Chieftain of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People and Secretary of MOSOP in Eleme kingdom, Sunday Abel Gbaranugbe has declared that the people of Eleme are strongly in support of MOSOP’s proposals for the operation of an Ogoni Development Authority as a development initiative to address the lingering Ogoni crisis.
Gbaranugbe spoke this afternoon, June 30, 2022, when he addressed youths and women of Eleme Kingdom while on a sensitization tour to intimate them on the benefits of the MOSOP development plan proposing the operation of an Ogoni Development Authority.
Sunday Gbaranugbe however warned that the ODA intervention should not take the form of that which is operated under the cleanup exercise which has become seriously mismanaged and discredited with allegations of looting.
Gbaranugbe lashed out at the NPDC and Sahara Energy saying that “the Eleme people completely reject the NPDC and Sahara Energy which MOSOP has clearly identified as sponsors of violence and a threat to the peace of Ogoni and the entire Niger Delta region”. Gbaranugbe further urged the government to follow “due process of consultations with MOSOP who led the struggle that forced Shell out of Ogoni to win the support and confidence of the Ogoni people noting that no form of manipulation will be acceptable to the people of Eleme kingdom”,
He noted that the proposal for the implementation of an Ogoni Development Authority was acceptable to MOSOP in the Eleme kingdom and would get the best support from the area.
Gbaranugbe said “the Eleme people will not oppose a MOSOP Central Committee decision on the implementation of the ODA and are fully in support of the proposed Ogoni Development Authority to address the concerns of the Ogoni people and deal with the issues of neglect and environmental degradation”.
“Eleme people therefore wellcome the initiatives and are fully in support of the move to resolve the Ogoni problem through the implementation of the ODA”, Gbaranugbe said yesterday.
The Ogoni Development Authority is an initiative of MOSOP to address all lingering problems and finally lay the Ogoni problem to rest. It was approved by the executive and Central Committees of MOSOP on September 27, 2020.
