…As Ex-MOSOP President Drags FG To UN
Discordant tune has continued to trail the alleged $300million compensation allegedly paid by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC through its subsidiary, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC to assuage the Ogoni people over the oil deposit in their land.
The Executive Director of African Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, AIFES, Comrade Legborsi Pyagbara said he has already dragged the federal government and the Rivers state government to the United Nations over what he described as confiscation of the $300million alleged compensation sum.
Pyagbara who addressed the 54th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, accused the Federal Government of Nigeria of failing to launch investigations into the killing of over 5000 Ogoni sons and daughters by the Military and refusing to pay reparations for the lives that were lost because of the militarization of Ogoniland.
Speaking further in a statement made available to Vanguard, the former President of the Movement for the survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, accused both the Federal and the Rivers State Governments of “confiscating the sum of USD300 million compensation money paid to the Ogoni people by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its subsidiary, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC)”
He called on the United Nations to take every necessary step to ensure that the money is paid to the Ogoni people.
However, the President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke who on request threw more light on the alleged $300million compensation wondered “what Pyagbara wants the UN Rights Commission to do in this case. It sounds like taking the Rivers State Government to the UN for driving on a Rivers State road that has potholes”, he said.
Nsuke described Pyagbara’s move as “a mere academic exercise and I bet you, Pyagbara’s press statement is the first and will be the last we will hear of this matter”, adding, “to the best of our knowledge and as the leading voice in Ogoni, MOSOP is not aware of any money meant for Ogoni compensation which has been confiscated by the Rivers State government.
“We are aware of an out of court settlement between parties in a suit which included the Rivers State Government and Shell. To the best of our knowledge, whatever transpired in the out of court settlement was between parties in the suit and the Ogonis were not parties.
“Pyagbara is only attempting to manipulate the people to win some sympathy. That is wishful thinking and merely academic because Ogonis can no longer be persuaded into such individual NGO businesses”.
He said that such information engineering can no longer work with with the Ogoni people. “We are more realistic now and working to solve our problems within the Nigerian space and we will only continue to solicit the understanding and support of the international community in our efforts to find lasting solutions to this three decades conflicts which has brutally wrecked us”, Nsuke said.
