- Why Oil Exploration Won’t Resume In Ogoni
Saviour Oscar Imeabe is the National President of the South South Youth Initiative, SSYI, the group that is currently tackling the NNPCL, over the funding of the Ogoni Varsity. He is also the President of Ogoni Youth Development Initiative. He told RUTH NWORIE, in this exclusive interview, that Ogoni deserves to produce the next governor of Rivers State. He also explained why the Ogonis will not miss their illustrious son, Senator Barinada Mpigi, who died recently.
Excerpts:
Are the Ogonis still hoping and pushing to produce the next governor of Rivers State ahead of 2027?
To be very honest, the Ogonis are due, not just due but overdue, to even become the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Ogonis have contributed a lot to the development of this country and have also contributed enough to the state as far as Rivers State is concerned.
The Ogonis led by Ken Saro-Wiwa and others from Ogoni laid down their lives for the struggle of the oppressed, the minority and the marginalized people in the country. This is one of those strategic efforts that was put in to strengthen the economic situation and development in Rivers State as well as Nigeria. So, if you look at it from all ramifications, you will see that the Ogonis have paid the highest sacrifice in history, more than any tribe in Nigeria.
The Ogoni struggle led to other struggles in this country. In the course of Ogoni struggle, we have NDDC which was established as a result of Ogoni agitation. HYPREP today was also established as an agency of the federal government as a result of Ogoni struggle. We have the local content board(NCDMB) in Bayelsa which was also established because of the Ogoni struggle. Other institutions like UNIPORT, the university of environment and other vital agencies of government was established as a result of Ogoni struggle.
The Ogoni struggle has done so much but unfortunately nothing to show for it. Everyday, we mourn the demise of Ogoni heroes; Ken Saro-Wiwa and others who genuinely put up the struggle, the fight to ensure Ogonis are put up where they are today.
Again, it’s unfortunate that the likes of Senator Mpigi who was supposed to be a strong force in this struggle while he was alive became one of those persons that put down themselves as slaves to Nyesom Wike because of political ambition. It’s also unfortunate that the likes of Victor Giadom, Kenneth Kobani put down themselves as slaves to Nyseom Wike. These were people from Ogoni that were seen as leading force when you talk about political agitation in Rivers State, but unfortunately, they allowed Nyesom Wike to deceive them in 2023; they fail to understand that Fubara, the governor of River State, is from the same senatorial district with us as Ogoni people. They allowed the Andonis to produce a deputy governor while other local governments and tribes are producing chief of staff and speaker but then Ogonis are yet to produce because they refused to imitate the struggle of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. They have been so biased and selfish about the struggle of political council of Ogonis. How many current political leaders in Ogoni have been able to attract any meaningful development in Ogoni land apart from the struggles Ken Saro-Wiwa and others fought that actually made Ogoni an international name?
The current political leaders we have in Ogoni are a failure, they have not been able to make Ogonis to be proud. So, unfortunately, I stand bold as a son of Rivers State and son of Ogoni to say currently, I don’t think we have hope in 2027 come governorship of Rivers State, no hope because as we speak, an Opobo man is the current governor of Rivers State, from Rivers South East Senatorial District; the same senatorial district with Ogoni people. If he has to go for second term, maybe a chance for Ogonis to become next governor may not be there because as far as we are concerned, even the worst governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, served two terms. So, if the worst governor in Rivers State was able to serve for two terms, then why would you take it from the current governor. So, the chances of Ogonis producing the next governor come 2027 for me is not clear at this point.
Are Ogoni people comfortable with provisions of the recently amended electoral act as it concerns real time transmission of results?
Apart from the Ogonis, I think this is not a tribal issue but rather an electoral issue. I’m an electorate apart from the fact that I’m from Ogoni. INEC is actually supposed to live up to expectation but unfortunately all the money that has actually be given to INEC for electoral reform till date is on the zero level. INEC is not ready to live up to expectation as well as our judiciary. Our judiciary and INEC are the major problems we have that is giving us major setback and is also killing the rights of the electorate. Now the electorate do not have a voice again and that is why insecurity is always on the high side. Come to Ogoni, recently constituency 11, a house of assembly member died and his wife was asked to go in as assembly member. Is that not a pure electorate fraud? That your husband died and his wife was asked to inherit the position of assembly seat, is it constitutional? So that means that INEC is one of those agency that is creating insecurity in the society because we the electorate are unhappy, we may decide to oppose it and the way we will oppose it may not go down well because come 2027, some persons will not allow electoral fraud to take place. That means the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not ready to conduct free and fair election or credible election come 2027, with the current INEC situation. It’s obvious the INEC is still not ready for the electorate to actually have their voice. Rather INEC is prepared to disenfranchise the electorate come 2027. That is why INEC that was supposed to be unbiased as the umbrella body that is saddled with responsibility of conducting free and fair election is now being bias.
There are efforts by the Tinubu government to resume oil exploration in Ogoni. Is MOSOP okay with this?
