Thousands of Ogoni of Rivers State took to the streets of Port Harcourt, Monday, jubilating over the sacking of Shell Petroleum Development Company by the Federal Government from their land, and the resolve to replace the oil giant with another oil prospecting company.
The people carried placards with various inscriptions, some of which read "Non violence pays, bye-bye to Shell, no more shell in Ogoni land, justice for Ogoni, justice for all, thank you President Yar'Adua, no more genocide in Ogoni land", among others,
They sang and danced through major streets of Port Harcourt and terminated at Government House, where they delivered their solidarity message to President Yar'Adua through Governor Chibuike Amaechi.
In the message delivered on their behalf by MOSOP President, Mr. Ledum Miitee, expressed gratitude over the decision of the Federal Government to replace Shell as the oil exploiting company in Ogoniland.
Expressing delight that there have been no love lost between the Ogonis and Shell, Mitee said Ogonis were committed to playing a more positive and constructive role in the transformation process expressing the hope that the new challenges and opportunities would be addressed in such a manner that would improve the natural environment and secure a viable future for the people.
They advised prospective oil operators to break with the past and design a relationship with local people based on just treatment of communities and innovative approach to development and employment.
MOSOP was of the view that that if this was done, an inspiring message that non-violence pays would have been sent to the rest of the people of the Niger Delta region.
Receiving the people, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, assured them that their message
would be delivered to President Musa Yar'Adua, noting that what has happened was an indication
that violence was no longer a viable option in the resolution of the issues of the Niger Delta.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government Magnus Abe, the governor said people who
make their case consistently and peacefully now have an opportunity under President Umaru Musa
Yar'Adua to get justice without recourse to killing anybody.
"As usual the Ogonis have blazed the trail, the Niger Delta thing everybody is talking about
is nothing but an extension of the Ogoni struggle, but the violence that has come with it is a
bastardization of what the Ogonis struggle", he said.
Amaechi urged Ogonis to come together and unite in fashioning their future and determine what
they can get out of the present situation that God has afforded them, warning that any further
misunderstanding within the ranks of the people will not do them any good.
He then congratulated the Ogoni people for remaining peaceful, principled and consistent in
their quest for better treatment, and enjoined them to remember those who contributed immensely to
the struggle but are not alive to witness the victory.
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The sacking of Shell Petroleum as the main oil prospecting company is like scotching the sneak but not killed it. The damage has already been done environmentally and the psyche of the people of Ogoni in particular and Easterners as a whole.
The Ogoni people missed a chance but now the chicken has come home to roost. Shell was the main financier of the Nigeria civil war supported by the administration of Harold Wilson making the defunct republic of Biafra the enemy of the Ogoni people. About thirty nine years have passed since the end of the civil war still the Ogoni people and all oil producing states in the former Eastern Nigeria are still living in abject poverty and squalor.
It does not matter what Giant takes over oil prospecting, the North is still in control of the Nigeria oil wealth just like IBB and Buhari were flaunting the other day making excuses for Abacha for not looting enough. What was it that was looted? The Nigeria oil wealth from the former Eastern region. When Gowon raised the bogie about the minority fears and created states to destabilize Biafra the Ogoni people saw it as the best thing that ever happened to them. But today they will decide whether they were better off 42 years ago or today.
Unless Abuja changes attitude about how it perceives the South and its impotence to Nigeria nothing will change and it will be business as usual.
Hello! Hello1 Stop talking about the Biafra thing. The Ogonis were never friends of slavery. By befriending Biafra, the Ogonis and others would have signed up for slavery. I am from Akassa in Bayelsa state and cannot be lectured by someone outside the "Most Riverine areas of The Ijaws" about Shell. I was, for example at the old UAC(Bekekiri)wharf when the first boast belonging to Shell D'archy(as Shell was known then)steamed up North to Oloibiri. One of such boats was the "Osimirin". Two others were the "Sobrero" and the "Escravos". I was a little preschool Kid then-1952. When I was in Service,I was there when the late Mr Sarowiwa and Mr Sikikoki worked as admin assistants to Governor Diete Spiff. Now you see the rest of the story! Yrs PKOwi(Prof)
Hey brother from Ogoni you evaded the question may be I will repose the question in case you did not see it and here it is "When Gowon raised the bogie about the minority fears and created states to destabilize Biafra the Ogoni people saw it as the best thing that ever happened to them. But today they will decide whether they were better off 42 years ago or today"
Lando.
Hello! Hello! Stop talking about the Biafra thing. The Ogonis were never friends of slavery. By befriending Biafra, the Ogonis and others would have signed up for slavery. I am from Akassa in Bayelsa state and cannot be lectured by someone outside the "Most Riverine areas of The Ijaws" about Shell. I was, for example at the old UAC(Bekekiri)wharf when the first boast belonging to Shell D'archy(as Shell was known then)steamed up North to Oloibiri. One of such boats was the "Osimirin". Two others were the "Sobrero" and the "Escravos". I was a little preschool Kid then-1952. When I was in Service,I was there when the late Mr Sarowiwa and Mr Sikikoki worked as admin assistants to Governor Diete Spiff. Now you see the rest of the story! Yrs PKOwi(Prof)