision to start the clean-up and advised against politicizing the exercise.
“People no longer take promises as if they mean much, especially when you look at the electoral calendar by the time it is coming you will start been skeptical whether this is not just some political gimmick for campaign purposes and after that it seizes.
“They (UNEP) also said the water the people are drinking is about one thousand times above recommended levels. What are they doing about the water?
“These are the emergency measures that the United Nations talked about. So when people now get up and say okay we now want to do some clean up, what strikes my mind is some political stuff,” Mitee said.
By: Dennis Naku