By Daniel Abia
P/Harcourt
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has expressed support for the on-going dialogue between the Ogoni people and the Federal Government, describing its support base as overwhelming and irrevocable.
MOSOP says the organization’s commitment to see a permanent resolution to the Ogoni problem is firm, strong and intense, adding that though government may not be under obligation to resolve all the problems confronting Ogoniland, “we stand to benefit substantially from the ongoing dialogue”.
MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, who spoke during an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt on Sunday said the collective interest of the Ogoni people “far outweighs personal interests” and urged the Ogoni public to reject manipulative and misleading information designed to frustrate the goodwill of the Federal Government.
Nsuke said the expectation of MOSOP was not to get the federal government to solve all Ogoni problems, saying that getting the federal government to make the necessary compromises that allows the Ogoni people to design and structure an Ogoni-centric system that provides the environment to deal with critical issues affecting the future of the Ogoni people including job creation, security, health, infrastructure, education, electricity and so on.
“We do not need to be asking the government for jobs; we need to have a system that creates the jobs, and that is the goal of the ongoing dialogue. We need a system that addresses our social problems including job creation, health, education, electricity and so on, and not running to the government with all our problems in search of solutions. This dialogue will try to get the necessary concessions that enable Ogoni to develop its resources and get the right benefits from them,” Nsuke said.
He stated unequivocally that MOSOP is fully mobilized to support the dialogue process and urged the Ogoni people not to forget yesterday and how self-seeking disagreements have hurt the collective efforts of the people to make progress. He further noted that external influences were misinforming the Ogoni public to frustrate the Ogoni people’s efforts to achieve a better life.
“We cannot continue to grapple with poverty and unemployment when the land we walk on every day has the capacity to generate over $50million daily. Anyone deceiving us into protesting against current dialogue does not mean well.”
“I can tell you that the government has not shown any signs of mistrust, and the dialogue process is currently going well. The dialogue committee has submitted a fine report, and the next phase is to see how best we can negotiate a good deal for the people.”
“We must remain focused on the common good and not fall for cheap blackmail and manipulations. What is most important for our people at this time is to guide the ongoing dialogue process and ensure that we make the best use of it.”
“Let us not forget that it has taken us over 33 years to come this far. Being deceived to fight the process will be the most unpatriotic thing to do at this time, especially because it has not been easy to initiate the ongoing dialogue process”
Nsuke urged Ogoni to be wise, accusing external enemies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) whose survival sdepends on the sufferings and struggles of the Ogoni people of ganging up against the dialogue to prolong the Ogoni conflicts.
“I want to call on everyone to give the Ogoni people the chance to resolve our problems ourselves. I am unfortunately very disappointed that people who have not questioned oil drilling in their locality are discouraging Ogoni people from dialoguing with the Federal Government”.
“No one should deceive you to think that there is a better alternative to dialogue. We should be grateful to the current government, who have found it necessary to open discussions with us.”
“This is a fine opportunity, and people who have benefitted from our sufferings and deprivations should not deceive us into endless resistance. We must continue to engage and protect current dialogue because it is one good opportunity before us,” Nsuke concluded.
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