Tony John, Port Harcourt
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has declared that Nigeria would not have peace, unless the Federal Government clears the names of nine Ogoni prominent sons killed in 1995, by the military.
President of MOSOP, Lergbosi Pyagbara, stated this yesterday, in his speech at the 24th commemoration of the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others by the late General Sani Abacha-led military government.
Pyagbara recalling the recent national recognition the Federal Government gave to the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Moshood Abiola, insisted that a similar national recognition should be given to the ‘Ogoni Nine’, who were unjustly murdered by the government.
“Until the government clears the names of the ‘Ogoni Nine’ from any crime, Nigeria will not know peace.
“The process of national reconciliation will not be complete without clearing the names of the ‘Ogoni Nine’ from any crime”, he stressed.
The MOSOP president called for judicial review of the allegations against Saro-Wiwa and the eight others, saying that it was one of the ways the Ogoni wounds could be healed.
Pyagbara, however, warned that nobody should play politics with issues about the Ogoni struggle and condemned the attempt to frustrate the hosting of the Ogoni Martyrs’ Day, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
He noted that the Ogoni environmental problem was one of the worst disasters in the world, and charged the Federal Government to remove bottlenecks hampering humanitarian intervention in the area.
“If government does the right things, Ogoni people will be happy with them”, Pyagbara stated.
Similarly, the President of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme (KAGOTE) local government areas that make up the ethnic nationality, Peter Medee, said the event marked another milestone in the Ogoni struggle and lauded MOSOP for bringing joy to the people.
Medee described MOSOP as the pride of Ogoni people, declaring that KAGOTE MOSOP had formed a formidable front for the actualisation of the demand of the people.
According to him, the things Ogoni has achieved so far were products of continuous agitation.
Earlier, the chairman on the occasion, Prof Ben Naanen, said that Ogoni struggle was characterized by bloodletting by the government, leading to the loss of a generation of prominent indigenes too difficult to replace.
He said: “It is 26 years now since the Ogoni struggle. It has been a very sad time characterized by destruction and bloodletting”.
There was a public lecture entitled: ‘Environmentalism, UNEP Report on Ogoni and the triumph of people’s power in honour of the commemoration of the Ogoni Martyrs Day”.