A Ogoni non-governmental organization, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People USA, (MOSOP USA) has demanded for the creation of an autonomous State out of Rivers State to be known as Bori State.
MOSOP USA, an umbrella body of Ogoni people in the United States made the demand in a memorandum signed by the President of MOSOP-USA, DineBari Augustine Kpuinem.
The memorandum was submitted to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review.
The movement, in the memorandum, said in view of the economic viability of Ogoniland, its people deserve an autonomous State and should be constituted into a State to be called Bori State with Bori as its capital.
Kpuinem argued that the Ogoni people are an economically viable, resourceful and independent ethnic entity that can sustain themselves, if granted a political autonomous State in the country.
According to the group, the resources derived from Ogoniland would be better managed optimally, for the benefit of the Ogoni people, if they have the full control and management of their resources as a State.
MOSOP-USA, therefore, demanded that Section 8 (1a, b, c and d) of the 1999 Constitution which is relevant to the process of State creation be amended to include economic viability, ethnic and cultural distinctiveness and marginalisation as the dominant criteria for the creation of new States.
It also demanded that Section 3(1) of Chapter 1, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) should be further amended by including Bori State as among the states in the Federation.
The memorandum also sought the amendment of the First Schedule, Part 1 of the Constitution to include the five local government areas of Eleme, Gokana, Khana, Oyigbo and Tai in the present Rivers State as component units of the proposed Bori State.
The document reads in part: “It is the view of MOSOP-USA demands that Section 8 (1a, b, c and d) that pertains to the process of state creation should be amended to include economic viability and ethnic and cultural distinctiveness and marginalisation as the dominant criteria for the creation of new states.
“Following these criteria, MOSOP-USA demands that the distinct and marginalised indigenous people of Ogoni, who have been so recognised by the United Nations, should be constituted into a state to be called Bori State with Bori as the capital.”
MOSOP-USA lamented that no Ogoni has been elected a governor in any astate or region since independence, adding that the people of other ethnic nationalities are always imposed on them.
It said: “The Ogoni people had been denied elective positions into the office of the governor since independence. It is a known fact that a Yoruba man will elect a Yoruba man to govern them in a Yoruba state. Likewise the Ibos, Hausas, Fulanis, and other major ethnic nationalities.
“The Ogoni people have no State of their own; people of other ethnicities are always imposed on us. No Ogoni man has ever been elected as a Governor in any State or region since independence.”
