Impostors met with Tinubu over Ogoniland – MOSOP
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Published By: Paul Dada
By Paul Dada
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People has disowned persons who met with President Bola Tinubu last Wednesday on behalf of Ogoniland.
MOSOP in a press statement signed by its President, Fegalo Nsuke, said the meeting was a slight on the Ogoni people “and a denigration of the struggles of the entire Niger Delta people”.
“The attention of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has been drawn to media reports of a State House meeting held on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 between Mr President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and some persons claiming to represent the Ogoni people.
“The said meeting, being facilitated by a key player in the oil.and gas industry in collaboration with some government-paid chiefs of Ogoni extraction is a slight on the Ogoni people in particular, and a denigration of the struggles of the entire Niger Delta people. MOSOP strongly condemns the misrepresentation of the Ogoni people at the meeting and unequivocally dissociates itself from the meeting.
“The meeting which was motivated by greed aimed at misrepresenting the situation on ground to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a listening president who has shown remarkable commitment in finding a lasting solution to the critical national issues and is counted upon for a fair and just solution to the Ogoni problem.
“MOSOP wants to emphatically state that these are people without any knowledge about how Shell left Ogoni; or what drives the Ogoni struggle. Also, they are completely ignorant of the painstaking efforts made by MOSOP at the village and community levels to sensitize our people on the need to revisit the oil production issue after decades of battling with selfish and divisive forces.
“The audacity to misrepresent facts on a sensitive issue like oil resumption in Ogoni is an act of economic sabotage, considering the progress so far made in resolving the Ogoni issue once and for all. That is why MOSOP sees the meeting as a failed attempt to make the Federal Government lose the Ogoni People’s confidence.
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“Even though the said meeting was intended to frustrate the gains of MOSOP’s campaigns and community sensitization to permanently address the problems in Ogoni, MOSOP remains committed to its development goals and will continue to work with relevant stakeholders, especially the Federal Government to achieve them.
“MOSOP’s main objective is to achieve a peaceful settlement of this protracted conflict and to bring Ogoni on the path of growth and development. But we insist on a genuine, broad-based and transparent negotiation process that considers the interest of all parties for a mutually beneficial compromise.
The progress recorded so far in convincing the Ogoni people to embrace the idea of development through the resumption of oil production in our area had been well thought of and anchored on mutual benefits.
“It is our wish that the gains of our community sensitization and reorientation efforts should not be destroyed by pecuniary interests of private businesses who think that 4,000 lives lost in the Ogoni struggle can be for their own benefits. God forbid”.
Adding, the statement said: “We therefore urge the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu to initiate a broad-based genuine process of negotiations to facilitate a peaceful settlement and reach an acceptable compromise.
“To this end, MOSOP calls on Mr President to appoint a negotiator with credibility and national clout to promote a broad-based engagement with the Ogoni people and facilitate a peaceful resolution.
“MOSOP further pledges to cooperate with the process and hopes to see a speedy resolution of all issues affecting the Ogoni people.
“We pledge our allegiance to our country and our president”.
