The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has lambasted the Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku for casting aspersions on the group over the Ogoni stance on the resumption of oil production in Ogoniland.
MOSOP lampooned the NDDC boss in a statement while reacting to a comment credited to him, wherein he was quoted as saying the reason for not including MOSOP and relevant stakeholders from Ogoni in the Niger Delta summit in Port Harcourt was simply because Ogonis have denied the Federal and State governments access to the untapped crude
The statement signed by the Publicity Secretary, Comr. Imeabe Saviour, described the comment as an affront to the sensibility of MOSOP.
The statement reads, ”The attention of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People has been drawn to a comment credited to the managing director of NDDC Dr. Samuel Ogbuku in the ongoing Niger Delta summit, wherein the NDDC boss was quoted as saying the reason for not including MOSOP and relevant stakeholders from Ogoni was simply because Ogonis have denied the Federal and State governments access to the untapped crude
”Assuming without conceding that the comment was made in his right frame of mind, then it means Niger Delta has successfully handed over NDDC to someone who don’t know the antecedents of the past Niger Delta leaders who stood their grounds against military dictatorship and some eventually lost their lives in protecting the common patrimony of our people
”A flash back of NDDC mission and vision reads respectively; ‘To offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties in the Niger Delta region.
”To facilitate the rapid and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and and politically peaceful.
”If you were indeed honest that you are there to truly represent the people of Niger Delta and of course if you’ve read through the mission and vision statements of NDDC, then you would have been abreast and inundated with the fact that the reason you are there in NDDC was to ensure the devasted ecological system of the Niger Delta is regenerated to sustain the people, but the reverse seems to be the order of the day.
”The statement to say the least is an affront to the sensibility of MOSOP and the Ogoni nation and the NDDC boss should be conscience-stricken. This is more like killing the goose that laid the golden egg because for over decades that the federal government through Shell have exploited us, Ogoniland has been ecologically devasted and has lost all her major sources of livelihoods.
”We are aware that he sits and supervised over a kleptocratic form of government and he is there to make a fortune and feather his own nest as against the norms and he feels that inviting the Ogonis will expose certain untold stories about his activities since his assumption of office.
”It would have been nice if he cast his mind back and acknowledged the fact that adbinitio, the federal government through Shell has had its own fair share in Ogoni land and Ogoniland has been used, re-sued and over used hence the implementation of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which gave rise to Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
”The unfounded and naive comment points to the fact that he Dr. Samuel Ogbuku don’t mean well for us and should know that most states in the nation that has not a single drop of crude are the chief beneficiaries of the nation’s crude. He claimed the crude has been untapped and for that singular reason, MOSOP shouldn’t be invited for a submit that has to do with Niger Delta which Ogoni People are critical stakeholders in the region.
”The question is, why was the UNEP report implemented by the former Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on the 2nd day of June 2016?
”These and many more questions are begging to be answered and steer at his face. The stark reality is that, whether Ogoni oil is used or not used, the terms and conditions listed must be followed all through before oil resuscitation in Ogoniland”.
