Civil society groups, the Ogoni Welfare Association and Women Arise, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to give a new deal to Ogoni people by implementing the United Nations Environment Programme report on Ogoni land as well as the Ogoni Bill of Rights.
The groups spoke in Lagos during a protest march to the state Governor’s office. The protest was to mark the 16 years anniversary of the execution of the leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, Dr. Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight others by the Gen. Sanni Abacha regime on November 10, 1995.
Spokesperson for the group, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said the crisis that led to the death of Saro-Wiwa was still on the ground 16 years after. She called on the Federal Government to take steps to alleviate the suffering of Ogoni people.
According to her, Saro-Wiwa died doing what he believed in, including leading his people to demand justice and equity and an end to exploitation and environmental degradation in Ogoni land.
She said, “His intellectual militancy put the Ogoni cause on global focus and exposed the criminal activities of the Nigerian government and oil companies. Rather than addressed the issue, the Nigerian state chose to hang the messenger, thinking that it would hang the message by doing so.
“Like Ken rightly predicted, hanging did not solve the problem. It led to violent agitations across the Niger Delta, which explains why we are having amnesty for those who never asked for one today….
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown
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