Group Canvasses Ogoni Governorship In 2023

Ahead of the 2023 elections, a scio political organisation in Rivers State called; Ogoni Democracy and Development Forum, has appealed to the two major political parties in the state; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) to field their governorship candidates from Ogoni.
The forum which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, decried the continuous marginalization of the Ogonis in the State.
it said that the Ogonis has remained the only ethnic group in Rivers State that has not produced a governor, deputy governor and speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly fifty five years after the creation of the state.
According to the text for the briefing read by the former president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, “it is saddening to note that fifty five years after the creation of Rivers State and twenty eight years after the launch of the Ogoni Bill Of Rights (OBR), the Ogonis had continuously been systematically marginalized in the political affairs of the state and indeed Nigeria.
”Despite its size and highly educated population, no Ogoni son or daughter has been elected to serve as governor or deputy governor of the state, chief judge of the state judiciary or speaker of the state house of assembly”.
He said even during the military era, Ogonis were never appointed as sole administrators in any state of the federation.
“It is on the strength of the above that we are persuaded to appeal to leadership of the political parties at the state and national levels to call the attention of well meaning Nigerians to the anomalies regarding the situation of the Ogoni people.
Pyagbara said time has come for the major political parties to select their guber candidates from Ogoni.
He also condemned the upland riverine dichotomy, noting that nothing of such exists in Rivers State.

By: John Bibor & Oribim Ibama