MOSOP USA

06/08/2024

https://tribuneonlineng.com/mosop-usa-writes-tinubu-demands-creation-of-ogoni-state/

The United States of America, USA branch of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, Mosop-USA, has called on President Bola Tinubu,

06/08/2024

https://leadership.ng/mosop-usa-seeks-inclusion-of-bori-state-creation-in-ongoing-constitution-review/

The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People in the United States of America (MOSOP-USA), has called on President Bola Tinubu to include the creation of Bori

22/04/2024

https://youtu.be/69ZcP3BmzCQ?si=7LVNLrOeO1T4nw3K

22/04/2024

https://youtu.be/eMfrALPG_2w?si=c5Ouz6YdOE_bhxaI

14/02/2024

29/11/2023

November 10th, 2023 Anniversary

A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY THE MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE OGONI PEOPLE (MOSOP, USA) AFTER COMMEMORATING THE 28TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JUDICIAL MURDER OF THE OGONI 9 IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA USA, NOVEMBER 10th, 2023.

November 12, 2023

The commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the judicial murder of Ogoni Nine hosted in Atlanta, Georgia USA lasted for three days - November 10th through 12th, 2023. The occasion called for sober reflections on the inhumane and barbaric hanging of Ogoni heroes including famous environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 by the Nigeria Military Junta headed by General Sani Abacha, in collaboration with Royal Shell Oil Company.
It was a conspiracy with the sole purpose of eradicating the voices of the adherents of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in order to perpetuate the continuity of their oppressive governance, but here we are today, bold, proud, and unapologetic.

MOSOOP is here to stay. And our heroes cannot die in vain neither can we be defeated or be led astray into oblivion. Thus, the summit reflected on the past, present, and future state of affairs both at home and in the diaspora.

After much consultations and deliberations, the summit made the following solemn declarations:

1. MOSOP, USA declared and affirmed that there will be NO oil resumption in Ogoni land by Shell Multinational Oil Company or any other contractual pseudo-company. That, the 1993 declaration against the company remains in place, which is contingent upon an acceptable, and transparent Treaty between the Ogoni people, MOSOP USA, Nigeria government, and Shell Multinational Oil Company.

2. As a precondition for Oil resumption in Ogoni land, MOSOP USA declared and affirmed that there must be the creation of a BORI state comprising the peoples of Andoni, Ogoni, Nkorho, and Opobo. Ogoni people are concerned about their natural resources that have been siphoned away by non-Ogonis for so long. We demand that we should be treated as equals not as second-class citizens by Nigeria.

3. With very clear evidence that trumped-up charges against Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni leaders formed the basis of their being murdered in 1995, MOSOP USA declared and affirmed that our heroes should be exonerated from murder charges. November 10 should be upheld as a public Environmental Day in Nigeria and due compensation should be paid to the families of the Ogoni 13 (the Ogoni nine and four).

4. MOSOP USA declared that the clean-up by The Hydrocarbon Restoration Program (HYPREP) in Ogoni land is window dressing. The Nigerian government must consult with MOSOP USA and other acceptable stakeholders to seek a consortium of expatriates in environmental remediation for the clean-up of Ogoni. Ogoni people demand a blueprint for such clean-up as well for us to ascertain the validity and appraisal of their work.

5. As a matter of urgency, the Nigerian government needs to compensate and rehabilitate the Ogoni internal and, external refugees back into their communities which were sacked and flattened by the Abacha administration in 1994 in Ban-Ogoi Special Unit Area which includes Oyigbo, Bobe Afam, Muumba, Lekuma, Oloko 1, Oloko 2, Ledor, Tumbee, Nwenkova, Gbaken, Zeenkol, Aaboe, Karinko, Nomaboe, Eemuu, Kenkoro, and Agbeta. MOSOP USA declared and affirmed that Ogoni land cannot be ceded to anyone.

6. That the Ogoni Bill of Rights which was submitted to the people and government of Nigeria through the sitting president and commander in chief of the Nigerian armed forces, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida on the 2nd October 1990 should be adopted and included in the Nigerian constitution, according to the resolution of the Willink Commission of 1957. That Ogoni cannot continue to suffer internal colonization, domination, annihilation, oppression, and political marginalization, to mention but a few. We hope that the administration of President Bola Tinubu will act differently.

