Certificate Forgery and Rustication From The University: Prince Biira Has Questions to Answer
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has been known and celebrated for its consistency in the fight against human rights abuses in the Ogoni region over the past three decades. The advocacy had been popularly known as the Ogoni struggle.
It was led by Mr Ken Saro-Wiwa who was murdered by the Nigerian state on November 10, 1995, along with eight others including Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, John Kpuinen, Paul Levura, Felix Nuate, Saturday Doobee, Baribor Bera and Dr. Nubari Kiobel. The consistency and tenacity of the Ogoni people had been widely celebrated all over the world and the interest in the Ogoni issues have remained strong.
The popularity of the struggle soon turned into business and what was popularly the struggle of oppressed Ogoni people became commercialized. The first signs of the commercialization came with the involvement of MOSOP in politics following the ascension of Legborsi Pyagbara as its president. It became public with the launching of the Ogoni project 2015. Till date, the exact amount spent on project 2015 is unknown. However, the current president of MOSOP, Mr Fegalo Nsuke in an article in 2009 said MOSOP spent over NGN500,000,000 between January 2013 and December 2018 while Legborsi Pyagbara was president.
Money became a key factor in MOSOP following the launch of the Ogoni cleanup in 2016. At the expiry of his tenure, and a week after the inauguration of the new executives led by Fegalo Nsuke, Legborsi Pyagbara announced plans to stay on despite his suspension from office on October 3, 2018 and the subsequent expiration of his tenure. A court ruling in 2020 declared that Pyagbara was no longer the president of MOSOP and affirmed his suspension from office on October 3, 2018.
What has become very interesting is the self declaration by one Prince Biira in connivance with some traditional rulers who stood on the side of Shell to fight Saro-Wiwa and even on to death. Prince Biira certainly has some questions to answer and these questions surrounds the criminal allegations about his activities while he was student at the University of Port Harcourt.
Prince Biira is said to have been rusticated from the University of Port Harcourt in the 1990s for certificate forgery. In an open letter to Prince Biira, published on Ogoninews.com on January 8, 2020, a chieftain of MOSOP, Sunday Abel Gbaranugbe had challenged Prince Biira to debunk the allegations. Prince Biira is yet to respond to these allegations till date.
It is confirmed that Prince Biira was admitted to the University of Port Harcourt in 1993 but there is no record of his graduation. Shamelessly, some infamous individuals want Biira to lead a struggle and even traditional rulers will want to subject themselves to him for pecuniary and selfish interests.
The greatest shame of anyone who value his name and reputation will be to associate with Prince Biira. Until he speaks out and clears the allegation of his expulsion or rustication from the University of Port Harcourt for certificate forgery, any descent human cannot accord him the responsibility of leadership.
The big question now is: Has Ogoni depreciated to the point where values become thrown to the wind and there be no one to speak the truth? Someone is duly elected president of MOSOP (Fegalo Nsuke) and has pursued the cause of a peaceful and permanent resolution of the Ogoni conflicts and some people connive with a questionable character (Prince Biira) only because of their selfishness to control everything that belong to the people.
Just thinking aloud.
