Ogoni Self Government Warns Against Inter-Tribal War
MOSOP President/Spokesman has warned Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State Government House not to rush to boundary adjustment
for Ogoniland without prior, informed consent by the Ogoni people.
Diigbo who spoke on Monday, August 13, 2012 to a joint session of the Ogoni Farmers’ Association (OFA) and Council of
Ogoni Traditional Rulers Association (COTRA) sitting in Bori, said “such imposition of a boundary adjustment committee
violates Ogoni indigenous land rights and increases the blood pressure of Nigeria; thus, threatening peace and security
within, and by implication for international economic cooperation and global trade.”
“Ogoni is the heartbeat of Nigeria. Ogoni is not closer to the Sahara Desert. We are far from the dried land. We sit on
wet crude-logged trunk and pipes, surrounded by significant economic installations with global interests; making our
land the heartbeat of Nigeria and those of nations that tap our wealth and natural resources,” Diigbo remarked.
He recalled that Amaechi had hastily set up a committee to carry out a boundary adjustment between Ogoniland and their
neighbors pre-empting Ogoni Autonomy, almost immediately following MOSOP announcement of 2nd of August, 2012 as D-Day
for the formal declaration of the Ogoni Self Government.
“We have acted nonviolently andlawfully. I was stunned by such pre-emptive act of poor judgment. I was concerned as you
are that the motive behind the hasty boundary adjustment committee might be to plant the seed of inter-tribal disputes
that could threaten peace and security in this fragile nation state,” Diigbo told native rulers and Ogoni farmers.
“Our cause is for equity and fair dealing to make sure that justice overcome injustice. The 2nd August formal
declaration of the Ogoni self government puts Nigeria on a new spring - swinging between justice and injustice; many
wondering where it shall finally settle; it is seemingly simple, yet, enormously complex,” Diigbo observed.
Chief Samuel Asongho, President of the Ogoni Farmers’ Association, who is also the vice president of COTRA, cautioned
Amaechi to tread gently, saying the land he tampers with belongs to Ogoni.
Diigbo thanked the royal fathers and farmers’ council for their contributions so far, and affirmed that “the declaration
of 2nd August represented the Final Act of Freedom for Ogoni.”
The 2nd of August 2012 coincided with the 236th Anniversary Signing of 1776 Independence Declaration by the United
States of America.
In 1979, Nigeria borrowed its presidential system of government from the United States of America.
Tambari Deekor
Associate Editor, MOSOP Media
ENDS