MOSOP USA on behalf of the Ogoni people presents this declaration in good faith to the Nigerian government, President Tinubu, the National Assembly, Shell Oil Company, United Nations, and other stakeholders as a pre-condition for any dialogue with the Ogoni people.

We believe un-pressured dialogue NOT bullying, is the only solution out of this avoidable crisis.

This declaration is hereby affirmed and declared. Anything contrary is null and void.
Long Live Ogoni
Long Live MOSOP
The struggle continues till Ogoni is liberated.

Signed:
Elder DineBari Augustine Kpuinen
President, MOSOP USA

Keesiiup Kpooni
Secretary

Pastor TomBari Samuel Nweemuu
Public Relation Officer

11/11/2023

A word from our president during our peaceful protest march November 10th

11/11/2023

Live recording of our peaceful protest march in Atlanta

27/10/2023

Our most anticipated event happening in Atlanta Georgia. Mosop USA celebrates the 28th Anniversary of the Ogoni 9.
Read flyer for more info.
Don't forget to like and share.

14/06/2022

23/02/2021

62 YEARS OF OGONI AGONY
We, the people of Ogoni and members of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People United States of America (MOSOP USA), on behalf of ourselves, Ogoni people in Africa and globally, bring you warm greetings. We are deeply thankful for the tireless work you do, making policies that positively impact us and all nations of the world. Such policies target climate change, a severe enemy of the Ogoni people and the rest of the world. We appreciate your policies that target poverty and hardship, which climate change makes worse.
Your wholesome approach and dedication have made the world safe and at peace, resulting in systematic growth and prosperity despite your leadership's tremendous challenges.
We are particularly grateful to the United States of America for opening her arms to welcome and secure the Ogoni people haunted around the continent of Africa, especially those in the Benin Republic and Ghana.
After the ignoble hanging to death of the renowned Writer and Environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis in November 1995 by the Nigerian State, there were follow up threats, insecurity to life and property, and total desecration of the land and desertion due to the persistent military aggression of the government against the Ogoni people. Life for the Ogoni seemed meaningless, nasty, brutish, and short, considering the suffering and pain, including death, that Ogoni experience. We sincerely believe that you can restore hope to the Ogoni People.

INTERNAL COLONIZATION:
Under the leadership of late T. N. Paul Birabi, Ogoni fought hard and made representations to the British colonial government during the colonial era to regain Ogoni's self-governance. In 1947 the Ogoni State Representative Assembly (OSRA) was established.
In the 1950s, Ogoni and other ethnic minorities agitated for their separate states with the imminence of Nigerian Independence. Alternatively, ethnic minorities demanded constitutional safeguards that will guarantee their rights and freedom within the federation but unfortunately, in 1957, the Willink Minority Commission convened by the British government rejected the demand for separate states but suggested a Bill of Rights that will guarantee minority rights to be included in the Constitution at Independence to protect the ethnic minorities as it is patterned in the European Convention on Human rights. The reason for the Willink's Commission was to allay the fears of domination and annihilation and to protect the rights of the minorities.
In 1958, Ogoni lost her leader and representative in a controversial circumstance and was dragged and lumped with an unwanted major ethnic group with near-impossible survival. That is partly the beginning of the Ogoni Agony.
At Independence, Ogoni was denied freedom, fundamental human rights, and her self-determination was aborted. Ogoni has been manipulated and forced into internal colonization similar to the old and rejected feudal system. Ogoni is not given the right to practice her culture and religion; and not allowed to run her special affairs, as guaranteed by nature and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Resolution 217 of 1948). The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was passed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly.

POLITICAL MARGINALIZATION:
Successive Nigerian governments do not see Ogoni as a place owned by a native people-Ogonis (like any of the other nations) whose ancestry predates Nigeria's creation as a nation. They instead see Ogoni as a conquered territory. The government and its institutions are controlled and mismanaged by the three ethnic majorities who arrogate absolute right and power. We doubt if it would have been the same if Ogoni were not endowed with Oil, Gas, Uranium, and other minerals and substantial resources.
Ogoni, which has 147 towns, cities, and villages and about one million in population, has no single state. It has been confined to languish in five local governments or council areas, out of which an ethnic majority forcefully occupy one of the local government councils after the Government of Nigeria had used the military force to sack and flatten 11 towns and villages in the area on Easter Sunday in April 1994. The surviving inhabitants were driven into exile, with more than two thousand (2,000) Ogonis murdered.
Ogoni is currently squeezed into four Local government councils that cannot act in its people's interest. The Nigerian government has imposed on Ogoni a state in which the Ogonis are denied their right to vote and choose their local leadership by taking elections away, thereby denying Ogoni adequate security and other essential developments.

