Date Published: 05/0509

Fresh leadership crisis rocks Ogoni, as group warns trouble makers

THE Ogoni people of Rivers State, a major on-shore oil-bearing community, is currently polarised over an alleged move by some ''trouble makers'' to oust Mr. Ledum Mitee, as the President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).

Since the execution of the foremost Ogoni leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight of his other kinsmen by the late General Sani Abacha military dictatorship on November 10, 1995, there have been failed moves to sack the leadership of the Ogoni mass organisation.

Already, the International Federation of Ogoni People (INTERFOP) has expressed great disappointment with the alleged claim of one Mr. Goodluck Diigbo regarding his quest for the leadership of MOSOP.

According to the Ogoni group, ''his vaulting ambition is seen as irrational and tantamount to distraction and disruption in a time when unity is of utmost importance in the Ogoni struggle. This statement was made as result of an independent and indebt investigation carried out by INTERFOP regarding the purported election and Mr. Diigbo’s attempt to usurp power in Ogoni’s paramount organization''.

Michael Porp-Kokoh, and Dumka Raabel, President and Secretary respectively of INTERFOP claimed in an on-line statement to our correspondent yesterday that their findings are as follows:
 
The body responsible for the conduct of election into MOSOP offices is the Care Taker committee. 

In December 12 -19, 2008, the Care Taker Committee conducted  election into various MOSOP offices during which Mr. Ledum Mitee and Dr. Olua Kamalu were elected as MOSOP president and vice president respectively. 
 
Mr. Goodluck Diigbo, though was in Ogoni at the time, did not even obtain a normination  form in order to vie for office during that election. 
 
Rev. Mike Ibira who alledgely conducted the purported election in which only Mr. Diigbo contested is not a member of MOSOP caretaker committee.
 
Mr. Diigbo ficticiously and fraudulently used the names of authentic MOSOP officers as members of an executive  to buttress his claims – impersonation.
 
The purported April 2009 election in which Mr. Goodluck Diigbo claims victory was never conducted in ogoni except in Mr. Diigbo’s village Kaani, where he [Diigbo] had gathered some of his kinsmen for an address.
 
Mr. Goodluck Diigbo has been a member of a dissident outgrowth of MOSOP for over a decade.

Mr. Diigbo has used the dissident group to perpetrate numerous disruptive activities against the authentic MOSOP.
 
Mr. Diigbo’s right to office is only within the dissident group he belongs to.
 
Mr Diigbo has no locus standi in the authentic MOSOP, therefore cannot cross-carpet and contest election for position in a body he does not belong and has no affinity.
 
Mr. Ledum Mitee had tendered a resignation of the office of the president of Mosop in 2008 but was not accepted by the Ogoni people in a conference at Bori -Ogoni prior to the December 08 election.
 
The refusal of Mr. Ledum Mitee’s resignation was predicated  on a general consensus among Ogoni people with respect to his [Mitee]tenacity to the ideals and philosophy of MOSOP, on-course focus, ability to adapt the Ogoni struggle to the contemporary and ever changing political scenario  of Nigeria, his ability to steer the struggle continuously in a non-violent direction,  his indispensable wealth of experience, his ability to take with dignified calmness numerous internal antagonism over the years, his scars of experience that is greatly treasured, albeit painfully, and above all, Mr. Mitee’s overall know-how, besides the credence his international reputation lends  to the broad picture of the Ogoni agitation for justice.

From all indications, Mitee’s re-election for the presidency of MOSOP by all Ogonis must have been largely informed by not only the confidence they have in him based on the summation of the above virtues and credentials, but by his impressive track record since he assumed the mantle of leadership of the Ogonis.  

The Ogoni group then called on the said Mr. Goodluck Diigbo to apologies to the Ogoni people for the alleged confusion,deceit and lies in his attempt to grab power through inauspicious means, adding, ''he should denounce his membership of the dissident group, and then re-enlist himself into the authentic MOSOP body, and give account of his stewardship of NYCOP for over fifteen years''.
 
They further called on Ogoni people to remain focused and disregard any device of divisiveness irrespective of where it comes from. The Ogoni people should also forgive Mr. Diigbo should he demonstrate an honest sense of remorse for his actions. We should remember that our common enemy is injustice and not any Ogoni person.