The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) at the weekend began direct mass action against immediate resumption of oil extraction in Ogoniland in protest against some clandestine moves to start  crude oil production without proper dialogue with Ogoni stakeholders.
The mass action The Tide learnt was coordinated and driven by the MOSOP youth wing, the National Youth Council of the Ogoni People (NYCOP).
A statement signed by MOSOP’s Media and Public Affairs Advisor, Bari-ara Kpalap, and made available to The Tide via email, noted that as a first step in the anti-oil production move, “NYCOP peacefully and non-violently protested at the premises of Novotel Hotel in Port Harcourt, where the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and its Ogoni collaborators attempted to hold a fake workshop, which objective was geared towards brain-washing and bribing uninformed Ogonis to support their devious plan.”
Kpalap indicated that “the youth barricaded the entrance to the hotel, and prevented vehicles and visitors from entering or leaving the hotel.”
According to him, “They sang songs hailing the majority position supporting implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland and as well as rained opposition against moves to resume oil extraction in the community.
“They also carried placards, some of which read: “NPDC, Ogoni vultures leave Ogoni oil in the ground”, “No to oil production in Ogoni now”, “we want our environment re-mediated and restored”, “NPDC, if we die, you are responsible” and “Ogoni oil is not for sale.”
He quoted the President of NYCOP and leader of the demonstrators, Dr Young Nkpah, as saying in an interview with newsmen shortly after the protest, that: “The activities of NPDC in Ogoni are aimed at creating division that would occasion avoidable crisis in the region.
“When we are talking about revival of our hydrocarbon polluted environment, they are canvassing for commencement of oil production now in Ogoni, a matter that had caused the death of a generation of the Ogoni leadership, including sung and unsung Ogoni citizens.
“If this is not the case, how would one explain the situation where the Federal Government has flagged-off implementation of the Ogoni environmental rejuvenation exercise on the one hand, and on the other hand, NPDC is luring gullible Ogonis to sanction its intent of resuming oil production in Ogoni now”.
He warned NPDC and her Ogoni collaborators to stay away from the area as Ogoni people would resist any clandestine move to undermine the general interest of the people, “even with the last drop of our blood,” and emphasized that they will continue the protest until justice is achieved.
“It is disappointing the level of involvement of local politicians belonging to one of the dominant political parties in the area. We are concerned that these politicians have always ganged up against the collective interest of our people. Evidence abound that these political actors and their cronies have openly denounced and fought against the legitimate, just and credible struggle for justice of the Ogoni people but would now want to reap from where they did not sow or what they hate.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government and all men of goodwill and justice to prevail on NPDC to stop, forthwith, its attempts to cause trouble in Ogoni.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana