The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has decried the comment credited to the Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, over the exclusion of Ogoni from Niger Delta summit which took place in Port Harcourt, last week.
The NDDC boss was quoted to have said that the reason for not including MOSOP and relevant stakeholders from Ogoni in the summit was because Ogonis had denied the Federal and State governments access to crude oil in their area.
“Assuming without conceding that the comment was made in his right frame of mind, then it means Niger Delta has successfully handed over NDDC to someone who doesn’t know the antecedents of the past Niger Delta leaders who stood their grounds against military dictatorship and some eventually lost their lives in protecting the common patrimony of our people”.
MOSOP was reacting in a press statement issued last Thursday in Port Harcourt by its Publicity Secretary, Comrade Oscar Imeabe.
”A flash back of NDDC mission and vision reads respectively: ‘to offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties in the Niger Delta region’. ‘To facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and and politically peaceful’.
“If you were indeed honest that you are there to truly represent the people of Niger Delta, and of course if you’ve read through the mission and vision statements of NDDC, then you would have been abreast and inundated with the fact that the reason you are there in NDDC is to ensure the devasted ecological system of the Niger Delta is regenerated to sustain the people, but the reverse seems to be the order of the day,” the statement said.
MOSOP described the comment by the NDDC MD as an affront to the sensibility of the Movement and the Ogoni nation at large.
”This is more like killing the goose that laid the golden egg because for over decades that the federal government through Shell has exploited us, Ogoniland has been ecologically devasted and has lost all her major sources of livelihood.
“We are aware that he sits and supervises over a kleptocratic form of government and he is there to make a fortune and feather his own nest as against the norms and he feels that inviting the Ogonis will expose certain untold stories about his activities since his assumption of office.
“It would have been nice if he had cast his mind back and acknowledged the fact that ab initio, the federal government through Shell has had its own fair share in Ogoniland and Ogoniland has been used, re-used and over used, hence the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which gave rise to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP),” MOSOP said.
“The unfounded and naive comment points to the fact that Dr. Ogbuku doesn’t mean well for us and should know that most states in the nation that have no single drop of crude are the chief beneficiaries of the nation’s crude, and he claimed the crude has been untapped and for that singular reason, MOSOP shouldn’t be invited for a submit that has to do with Niger Delta which Ogoni people are critical stakeholders in the region.
“The question is, why was the UNEP report implemented by the former Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on the 2nd day of June, 2016?.
“These and many more questions are begging to be answered and stare him on the face. The stark reality is that, whether Ogoni oil is used or not used, the terms and conditions listed must be followed all through before oil resuscitation in Ogoniland,” MOSOP said.
Also speaking, the President National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), Comrade Nwibani Raymond Marcus, said it was pathetic and disdainful that the NDDC boss had refused to tell the people of the area the truth.
According to him, what Dr. Ogbuku is doing is to instigate youths against themselves, causing unrest in Niger Delta region.
“We all know that NYCOP is an affiliate body to MOSOP and we are concerned about the well-being of the people of Ogoni and Niger Delta at large.
“It is pathetic and disdainful that NDDC boss has refused to tell people the truth, rather he is busy instigating youths against themselves, and as a result youths no longer listen to themselves again. This is another way to fuel crisis in the area”, Comrade Marcus said.
He also called on the authorities to urgently address the problems confronting the Ogoni people, saying MOSOP cannot be neglected as it has a critical role to play in Niger Delta region.

By: Tonye Orabere & Kiadum Edookor