The Publicity Secretary of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Fegalo Nsuke, has said that the recent assassination attempt on him will not change his disposition to fight Shell’s pollution and the discrimination against the Ogoni people in Nigeria.

Addressing a gathering of the Council of Ogoni Leaders of Thought in Eleme last Friday, Nsuke said: “The struggle for freedom for the Ogoni people cannot be compromised no matter the threat.”

Nsuke used the opportunity to debunk claims by the MOSOP office clerk, Mr. Peter Nbotem that the assassination attempt on him was false, insisting that it was well planned, funded through an Ogoni chief and executed by another Ogoni man who is now at large.

“Nbotem was not at the scene. He must have been briefed by my attackers who are wanted by the police at the moment. That clearly shows the alliance between Nbotem, and my attackers,” Nsuke said.

“One thing I will assure you and the entire Ogoni people is that the sacrifices of our heroes including Ken Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Barinem Kiobel, Theophilus Orage, Samuel Orage, Albert Badey, Paul Levura, Edward Kobani, Uebari Nnah, Agbarator Otu and thousands of others will not go in vain no matter the threats we face,” he said.

Nsuke maintained that self determination for the Ogoni people in our country is the sure way to address the Ogoni problem insisting that it is unacceptable that an economically vibrant community like the Ogoni that has made significant contributions to Nigeria economically, sustained the economy with their resources and our blood will be destroyed by Nigeria's discrimination and injustice when those who contribute nothing make budgets with the monies generated from Ogoni.

“It is gross injustice for the resources of the Ogoni people to be shared amongst the other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and the Ogoni are left only with the pains of revenue generation. This is not acceptable and remains the crux of the Ogoni problem,” he said.

On the clean-up of Ogoniland Nsuke said the process is lacking in credibility and integrity especially given the presence of Shell the polluter as a decision maker on the governing board of HYPREP and the many lies and insincerity of HYPREP on the clean-up process.

He cited the case of the site for the Integrated Soil Management Center launched by former minister Amina Mohammed which has now become a forest.

Nsuke said: “How does HYPREP intend to handle the wastes from the cleanup process when the Integrated Soil Management Center is not in place as recommended by UNEP? The site for the soil management center has become a forest. Why is it that over seven years after the report was released and more than two years since the president launched an elaborate flag-off in Bodo, we still cannot have the foundational structures for the clean-up process.

“Before now, they always claim that preparations was the reason for the delay, now what preparations do we have in place without facilities that should handle the enormous waste from the polluted sites?”

The MOSOP Spokesman described the failure of HYPREP to build the Integrated Soil Management Center (a basic and fundamental structure recommended by UNEP) as one obvious fact revealing “the insincerity of HYPREP on this cleanup process and suggests that the cleanup money is actually in danger especially as elections draw closer.”

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