The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has declared as unacceptable what it described as surreptitious moves by some select chiefs to foist an oil company on Ogoniland.
MOSOP said such moves contradict the wish of the Ogoni people as part of the efforts for oil exploration resumption in the area.
The president of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, who stated this in a statement on Thursday in Port Harcourt, Rivers Statw Capital, noted that the chiefs that are pulling the strings for the choice of Geoplex Drillteq Limited, lack the support of the Ogoni people, hence the choice of the oil company will fail.
Nsuke noted that plan of the group of chiefs to meet with the representatives of Geoplex Drillteq Limited on Saturday, May 25, 2024 at the Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori, Ogoni for the sole purpose of endorsing the company (Geoplex) to resume oil production in Ogoni “is an effort in futility because the Ogoni does not support it.”
He also warned against the use of force against the people for not backing such move, noting that in a democracy, dialogue remains the best way to arrive at credible solutions to issues.
MOSOP also called on President, Bola Tinubu to initiate a genuine dialogue to facilitate a peaceful and mutually beneficial engagement for amicable settlement for the good of all parties and the country.
“The people of Ogoni to remain peaceful and law-abiding despite the efforts of a few persons to drag Ogoni backwards despite the people’s resolve to forge ahead and benefit from their God-given oil,” he said.
“MOSOP’s minimal demand calls for a fair proportion of Ogoni resources to be set aside for Ogoni development through the operationalization of an Ogoni Development Authority (ODA).
“We have received very credible information of a planned meeting of this group of chiefs with representatives of Geoplex Drillteq Limited on Saturday, May 25, 2024 at the Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori, Ogoni to endorse the company (Geoplex) for the same purpose of resuming oil production in Ogoni.
“MOSOP dissociates itself from the said meeting of May 25, 2024 at Bori, which seeks to endorse Geoplex and state our unequivocal rejection of Geoplex Drillteq Limited for whatever purpose that has to do with resuming oil and gas production in Ogoni on the grounds that the conduct of the company is outrightly repressive and brutish and tending towards the genocidal methods of Shell.
“We reiterate that MOSOP led the struggle against Shell and the position of MOSOP on the issue of oil production in Ogoni should be taken very seriously. We reject the violent prone approach of Geoplex and some Ogoni chiefs and maintain our commitment to a genuine broad-based engagement which addresses legitimate demands and concerns of the Ogoni people.
“MOSOP wants to state that in the past four years, we have extensively consulted with different groups including women, youths, professionals, chiefs and leaders of thought and so on, and on September 27, 2020, the Central Committee of MOSOP recommended the operationalization of a development blueprint captioned, the Ogoni Development Authority as an acceptable pathway for a peaceful resumption of oil production in Ogoni. The gains of these engagements should not be allowed to waste.
“MOSOP considers it absurd and unacceptable that while an option for a peaceful negotiation and a mutually beneficial settlement is already available, Geoplex Drillteq in connivance with some chiefs will undertake a path that generates so much tension and poses a clear threat to the peace of our society.
“MOSOP therefore declare that any statements, decisions, declarations made at the meeting of chiefs on Saturday, May 25, 2024 in Bori are not acceptable to us and will not be binding on the Ogoni people,” he added.