ECONOMIC STRANGULATION:
Since the production of oil in Ogoni in 1958, about Three hundred Billion Dollars ($300,000,000,000.00) worth of crude oil has been extracted and carted away from Ogoni. In return, Shell waged an ecological war against innocent poor Ogoni citizens by destroying the entire ecosystem. All the water resources, including drinkable (spring/fresh) water, underground waters, fishing grounds, and economic trees, have been destroyed by deliberate and intentional neglect through oil spillages and gas flares from 1958. Summarily, our livelihood has been taken away.
ENSLAVEMENT OF THE OGONI:
Despite the enormous contributions from oil exploration and exploitation from Ogoni, the Government and People of Nigeria assumed no responsibility for the massive levels of degradation of Ogoni and its people. Peaceful protests against oil spills that have rendered Ogoni 900 times more toxic with hydrocarbons as attested to by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) 2011 Report than the international standards have always been met with contempt military repressions. Soldiers are often sent into Ogoni villages and towns (with commands) to "shoot-at-sight" citizens, to cower and intimidate the people.
Ogoni people are subjected to slavery. A people so blessed by God and nature are being treated as outcasts in Nigeria. Ogonis still live without pipe-borne water (clean water), no electricity, no University, no equipped hospitals, no airport no government infrastructure. Ogoni people are not considered suitable for any progressive development but are killed by the same government to protect the indigenes from external aggressors. We have records and data of Nigerian soldiers shooting innocent Ogonis, and no explanations come from the government or their representatives.
Even as it was, from Nigerian Independence in 1960 to date, Ogonis are only considered for menial jobs despite their qualifications, while the wealth of Ogoni is carted away to develop other ethnics nationalities in the Nigerian state.
Subsequently, the United States Congress is aware of the Ogoni struggle. This current phase started on January 4, 1993, to mark or celebrate the United Nations International Year of World's Indigenous Peoples affirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1992.

OGONI OIL:
In 1958, Royal Dutch/Shell collaborated with the British government and found a commercially viable oil field in Ogoni and began oil production. (Ogoni had long settled in this area of the Niger Delta before Nigeria's formation (1914) and before Shell's arrival) and since then, Ogonis have not had peace or any meaningful development. Nigeria has not done anything to protect Ogonis, as it is supposed to protect its citizens from environmental abuses from Shell and other oil companies. Instead, the country and its corrupt rulers have a calculated plan to exterminate Ogonis in conspiracy with Shell.
There are currently 36 states in Nigeria, and about 25 of them are created strictly on an ethnic basis. Of these 25 states, Hausa-Fulanis have 11 states, while Yorubas have six and Igbos have five. The Ibibios have two, and Ijaws have one. More than 99.9 percent of these states depend solely on sharing oil money. Many of these States are non-viable and lack resources, and cannot survive.
The remaining (11) states are scattered among other ethnic groups, of which Ogoni is part of Rivers State. This implies that the three ethnic majorities have 22 out of the 36 states created by military fiat to benefit the three big ethnic groups. Whereas in a true federation, every ethnic nationality should be treated equally. It is believed that the extinction of Ogoni is a deliberate policy in Nigeria.

