BEVERLY HILLS, January 24, (THEWILL) – Some elders, leaders of thought, and past presidents of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) have called for peace in view of the internal leadership crisis rocking the organisation.
They have, therefore, set up a ‘Resolution Committee,’ while appealing to the two disagreeing MOSOP presidents to cooperate with the committee.
THEWILL gathered that members of the committee are Ledum Mitee, MOSOP’s immediate past president; Don Baridam, a professor and former vice chancellor, University of Port Harcourt: Meshach Karanwi; Abraham Olungwe, a reverend gentleman; Lenusikpugi Kpugih; Monday Abueh, and Rose Nwigani.
The committee, in a statement signed by Ledum Mitee, has appealed to all sides of the leadership crisis to cooperate with it and refrain from actions or public statements capable of undermining the current peace process.
The committee revealed that it would meet with all sides of the divide, traditional rulers and other leaders from the area, with a view to resolving the crisis and reposition MOSOP in order to meet its avowed objectives.
THEWILL recalls that MOSOP has been in crisis since emerging from election of a new executive committee for the organisation in which the current president, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara was re-elected.
However, Mike Lube-Nwidobie, who allegedly emerged runner-up to Pyagbara in the December 2015 election, came out to lay claim to being the MOSOP president, citing malpractices.
He was allegedly sworn-in on Monday, January 11, by Godwin N.K. Gininwa, a prominent traditional ruler and the chairman of Ogoni Council of Traditional Rulers (CTR), at his palace.
Also, two weeks ago, MOSOP’s cohesiveness was questioned following a disagreement between it and Magnus Abe, a prominent Ogoni politician and former Senate committee chairman of Petroleum Downstream.
Abe differed strongly from MOSOP over its public 30-day ultimatum given to President Muhammadu Buhari on implementation of the Ogoni land environmental remediation programme, as submitted by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in August 2011, hinting on a more inclusive dialogue with the Federal Government.
MOSOP was founded, nearly 25 years ago, by late Ken Saro-Wiwa, a literary icon and
environmental rights activist, who, along with his 12 other kinsmen, was gruesomely murdered by hanging on November 10, 1995, via a controversial tribunal judgment by the late Sani Abacha military regime.
