Nigeria doesn’t care about plights of Ogoni people – MOSOP

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says for Nigeria to succeed and return to the path of prosperity, it must end the discrimination and unfair exploitation of Ogoni people where the bulks of oil that drives the economy comes from.

Publicity Secretary of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke stated this recently, noting that Ogoniland would not surrender to an oppressive Nigeria, but rather remains defiant, courageously confronting Nigeria’s discriminatory policies, laws ad practices until justice is delivered.

In an article, Nsuke said the President Administration of Muhammadu Buhari has disappointed the people of Ogoniland despite the high hopes the people had when he came to power.

“The lessons from Ogoni clearly shows how much injustice is pervasive in our country. The shame is that rather than address these injustices, our country and our government has attempted to deceive the world about the true situation in Ogoniland.

“Today in my Ogoniland, some villages bury as much as 13 persons in a week. When you relate this to some parts of our country, Imo state for instance, where you do not hear of deaths in one year except for very old people, you will appreciate the reality of the danger faced by the Ogoni people. Nigeria seemingly does not care about this but still furiously going after the Ogoni oil.”

He said the leadership of the country acts like one without conscience, contemplating the resumption of oil production in an Ogoniland full of working corpses called humans. “Nigeria’s primary interest is the Ogoni oil and not the safety and future of the people.”

He said instead of tackling the issues, the government focuses on lobbying chiefs and politicians who, he said, are on its payroll and not the future of the Ogoni people.

“While the Ogoni people are calling for respect for political rights which will allow the Ogoni function within Nigeria as a distinct ethnic group, which it is, the government canvasses the people to accept its current slave status where its resources are being used to build cities and nothing comes back to Ogoniland.”

Nsuke argued that the government strength could only be seen against an oil producing community whom it has unfairly exploited to death and in demanding for social justice has peacefully, non-violently protested this exploitation.

“While the Nigerian government has appeared helpless in dealing with terrorists whom it has nicknamed herders, the armed forces display unusual dexterity of a strong army each time it is deployed against peaceful and non-violent Ogonis.

“If Nigeria could be so skillful in dealing with Boko Haram, the same way it has done against civilian protesters in Ogoni, Nigeria would long have overcome its security challenges.”