Foremost social cultural organisation in Ogoni, KAGOTE, an acronym for the four Ogoni LGAs of Khana, Gokana, Tai, and Eleme, in Rivers State has cautioned against the unmitigated cult-related killings in Ogoni, particularly in Khana Local Government Area, and called for the intervention of security agencies to save the communities from untold deaths.
The group said the onslaught of cult-related activities in Ogoni has led to wanton wastage of lives and displacement of indigenes of the affected communities, and urged perpetrators of the killings to desist from the dastardly acts or face the full wrath of the law.
President of KAGOTE, Hon Emmanuel Deeyaah, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt, said the organisation, in collaboration with other Ogoni stakeholders, would work with the state government and security agencies to put an end to the killings.
The group also cautioned against the planned resumption of oil exploration and production activities in Ogoni by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), stating that such plans without due consultations with Ogoni stakeholders and the state government was an insult on the sensibilities of Ogoni people who were still contending with issues of environmental degradation and pollution of their natural environment by decades of oil exploitation.
He said, “Plans are on the way to organise an Ogoni stakeholders’ conference where key issues bordering on Ogoni development would be discussed. If the Federal Government is desirous of resuming oil exploration activities in Ogoni, then, there has to be dialogue with the government and people of the state, particularly the immediate Ogoni people. No individual or single group has the mandate to decide over matters affecting Ogoni development, including oil resumption in the land”.
Deeyaah expressed regret that NPDC, a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), would visit Ogoni without going through the right channel.
He said, “Lately, in Ogoniland, we have had this issue of cult-related killings. So, we have come to say enough is enough. We are talking with the relevant security agencies so that henceforth, anyone caught shooting even crackers, they should visit such person with the full weight of the law. They should do everything within their powers to apprehend such persons.”
Deeyah said, while the people were pondering on how to tackle insecurity in the area, that they were again inundated with the report of the visit of NPDC on their planned resumption oil mining in Ogoni.
KAGOTE president said any company that intends to explore oil in the area must meet with critical stakeholders, chiefs and opinion leaders in Ogoniland.
He added that Ogoni was not ready to make the same mistakes it made in the era of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
Deeyah said, “The truth about it is that nobody in Ogoni owns the means of the facility to mine oil. We belong to the federation, that is, Nigeria, and we are also bound by the laws of the country.
“We can’t decide which company comes and which will not come. But we have a long history when it comes to oil exploration. We have lost our bests and there have been killings and all kind of things, and we believe that such a process, if the government is actually desirous of mining oil in Ogoinland should consult. There should be a process of dialogue with the people.
“We have our son, Senator Magnus Abe, who is on the board of NNPC, the parent company of NPDC. He is not in the picture of this development. We also have Senator Barry Mpigi, also an indigene, and others; they are not in the picture of this development.
“Those people who claim to come from NPDC, do they actually come from Nigeria? Don’t they come from places? We even have local government chairmen on ground. We have never heard that any of the council chairmen was involved in any of those processes. We also have the state government. Why would they just enter Ogoni without interacting with these layers of leaders?”
He disowned Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), the organisation that championed the visit of NPDC, stating that the body does not have the mandate to speak for Ogoni people.
He said, “I would like to say that the OLI as they call them, don’t have the legitimate mandate to invite any group to come and mine oil in Ogoniland, and we want to say to them that, henceforth, they should stop all such activities.
“In the next few days, we are going to call a broad-based meeting of Ogoni people, so that we chat the way forward. It is in that meeting we are going to agree on what we expect.
“We rejected Shell, so if another organisation is going to come, we should know what other things they are going to do better than Shell.”
Similarly, the Ogoni Elders’ Forum, Gbokabaari, has also warned against alleged moves to resume oil exploration in Ogoni.
A statement signed by the Chairman of the body, Chief Monday Abueh, said there was a sinister motive behind the plan, as the Federal Government was plotting another round of killings in the land, similar to the instigated killings that led to the decimation of Ogoni elite class in the 90s.
The statement called for calm in Ogoni, adding that the NGO fronting for oil resumption in Ogoni, Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), lacked the pedigree and mandate to do so.
The Tide gathered that following moves to resume oil exploration and production activities in the area, stakeholders and opinion leaders in Ogoni ethnic nationality have agreed on a broad-based meeting to address the resurgence of cult-related killings and the visit of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), to the area without official notice to the leaders.
Also, the leaders of Ogoni have regretted the visit of NPDC, and vowed that no company would resume oil business in the area without due consultations with the people.

By: Taneh Beemene