UNPAID ROYALTIES AND LAND RENTS:
Since 1958, Shell and its counterparts had forcefully grabbed lands and property from the Ogoni people for oil exploitation and exploration, more than thirty billion dollars due to the Ogoni for Land rents, mining rents, and royalties are still owed the Ogoni people. Nothing had been given back to the Ogoni people but death.
GAS FLARING AND LOCAL REFINING OF CRUDE:
Reckless Oil exploration has turned Ogoni into a wasteland. Lands, streams, and creeks are totally and continually polluted. The atmosphere has been charged, poisoned with hydrocarbon vapors, methane, carbon monoxide, acid rains, and black soots emitted by gas flared daily for sixty-two years and very close to human habitation. Oil spillages and oil blowouts have devastated the area. These poisonous chemicals contaminate our drinking water, poison the fish, animals, food crops, and vegetations. Ogonis are unduly and willfully punished with these agents of death.
An average Ogoni man's lifespan is now about 32 years, while the national average is 55. Despite the atrocities and devastations caused by sixty-two years of gas flaring in Ogoni and the Niger Delta, the people and the Government of Nigeria, Shell, Chevron, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company have refused to stop gas flaring. Presently, prominent government officials and the Nigerian Army embark on illegal oil bunkering and illegal local refining of crude, which now worsen the already devastated and polluted Ogoni environment.
ENVIRONMENT:
In 15 years from 1976 to 1991, there were reportedly 2,976 oil spills of about 2.1 million barrels of oil in Ogoni, accounting for about 40% of the Royal Dutch/Shell company's total oil spills worldwide.
In the 2011 assessment of over 200 locations in Ogoni by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), it found that the 50 years of oil production in the region extended more profound than previously expected. Because of oil spills, oil flaring, and waste discharge, the alluvial soil is no longer viable for agriculture. Furthermore, in many areas that seemed to be unaffected, like underground water, it was found to have high hydrocarbons, contaminated with benzene, a carcinogen at 900 levels above World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Acid rains, black soot, and other poisonous acids in the air, food, and water are the causes of many mysterious sicknesses and diseases, leading to untimely deaths in Ogoni.
UNEP estimated that it could take up to 30 years to restore the Ogoni environment to its full potential and that the first five years of restoration would require funding of about US$1 billion.

DANGER OF LAND DEVASTATION AS IT AFFECTS SOURCE OF LIVELIHOOD:
The Ogoni people have two primary occupations: Farming and Fishing. Oil exploitation and exploration started in 1958. By 1970, Ogoni started experiencing disruptions to their livelihood sources in the land caused by erosion and poor maintenance of the pipelines and flow stations.
Environmental degradation has been a lethal weapon in this war against the indigenous Ogoni people. It is on record that ninety-five percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings are derived from oil revenue. Shell oil is a major player in oil exploration in Ogoni and Niger Delta's tiny land space.
Ogoni's level of pollution and degradation is second to none globally, which sets the people of Ogoni on a time-bomb waiting to explode if urgent and earnest action is not taken to intervene. This means it would be adequately clean, adequately restore the environment to save the people from extinction.

THE MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE OGONI PEOPLE (MOSOP)
Ogoni experienced state oppression and internal colonization. Political marginalization and economic strangulation are despicable. And realizing that all our rights are denied, the kings, the leaders, the chiefs, and the elites of Ogoni under the leadership of Ken Saro-Wiwa, decided and formed the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) MOSOP developed and wrote the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) as a tool and a guide to demand the rights of the Ogoni people. So, MOSOP was born in 1990. MOSOP believes in a peaceful and nonviolent agitation for the rights of the people.
THE OGONI BILL OF RIGHTS:
In 1990, MOSOP planned to take action against the Government of Nigeria and the oil companies to save lives. The OBR served to lead the Ogoni people to pursue and actualize self-determination if Ogoni survived in Nigeria. Ogoni demanded political Autonomy to enable her to participate in the Republic affairs as a distinct and separate unit, and that this Autonomy guarantees the following.
a. Political control of Ogoni affairs by Ogoni people.
b. The right to the control and use of a fair proportion of Ogoni economic resources for Ogoni development.
c. Adequate and direct representation as of right in all Nigerian national institutions.
d. The use and development of Ogoni languages in the territory.
e. The full development of Ogoni culture.
f. The right to religious freedom.
g. The right to protect the Ogoni environment and ecology from further degradation.
This noble document, the OBR, was respectfully presented to the Nigerian government and people on October 2, 1990. The government received the document but has failed to respond to it.

