MITEE: OGONI PEOPLE 'LL DIE RATHER THAN WELCOME SHELL BACK

PRESIDENT of the apex organisation of the Ogoni, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr. Ledum Mitee, says his kinsmen would prefer to commit mass suicide rather than rolls the drums to welcome back the Anglo-Dutch super oil and gas major, Shell, into their communities.

Mitee, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, through his Information Officer, Bari-ara Kpalap, said, ''the Ogoni people have since resolved that they dont want Shell to operate again on their land. By that resolve, they are not prepared to shift ground. They would rather die than be subdued to accept Shell back''.

''As an organisation, MOSOP will like to warn that any arrangement by Abuja, relating to resolving the Ogoni crisis, which contemplates Shell’s Ogoni re-entry, will not win the support of our people. It is our position therefore, that the only panacea to re-tapping Ogoni oil lies in allocating the Ogoni oil concession to a new operator'', he said..

According to the MOSOP leader, ''in the event government fails to heed our advice, we would have no alternative than to mobilize the Ogoni people back into the non-violent campaign trenches'', adding, ''if the Federal Government thinks otherwise, then it should be prepared to kill the mass of our people''.        

MOSOP had in a statement on Monday, expressed disappointment and protested an alleged new accord between Shell and the Federal Government to the effect that the oil company will continue to operate in Ogoni as a silent partner of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) against what they described as ''earlier popular decision'' of government ending the company’s existence in the province by December 31, 2008.

This, in MOSOP's opinion, compromises and cast a huge doubt on the sincerity of government in amicably resolving the Ogoni crisis, claiming that the development will certainly not be funny to the Ogoni and indeed the entire Niger Delta that had seen Shell’s ouster from the region as a welcome signal to oil companies to behave or be axed.  

According to the Ogoni group, a media report allegedly quoting an ''impeccable Federal Government source'' confirmed government’s reversal of its earlier decision terminating Shell’s operational relationship with Ogoni by December 31, 2008 and instead opted for its retention in a dubious deal that makes Shell a partner of the NNPC in the area.  

''MOSOP views the move as not only insensitive, provocative and unacceptable but also unfortunate. Coming at a time when the Ogoni people have built renewed confidence and had been dwelling on prospects of the future, we are left with no other conclusion than that government has not broken with the past and determined to undermine peace in Ogoni, which it claims to foster as well as provocatively assaulting our collective sensibility'', they said. 

MOSOP had last week alerted on efforts by Shell to provoke our people through a deliberate attempt to commence oil activities in Ogoni under the protective shield of heavily armed security operatives and local thugs wanted by the Police for multiple murder incidents and kidnapping yet government has maintained a worrisome silence on the matter. 

Continuing, they said, ''our expectation had been that government would consult the Ogoni leadership on a new operator to enhance recommencement of oil production in the area rather than seemingly rooting for a failed process of retaining Shell in our land. MOSOP insists that even if the Federal Government reverses itself, the Ogoni people will non-violently resist even with the last drop of our blood all attempts at returning the oil major to the province''.

The Ogoni group is however, concerned that whilst the replacement of Shell by the Federal Government was hailed around the world as an appropriate approach to proffering enduring solution to the Ogoni question, ''we are touched that our people are being drawn aback with this wrong tendency. As it is still not late, MOSOP would like to advice government not to succumb to blackmail and manipulation by this expired multinational, which corporate records are its enemy, to back down on her faultless policy as it would be regrettably counter-productive''.

They argued that if the idea was to test their resolve, ''we maintain that the relationship between Shell and Ogoni has died and buried and no palliative arrangement can resurrect it. Although we remain sincerely committed to any genuine process of resolving the Ogoni crisis, the Ogoni people are not considering reversing its stance on Shell and those who have not genuinely embraced the very approach they have sold to the world.

''All along, the Ogoni people have exhibited sincerity and maturity and had in the past participated in limited reconciliation attempts, which processes were frustrated by the attitude and the slick alliance between Shell and Government. MOSOP regrets that in all these cases, the duo had sadly opted for choices that inflicted social and environmental racism and instability in our communities''.