…Condemns govt, Shell for action
Mkpoikana Udoma
15 August 2018, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt — The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has condemned Federal Government’s alleged renewal of OML11, Ogoni oilfield, license for the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, despite outright rejection by the people.
Also, MOSOP described SPDC’s choice to renew its mining rights in OML11, Ogoni oilfield, as a shock and an insult on the collective dignity of the Ogoni people.
Publicity Secretary of MOSOP, Mr. Fegalo Nsuke, told our correspondent that the conduct of Shell in Ogoni was a shame and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate his administration’s intolerance for corporate irresponsibility by throwing out Shell from Ogoni and getting the company to pay for the well-established abuses in Ogoniland.
Nsuke alleged that Shell had prosecuted an ecological war against Ogoni people for over 50 years, sponsored soldiers to abuse and trample on the rights of the people, refused to clean-up the lands polluted by the company’s irresponsible business practices and, therefore, does not deserve to return to Ogoniland for oil mining.
“The news of President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of Shell’s mining lease for OML 11 smacks of insensitivity to the Ogoni predicament and confirms the intent of government to resume oil production in the area without first cleaning previous mess and addressing the issues raised by the Ogoni people, including the demand for political rights to self determination, the protection of the Ogoni environment and other demands as contained in the Ogoni Bill of Rights.
“It is very disturbing that despite the danger faced by the Ogoni people, consequential of Shell’s irresponsible business practices, the Nigerian authorities will still approve a request by Shell to run the Ogoni oilfields.
“Shell on the other hand should have been ashamed of her conduct in Ogoniland and not request a renewal of its license for the Ogoni area. In over 50 years of doing business in Ogoniland, Shell has killed the environment and the people and lacks the moral grounds to return to Ogoniland,” MOSOP said.
