Ogoni women drawn from all works of life have come out to protest against the resumption of oil production in the area without proper negotiation. The women expressed anger over the non-transparent nature of the entire oil resumption exercise accusing the government of attempting to manipulate them into giving up on their demands as expressed in the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR).
The women further demanded that the Nigerian government account for $300million Ogoni infrastructure development fund which is alleged to have been diverted by some key government personalities in alliance with some Ogoni leaders. They further demanded accountability for the $1Billion Ogoni cleanup funds which they said is a failed project.
The women, who marched on the streets of Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni, accused the government of neglecting the core demands of the Ogoni people including the demand for the creation of a Bori State and compensation for livelihood losses due to decades of devastating oil spills in the lands.We lost everything: crops, drinking water sources, food and farming lands, and we now live with strange illnesses which ultimately will lead to our death. No one is interested in all that. The only thing the government is interested in is our oil resources. We reject the insensitivity of the government and we want to be heard,” one of the protesters who pleaded anonymity told Ogoninews.
Another speaker, Mrs. Helen Huoma, said the plot to resume oil production in Ogoni is deceptive. “The oil industry people are always lying. They will tell us something and do another. When we ask our MOSOP leaders, they tell us they know nothing about what the government and the oil industry are doing. It’s all a bunch of confusion and deceit. We will resist this move because we paid heavily to give Ogoni a name and the pride it has today”
Speaker after speaker, the entire oil resumption is not trusted by the Ogoni people. A woman identified as Janet from Gokana local government area alleged that the Nigerian government has never been interested in the welfare of the Ogoni people. She alleged that the government had only been interested in the oil and after that, they appeased political leaders with contracts to suppress local residents.
“All they do is deceive the Ogoni people and we continue to suffer in the midst of abundant natural resources. If they can divert $300million, then how can we trust them? Before we start, let them account for the $300 million and the cleanup program which, at least, should have solved some basic problems.”
The Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had recently directed the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to engage the NNPC Limited and work out modalities for the resumption of oil production in Ogoni. This directive followed a meeting with some Ogoni leaders at the Aso Rock, Presidential Villa.
The president had also recently granted pardon to the Ogoni nine including Ken Saro-Wiwa and to four Ogoni leaders who were murdered on May 21, 1995. The Abacha regime had blamed Ken Saro-Wiwa for the murders and executed him along with 8 others on November 10, 1995 despite global outcry acknowledging their innocence.
Following the executions, a United Nations fact finding team visited Nigeria. The team acknowledged that the entire trial process was flawed and noted that Nigeria did not even follow the minimal prescription of its own laws in the conduct of the trial.
source: Newsweek