It’s not going to be possible because the Ogoni oil is referred to as blood oil and if Mr president does not tread with caution, the same oil will consume him. It’s unfortunate that the president is not aware that this oil can consume him. The Ogoni oil is not oil you can just come up any day and say you want to start oil exploration in Ogoni. For 50 years, Shell operated in Ogoni land, nothing to show for it. The people lived in abject poverty, the Ogonis are still living in poverty apart from gaining international recognition which has given birth to some of the developments we have today like the HYPREP and others. What can the federal government of Nigeria say they have done to remedy the suffering of the people of Ogoni concerning the oil exploration that took place 50 years by Shell ,which led to the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other 2000, 3000 Ogonis who were killed because of the same oil? And now, the president wants to begin oil resumption exploration in Ogoni just because he wants to own oil well, he wants to own the Ogoni oil for himself. That is the reason why Mr. President wants the oil resumption, not because Mr President wants the betterment of the citizens of this country, but because the president wants it for his own selfish reason.
I also want to say that Mr. President is also not sincere because the people’s welfare should have been his primary concern and not just his personal achievement. As president, he should be able to look into the sufferings and the demands of the people.
What is the demands of people?
There is an Ogoni bill of rights. So, if Mr president wants oil resumption in Ogoni land, they should consider the Ogoni bill of rights. What are these people crying for? We the Ogoni and the living martyr’s will not allow the death of Ken -Saro-Wiwa to be in vain. We are going to protect it with everything we have. We cannot allow Ken Saro-Wiwa and others that died for this single purpose to be in vain. So, we will not allow Mr President’s oil resumption in Ogoni land.
How will Ogonis miss Mpigi?
Few weeks ago, we lost an illustrious son of Ogoni, Senator Mpigi, who has been a one time local government chairman, house of assembly member and a serving senator. It’s unfortunate that at this point, the people of Ogoni have to lose an illustrious son. Death is something that we can never shy away from. One way or the other, we are all going to return to our mother earth; but then it is also expected within the time we are on earth that as youths, as citizens, elders, stakeholders, as representatives, especially as politicians to use the best opportunity to impact positively on the lives of the people.
Senator Mpigi would have been one of the best senators representing us in the National Assembly but unfortunately greed, personal interest did not allow him to deliver effective representation at the National Assembly, on behalf of Rivers South East Senatorial District.
Senator Mpigi was aware that Ogoni land had suffered devastating effects and negligence as a result of oil exploration that took place within the days of Ken Saro-Wiwa and many others. The likes of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 3000 other Ogonis died as a result of oil exploration in Ogoni land. The people of Ogoni kicked against shell as oil multinational company that was operating in Ogoni because of their failure to give back to the people when expected. But unfortunately, shell wrote a petition and did what they did that led to the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. Ever since then, the oil in Ogoni land has been referred to as blood oil. Upon this, Senator Mpigi who actually is aware as an illustrious son of the land and he is aware that Ogoni lost an effective representation following the demise of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others that laid down their lives for the struggle of Ogoni land, we expected as the son of the soil that he would be one of those persons that will be agitating for the needful to be done in Ogoni land, but unfortunately, late Senator Mpigi was one of those persons championing the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni land, even when the federal government of Nigeria was not able to meet up the expectations of Ogoni people.
Ken Saro-Wiwa and the likes of other Ogonis that laid down their lives for this struggle left behind an Ogoni bill of rights but we were expecting Senator Mpigi to the needful by standing firm to make demands and present the Ogoni bill of rights as demands from the federal government as the right of what people died for. Unfortunately, Senator Mpigi and other of his colleagues at the National Assembly swept the Ogoni bill rights under the carpet because of their personal benefits. Senator Mpigi, before he died, was promised he will be the next governor by the Senate President, Senator God’swill Akpabio upon his first visit. Senator Mpigi died in service.
Ever since Senator Mpigi was promised the next governor of Rivers State, he was deceived that the only way he can achieve the ticket and become governor in Rivers State is for him to champion oil resumption in Ogoni land at the National Assembly.
Now, this particular situation has given us a very serious challenge because the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is aiming at everything possible to ensure they begin oil exploration in Ogoni because of the likes of Senator Mpigi and other political leaders in Ogoni that have actually shifted from their effective representation and now serving their selfish interest, instead of protecting the interest of the people, this has been a major set back in Ogoni land today.
Going forward because of the emergency measures that was supposed to be put in place for oil resumption in Ogoni, the Federal Government of Nigeria also gave and established an institution named university of environment and technology, but because of personal greed, Senator Mpigi went further to demand that the part of the school should be taken to his own community which actually is not supposed to be the case.
Senator Mpigi was the architect that mandated that the name, university of environment and technology should bear two acronyms, Koroma and Saakpenwa which was not supposed to be the case. Saakpenwa has a lot of land to occupy the school. Saakpenwa has more than 20,000 hectares of land that can accommodate the school without dividing it to a different local government or community but because of the personal greed of Senator Mpigi, the school was divided. With all of these and others that Mpigi has done, I can actually say that we will not miss him but unfortunately I won’t be bold enough to say that because in our local language in Ogoni land, there is always a saying that “there is no forests made for bad people,” so for that reason, I will also say in as much as he didn’t do well and in as much as some of us are not happy about the level of his representation, we still say yes at this point we are still going to miss him in a way because he is one of those senators and one of those Ogonis that was bold enough to stand before the FCT minister to decide whether things will go A or things will go B. So for that reason, we are going to miss him, an ogoni man that would have been able to stand tall to take a decision against the current FCT minister who happens to be the former governor of Rivers State Nyseom Wike.
Mpigi would have been the only person that would have opposed him if he refused him his 2027 ambition in Rivers State
