Shell, NPDC won’t get Ogoni oil through backdoor, MOSOP warns

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has warned that no matter the path taken by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, they could never access Ogoni oil through the backdoor.

President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, who spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, noted that the situation in Ogoni has become very complicated and required genuine discussions deliberately aimed at addressing all areas of dispute The MOSOP president, while stressing that all sides must be willing to make compromises to move forward, urged the Federal Government to accept MOSOP’s proposed path to the resolution of the Ogoni problem in order to ensure development and full economic activities in the area. He claimed that the NPDC was plotting to use divide and conquer tactics and hopes to create internal crises in Ogoni to weaken the Ogoni demands for fairness and equity.

He said: “MOSOP has proposed the operation of an Ogoni Development Authority as an acceptable path that addresses the concerns of all parties. “We believe that a dialogue would drive the process successfully and not the divide and conquer tactics of the NPDC which are obviously against the spirit of our non-violent struggle.” He urged Nigeria not to repeat genocide in the area under any guise, stating that MOSOP expects the government to accept its proposals for the operation of the Ogoni Development Authority to give room for a new era of cooperation and development. “We (MOSOP) led the protests that forced Shell out of Ogoni and we have not changed our position on the issue. We are strongly committed to our struggle because we believe it is just without which the Ogoni people may go extinct and we have lost some 4,000 lives in the process.