No More Bloodshed: MOSOP President Warns UN Agency

No More Bloodshed: MOSOP President, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo Warns United Nations Agency

This is to remind UNEP that MOSOP leadership and the Ogoni people remain open to a joint review of the UNEP Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland first released on August 4, 2011 in Abuja, Nigeria.

MOSOP President/Spokesman, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo issued the reminder today, February 6, 2013, in a speech to an Inter-Kingdom General Assembly of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) held at Koroma – Tai.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers Association, Federation of Ogoni Women Association, National Youth Council of Ogoni People, Council of Ogoni Churches, Council of Ogoni Professionals, National Union of Ogoni Students, Ogoni Teachers Union, Ogoni Technical Association, and village and district elected representatives of the Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority.

Diigbo said that MOSOP attention has been drawn to UNEP today’s publication that it plans to implement the disputed UNEP Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland without a formal joint review to address grave concerns of the Ogoni people.

Nairobi/Abuja, 5 February 2013 - UNEP representatives, led by Special Envoy Erik Solheim, will meet with top Government of Nigeria officials and other key partners this week in Abuja and Port Harcourt regarding the implementation of the environmental remediation proposed by UNEP in the Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.

In the United States of America, BP has spent billions of dollars dealing with Gulf slick oil spillage, with expenditure that would be $24-$25 billion in 2013, up from $23 billion in 2012, where government is accountable and responsible. UN agency should not pave way for recolonization and war in Ogoni. The Ogoni people have not been contacted. This letter is an early warning requiring UNEP to avoid steps and provocation that might threaten peace and security, or cause further bloodshed in Ogoniland. Enough is enough.

We believe that a joint review of the UNEP Report Ogoniland will pave the way to smooth collaboration between the Ogoni people and other stakeholders (Anglo-Royal Dutch/ Shell, Chevron, NNPC, MOSOP/Ogoni Independent Experts/Government Representatives to produce result. A transparent joint review will further demonstrate that UNEP’s intention is genuine. There can be no progress without a valid joint review; genuinely involving all stakeholders, and authentic local representatives, including independent experts to be named by MOSOP.

MOSOP independent expert evaluation has identified numerous scientific data, and extraneous contents that render the report questionable, defective, and un-implementable or unfit for follow-up scientific study. How can the United Nations be associated with such discredited report?

UNEP still has the opportunity to make the process legitimate, and not to act in ways that continually discredit UN. We are deeply concerned that any attempt to use force of arms, or dictation and imposition of a veiled agenda on the Ogoni people will not receive our cooperation and create grounds for unnecessary confrontation.

The Ogoni people continually stand by our letter of August 5, 2011, in which we stated our position on the flawed UNEP Ogoniland Report, and called for long awaited joint review to meet all outstanding tests to move forward.

Signed:
Dr. Goodluck Diigbo
MOSOP President/Spokesman

August 5, 2011 letter:

1. http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2011/08/05/mosop-challenges-intergrity-of-unep-report/
2. http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2011/08/12/unep-ogoniland-assessment-report-is-sowing-seeds-of-conflicts-and-war/
3. http://www.unep.org/NewsCentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2704&ArticleID=9386&l=en

ENDS

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