SAN FRANCISCO, October 04, (THEWILL) – The people of Ogoniland in Rivers State on Friday expressed their determination to use every legitimate means to compel the Federal Government to implement the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.
Expressing the determination during a sensitisation rally in Baen, Khana Local Government Area of the State, the President of KAGOTE, made up of Khana, Gokana Tai and Eleme Local Government Areas, Dr. Peter Medee, said; “Whether the Federal Government likes it or not, we will force them through legal means to implement the recommendations of UNEP on Ogoni environment, ” adding ”What is the Federal Government doing, two years after the report was submitted? Federal Government ignored the report so that Ogoni people will all die.”
According to Medee, “We will not support any government that is wishing the people of Ogoni death. The minister of Petroleum, Deizani Alison-Madueke, has decided to torment the people of Ogoni. Tell her that if UNEP report is not implemented, she will fail.”
He however stated that the Ogoni people will continue to support the administration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and everything that will lift Ogoniland higher. “We are ready to fight for Amaechi because he is fighting the cause of the Ogoni 2015 project and bringing development to us,” he said. .
Corroborating Medee, the Public Relations Officer, Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Esaen, declared that no amount of threat would stop the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality from producing the next governor of the state. “We have spoken; it is project 2015 and no going back on that. We are used to security intimidation but we are not going back on 2015,” he said.
The Deputy National President, Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), Comrade Menele Nzidee, in his contribution, said those opposed to the administration of Governor Amaechi were doing so because of the governor’s resolve to have an Ogoni as a successor come 2015.
Also speaking at the rally, the state Commissioner for Works, Chief Victor Giadom, said construction work will soon commence on the Saakpenwa-Bori-Kono road project, which was recently awarded by the Amaechi-led administration. He added that the present administration in the state was committed to ensuring that development gets to the nooks and crannies of Ogoni land.
Chairman of Khana Local Government Area, Gregory Nwidam, in an earlier remarks, said the rally was to sensitise the people of Khana on government programmes, insisting that elected officers from Ogoniland have not failed the people as he assured that they will continue to stand by the administration of Amaechi in the state.
