The United States of America, USA branch of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, Mosop-USA, has called on President Bola Tinubu, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, to ensure that Ogoni is a politically autonomous state or create a state for the Ogoni.

It said the state could beat whatever, provided it guaranteed the political, socioeconomic, cultural, and religious control of Ogoni by the Ogoni people.

In a letter signed by its President, DineBari Augustine Kpuinen, and the Secretary, Keesiiup Kpooni, the Secretary, Mosop, demanded that the 6 kingdoms and 2 special units of Ogoniland be made a state in the ongoing constitution review, like the 22 other states in Nigeria created from other ethnic nationalities.

According to the group, “Ogoni is an ethnic nationality in Nigeria, and Mosop-USA would like the Nigerian government to realise that there was a standing agreement between the British government and the leaders of Nigeria before independence and before crude oil was extracted from Ogoni and the Niger Delta area.

“That agreement demanded that the oil-producing ethnic minorities be fully developed. If not fully developed after thirty years of oil production in the area, they should be allowed to become an independent nation. Such an Act will be invoked against Nigeria if Ogoni is left out of the ongoing restructuring in Nigeria.”

“It warned that any restructuring of the nation without a politically autonomous state for Ogoni within the Federal Republic of Nigeria would be viewed as a declaration that “Ogoni extinction is a policy in Nigeria, that Ogoni is not recognised as a people in Nigeria, that neither is she considered part of the nation, and therefore, they should be allowed to make their own choices.”

“Additionally, Mosop-USA uses this opportunity to respectfully advise the Nigerian President, the Senate President and his cabinet, and the House of Representatives that granting politically autonomous states to every ethnicity is the only solution to Nigeria’s multiple problems and keeping it together as one nation. If not, the nation will soon collapse unless its leaders listen to the voice of wisdom.

“Mosop-USA would like to respectfully inform the President of Nigeria, the Senate and House of Representatives, the armed forces, and the people of Nigeria that the refusal to grant Ogoni a politically autonomous state in Nigeria during this restructuring is the government’s declaration that Ogoni is no longer part of Nigeria. Ogoni will, therefore, seek help from friends outside Nigeria,” the letter further stated.

The group added that Ogoni had suffered enough, saying, “The 65 years of Ogoni agony began in 1958 when the first oil well was struck in Ogoni and produced in commercial quantities. The oil mining activities brought about enormous dehumanising conditions that resulted in suffering in Ogoni to date.

This has brought about sixty-five (65) years of ecological war, 65 years of land degradation, the worst polluted environment in the world, economic strangulation and political marginalisation, sixty-five (65) years of internal colonisation, domination, and annihilation, sixty-five (65) years of military intimidation, genocide, and oppression, and sixty-five (65) years of spiritual, physical, psychological, and emotional trauma.

“The spirit of our forebears forbids us to continue in perpetual bondage, suffering internal colonisation in Nigeria. Ogoni people have continued to be subjected to slavery. These are people so blessed by God and nature, but they are being treated like outcasts in Nigeria.

“Ogoni has no true representatives in the government, and only government surrogates are imposed on the people. Ogoni still lives in the worst polluted environment in the world, with no pipe-borne water (clean water), no electricity, no airport, and no university.

“The roads into Ogoni are dead traps, with no sources of livelihood, no medical facilities, and no government infrastructure. Ogoni people are not considered good enough for any progressive development but are killed by the same government that should protect the indigenes from external aggressors through government surrogates.”

It demanded that the Ogoni Bill of Rights be adopted and included in the Nigerian Constitution, arguing that the Bill of Rights guarantees the people: political control of Ogoni affairs by the Ogoni People; the right to the control and use of a fair proportion of Ogoni’s economic resources for Ogoni’s development; adequate and direct representation as a right in all Nigerian national institutions; the use and development of Ogoni languages in the territory; the full development of Ogoni culture; the right to religious freedom; and the right to protect the Ogoni environment and ecology from further degradation. (Nigerian Tribune)

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