OPPRESSION AND MASSACRE:
On January 4, 1993, the people went out en-masse on a peaceful, nonviolent protest to press home their grievances. Three hundred thousand Ogonis matched in all their towns and villages peacefully without any incident.
The multinational oil giants have refused to conform to any form of internationally acceptable corporate behavior and social responsibility. Efforts to get them into dialogue with Ogoni failed. Not even a response was given to any of our letters.
Instead of addressing the legitimate demands of the Ogoni people, Shell arranged and met with Nigerian Officials in England and the Netherlands in February 1993 to plan to wipe out the entire population and get oil without question. Soldiers were used to suppressing and oppressing the people, attacking them from all fronts. At the center of the introduction of violence against humanity were the Multinational oil companies SHELL and CHEVRON.
No sooner than the nonviolent campaign of MOSOP for equality, freedom, and fairness and the exposure of genocide, homicide, internal colonization, and oppression of the Ogoni people in Nigeria began to gain the attention of the International Communities, the leaders of MOSOP were continually harassed, detained and tortured. Shell and the Government began to re-strategize. One purpose was to subject the Ogoni people to physical, mental, and psychological trauma, to let Ogoni run out or freeze. The human rights crusader, environmentalist, and the then President of MOSOP, late Ken Saro-Wiwa, suffered numerous intimidations and arrests without trial. Ogoni became a one-sided war zone where military checkpoints were located at every 5 kilometers mainly to extort Money and valuables to impoverish the people. During this time, there were aerial, naval, and land combing by the Nigerian armed forces.
Following the military occupation in Ogoni, several communities of Ogoni were invaded by the Nigerian Armed Forces. All MOSOP leaders and human rights activists were haunted and murdered. Communities were raided and sacked. The women were r***d and shot afterward. The young men were arrested, detained, tortured, maimed, and murdered without any court trial. Presently, all these have been modernized. Shell and Government-sponsored Cultism, kidnapping, assassination, Boko-haram, and Fulani Headsmen had continued to make Ogoni miserable, meaningless, and insecure.
In April 1994, A plan entitled 'Operation Restore Order in Ogoni' was unveiled by the River State Executive Council. It was for the use of force to suppress protests in Ogoni to enable Shell to return. Major Paul Okuntimo recommended "wasting military operations" at all Ogoni gatherings, which continue to date.
From Easter Sunday, in April 1994, the Nigerian Armed forces, in collaboration with the three major ethnic groups and Shell, raided, sacked, and flattened 11 communities of Ogoni, which have remained un-inhabited by its citizens to date. Over 2,000 inhabitants from the Oyigbo Local Government Area were brutally murdered. The towns and villages include Oyigbo, Boobe, Oloko1, Oloko2, Tumbee, Ledor, Mumba, Lekuma, Nwenkova, Gbaken Zeekol. Other towns and villages invaded and occupied by one of the major ethnic groups included Sii, Kaah, Teenama, Gioh, Kpoogor, Kpean, and Kwiri. Ogoni suffered a total of about Four Thousand (4,000 deaths) and 80,000 displaced people.
THE HANGING (FROM GIOKOO TO THE GALLOWS)
With the strategies in place and the two hundred and four (204) methods of killing the people (as announced by Major Paul Okuntimo), the military then set up a situation where four prominent Ogoni leaders were murdered. Their bodies were abducted in connivance between Soulless Shell and the Nigerian government in what they called "wasting military operations."
On November 10, 1995, the Nigeria state unjustly brutally hanged nine innocent Ogoni leaders, including the writer, novelist, and human right activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, Baribor Bera, Paul Levura, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, and Felix Nuate, for demanding for the rights of the people of the Niger Delta. These men were all environmentalists. These innocent men were arrested at various locations.
Without any proper investigation, no shred of evidence or proof of guilt, MOSOP leaders were arrested, detained, abused, and put through a military tribunal and were brutally hanged to death despite all international pleas for a fair trial.

EXONERATION
Ogoni people insist on exoneration now; otherwise, the unborn children will still ask the same question. In the case of Wiwa vs. Shell, the Royal Dutch Oil Company pleaded for and settled out of court in the US to admission her involvement. Bodo community vs. Shell in London was also settled out of court. These are not good omens of accountability for a conglomerate as Royal Dutch Oil Company. Shell still has to stand trial for its corporate actions and behavior in Ogoni.
The Nigerian government, civil or military, hates Ogoni for challenging Shell and their cohorts.
The United Nations Environmental Protection on May 30, 1996, posthumously awarded Ken Saro-Wiwa as one of the 21 recipients of the prestigious award, "Global 500 Roll of Honors, the Goldman Environmental Prize." He was awarded the "Right Livelihood Award" for MOSOP in 1994 and became the first Nigerian to be so awarded. The world is appalled by such magnitude of hatred by a government to its citizens. Would it have been a crime to be born a minority in Nigeria and asking for equity and fairness? No, it should not be.
MOSOP USA is asking for a comprehensive investigation into the abduction and murder of the four (4) Ogoni chiefs and the retrial of the case that led to the hanging to death of the Ogoni Nine (9) so that fairness and justice will prevail.

UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (UNEP) REPORT ON OGONI:
In 2011, UNEP had recommended specific institutional policy changes in the Nigerian petroleum ministry and industry to help actualize the cleanup project and cause its effective management. Only the Movement of regulatory work from the Petroleum Ministry to the Ministry of Environment has been realized to public knowledge. Shell's decommissioning responsibilities and other prerequisites to Ogoni cleanup have mainly been ignored. Yet UNEP has warned in its report that the best of Ogoni cleanup, remediation, and restoration cannot be achieved in the current environment. This is when considering long-standing disagreement amongst the people, Shell, and government. You may want to refer to UNEP Report on Ogoni.
CLEAN-UP:
It is necessary to reiterate that UNEP recommended Ogoni Restoration Authority to oversee the affairs of the cleanup. Also recommended was the Centre of Excellence and Centre for Contaminated Soil Management Studies. On the contrary, Shell and Nigeria have created fraud and deception referred to as Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in their characteristic manner. HYPREP is presently sand filling those oil spill sites making it more hazardous.
The HYPREP, imposed on Ogoni, has squandered one hundred and forty-eight million US Dollars ($148,000,000.00) as reported by its Managing Director, and there is nothing to show for. It is essential to state that the people are not given even drinking water.

CONCLUSION:
MOSOP USA, therefore, appeals to The United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom, African Union, ECOWAS, Human Right Organizations, the International Courts of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and all Nations of the world to prevail on Nigeria and Shell:
1. To restore to Ogoni its stolen self-government by granting Ogoni political Autonomy.

2. To Pay compensations/demands for the 62 years of emotional, physical, mental, and psychological trauma the Ogoni people have been subjected to.

3. Pay thirty billion US dollars ($30 000,000,000.00) for 62 years of accumulated land rent, mining rent, and royalties owed Ogoni. After that, Ogoni should have a say in future oil exploitation and exploration of the land.

4. To Clean and restore the Ogoni environment to a livable condition.

5. Rehabilitate the Ogoni people and give back invaded and forcefully occupied Ogoni communities.

6. Exonerate Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others who were unjustly and judicially murdered by hanging in 1995.

7. Declare November 10, a public holiday in Nigeria.

8. Do justice to the four Ogoni prominent Chiefs who were abducted and murdered in mysterious circumstances.

The reprisal started when Ken Saro-Wiwa exposed the environmental pollution, the wicked and slicky alliance between Nigeria and Shell, internal colonization, oppression, and genocide/ecocide in Ogoni. We hope that the United Nations, American Government, British Government, and other world authorities will assist in broker peace among Ogoni, Shell, and Nigeria.

06/12/2020

His Excellency President Muhamadu Buhari,
The President and Commander in-Chief
Of the Armed Forces of
The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

His Excellency,

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

Ogoni Ministers Peace and Advocacy Forum (OMIPAFO) on behalf of the Ogoni people, home and abroad bring you warm greetings, in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May the Peace of the Almighty Father, the creator of heaven and earth, in Whose name we write, abide with you.

The Ogoni Ministers Peace and Advocacy Forum is a Non-denominational Christian Organization, with members numbering over one hundred and fifty Ogoni ministers, both at home and abroad. Some of the organization responsibilities includes: interceding on behalf of the Ogonis both on spiritual and physical necessities; advocates for Peace, Justice, and the development of the Ogoni People.

At the second annual convention of the OMIPAFO with the Theme “Ogoni Seek Justice From God” which was held from Nov. 26 through Nov. 27th, 2020, the Ogoni Ministers decided to write to your Excellency, to explain the current condition of the Ogoni people and our sincere suggested possible solutions or steps to reverse the extinction of the Ogoni people.


The Ogoni people, from time immemorial have suffered abject poverty; abandoned and alienated from the commonwealth extracted from their land by Shell. The people have been segregated, discriminated as if they are not part of the Nigerian State.

62 years after Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company extracted crude oil in commercial quantities from Ogoni, the Ogoni environment is now in the Guinness book of records as the worst polluted environment the world ever witnessed, with Caseinogen of 900 times above world health tolerance level, due to reckless unchecked oil exploitation and exploration in the Land.

Your Excellency, the Ogoni water quality is 100 times above Nigerian contamination tolerance level. Oil spillages and gas flares are the causes of climate change which has remained the greatest enemy of the Ogoni people. The food, water and air are poisoned with hydrocarbons, black soots, acid rains, and benzene.

