Emmanuel Masha 
…regrets untapped 500,000bpd oil in Ogoni
The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene urgently over the alleged plot of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, (NNPC) and the Sahara Energy to bypass the people of Ogoni in deciding the company that should resume oil exploration in the area.
The president of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, who made the appeal in a letter to Tinubu, titled “OML 11: unholy secret deals in NNPC threatens oil resumption in Ogoni,” said that if the NNPC goes ahead to give Sahara Energy the rights to the oil in Ogoni, it could lead to a major crisis in the area.
Part of the letter reads; “Barely 30 years after a brutal crisis that cruelly affected the national economy, another oil war may be looming in Ogoni kingdom of Rivers state following clandestine moves of some oil operating firms to resume production in the area.
“Since 1993, following disagreements with the previous operator, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, the Ogoni oil fields within OML 11 have remained redundant, stranded and undeveloped.
“This unfortunate situation has trapped a proven oil production capacity of 500,000 barrels per day to remain stranded under the soil where the Ogoni people walk daily without electricity, water, healthcare and in an environment that is polluted and unfit for human habitation”.
MOSOP also expressed concern about the activities of Sahara Energy Limited “to frustrate our current peace efforts through a desperate, backdoor attempt to force itself on the Ogoni people despite our outright rejection of the company due to their utter display of untrustworthy character and traits not different from the previous operator, SPDC.
“Under the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Sahara Energy surreptitiously signed a Financial and Technical Services Agreement (FTSA) with WAGL Energy Limited, an affiliate of the NNPC Limited.
In February 2023 without passing through a due process ab initio, Sahara Energy further attempted to buy the OML 11 asset at a paltry sum of $250 Million and was turned down by the House of Representatives who described the deal as an “under the table covert arrangement.
“Your Excellency, the attitude of Sahara Energy Limited to coercively takeover the Ogoni oilfields do not just threaten the peace of the Ogoni people, but signals a potential for a fresh regional, Niger Delta crises given the fact that a repression of the Ogoni people will attract the sympathy of the rest of the Niger Delta region. Sir, these threats must be avoided and eliminated by keeping Sahara Energy off limits of the Ogoni oilfields”.
He said that MOSOP, however, demanded that there should be the removal of the Ogoni fields from the existing Financial and Technical Services Agreement (FTSA) between Sahara and WAGL for the OML 11 concession which did not follow due process from the beginning and the assigning of the Ogoni block to an operator that is acceptable to all parties and willing to make concessions for Ogoni development.
He urged the President to prevail on the “unholy deal” between the NNPC and the Sahara Energy, noting that it is “an alliance for resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni that is against the wishes of the people.”
It called on the NNPC Limited to halt further discussions with Sahara Energy Limited and to discontinue discussions on a Joint Venture Agreement with the Sahara Energy Limited over the Ogoni fields within OML 11. “They should keep the Ogoni fields off limits”.