Your recently created Hydrocarbon pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) instead of excavating and cleaning the soil by separating the spilt oil from the sand, is Covering oil spill sites with plastic and mood. This is like planting time bombs in Ogoni. What HYPREP is doing in Ogoni, will go down as the worst form of genocide, homicide in the world, its impact will be worse than the great holocaust. Your excellency, HYPREP has abandoned all the recommendations of the UNEP Report of 2011, and has wasted almost $140 million and not even clean drinking water has been given to the people.


That the Ogoni people suffers 95 percent (95%) underemployment, the Ogoni people do not need a Prison yard or Cemetery, rather we believe that Manpower development should be the concern of the government.

Your excellency Sir, the people of Ogoni submitted an Ogoni Bill of Rights to the government in 1990. The Bill calls for a political autonomous state within Nigeria in accordance with the United Nations charter. The Nigerian State had treated this humble request of the Ogoni people with ignominy.

We also want to inform you that the National Electrical Power Authority (NEPA) or Afam Power Station, which when joined with the Kainji Dam, supply electricity to the whole country and some West African Countries are located in Ogoni, yet Ogoni does not benefit from the industry. Rather, the Ten (10) Ogoni Communities and people who lived in the area were sacked in 1994 by General Sani Abacha. Their communities were flattened about 2,000 people were murdered and over 40,000 people were exiled. These people are still hopeless, homeless, internal refugees in Nigeria. These communities include: Lekuma Khana, Mumba, Boobe Afam, Oloko 1, Oloko 11, Ledor, Tumbee, Nwenkova, Gbaken and Zeenkol.

In summary, the Ogoni people had suffered Deprivation, Rejection, enslavement, Political marginalization, Economic strangulation, environmental pollution, and Land degradation.


The Ogoni Ministers Peace and Advocacy Forum, therefore made the following demands:

1. That your administration should revisit the Ogoni Bill of Rights and Dialogue with the people.

2. That you dissolve HYPREP with an immediate effect and form an Ogoni Environmental Restoration Authority as recommended by the UNEP in 2011 and place it under the supervision of the Presidency. The UNEP Report also recommends the building of the Centre for contaminated soil management studies and Centre for excellence. We appeal to your excellency to build both Centres for Excellence and Contaminated soil management Studies in Ogoni immediately for proper remediation, restoration, and rehabilitation of the Ogoni people.


3. That a Federal College of Applied Technology (FCAT) be built in Ogoni, for manpower development where the children can acquire some skills. This will not only make them self-employed but will also enable them to create jobs for others as the government cannot provide jobs for everybody. We also appeal to your government to focus on industrializing the area by building factories where goods can be manufactured locally. These will improve the nation’s economy.

4. That the Federal Government prevail on Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company to pay 22 Billion Pounds Sterling for royalties and environmental devastation in Ogoni as legislated by the Rivers State House of Assembly during the 4th Assembly on April 6th, 1993. And also urge them to comply with payments of outstanding royalties and mining rents owed to Ogoni for over 62 years in violation of tenancy laws.

5. That Ken Saro Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, Paul Levura, Saturday Dobee, Baribor Bera, Daniel Gbokoo, Felix Nuate and Nordu Eawo, (the Ogoni 9) who were brutally murdered by the vicious killer, General Sani Abacha on November 10, 1995, should be exonerated and posthumously awarded.

6. November 10, should be declared a public Holiday in honour of their services and sacrifice.

7. And that we appeal to your government to grant a peaceful, and safe return of the citizens of Lekuma Khana, Mumba, Boobe Afam, Oloko 1, Oloko 11, Ledor, Tumbee, Nwenkova, Gbaken and Zeenkol all in Oyigbo Local government Council, who were sacked by the Abacha administration in 1994 back to their homes.

8. OMIPAFO is grateful for the Senate approval of the Federal University of Environment at Saakpenwa Ogoni. We do sincerely believe that the government will consider building some good roads and a local Airport in the area to attract international participation and involvement which will also improve the economy.

We believe that these projects will give hope to the Ogoni people.
We call on all and every Nigerian who wish this nation well to embrace the peaceful dialogue introduced by the Ogoni people.

May the Almighty God give you the wit, strength, courage, and wisdom to lead the nation to prosperity and greatness as you give a positive response to our request.

Thank you.