- Explains neutrality – Says Ogonis are on both sides of the divide.
- Urges politicians to play by the rules, Says using fakes in justice campaigns defeat its essence.
- Ogoni Women Plan To Boycott Election If…
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has warned against politically sponsored conflicts, both in MOSOP and Rivers State with potential to cause crises and a breach of the peace. MOSOP also called on politicians to desist from sponsoring fakes, charlatans and impostors who parade themselves as members of MOSOP or as representing the leadership of the movement in any form and acting to discredit the image of the organization.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, made the call in Port Harcourt while reacting to media reports credited to a fake MOSOP leadership of one Prince Biira who on Thursday, April 28, 2022 issued a threat to cause public unrest if an Ogoni is not named the standard flag bearer of the leading political parties for the 2023 Rivers State governorship elections.
Nsuke said such statements were threats to our democracy and runs contrary to the team spirit which is required to produce a standard bearer for political parties in a multi-ethnic Rivers State and the peaceful governance expected after elections. Nsuke said the threats were unacceptable to MOSOP and urged the security agencies to act before they become real.
“Democracy demands lobbying and not threats. Any Ogoni who threatens the peace of the state to force political parties to favor Ogoni candidates is constituting a threat to our democracy and is actually acting against Ogoni interests because it will inadvertently portray the Ogoni candidates in bad light and make things more difficult” The MOSOP President said.
He advised Ogoni politicians to create advantages and take advantage of those advantages instead of embarking on actions that jeopardize the nationality’s political future in Rivers State. Nsuke noted that it was unfortunate that ahead of every general election, politicians scramble to have MOSOP speak for them with hope of winning Ogoni sympathy even at the cost of public peace. He warned that the 2023 elections were beginning to show signs of violence as sponsored charlatans and impostors in desperation to impress paymasters commence their dirty jobs.
MOSOP dissociated itself from the statement and called on the security agencies to know the direction to face should there be any breach of the peace in Rivers State over the 2023 governorship.
The statement reads in part:
“The attention of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has been drawn to some media reports threatening crises in Rivers State in the name of a MOSOP backed protest against a denial of an Ogoni to be governor of Rivers State in 2023”
“While we do not want to join issues with anyone over the governorship of Rivers State in 2023 and will continue to support the aspirations of the Ogoni people to advance in every sphere of life including politics, we maintain that the falsehood of creating or promoting a self-seeking, fake MOSOP leadership whose narrow mindedness threatens the image of MOSOP is definitely not the way to go”
“MOSOP completely dissociates itself from such politically sponsored threats and wishes to state that its secretariat has not issued such statements which obviously were sponsored by political actors”
“We condemn in very strong terms, the sponsorship of fakes and charlatans who parade themselves to represent the leadership of the movement”
The statement said, for anyone who does not know who Prince Biira is and the falsehood which he represents, let him or her watch this Youtube Video. The statement further said Ogonis should not promote fakes, lies and injustice in the struggle to seek justice. Emphatically, it stated that Prince Biira is fake and does not represent the leadership of MOSOP. Using fakes to seek justice essentially defeats the whole idea, he said.
Nsuke further said MOSOP was not in the position to determine standard flag bearers of political parties though we strongly advocate fairness and playing by the rules. He noted that understanding the intrigues and realizing the fact that there are Ogonis on both sides of the divide, MOSOP calls on the Ogoni people to ignore calls that jeopardize their safety and threaten public peace as the movement closely watches how things unfold and will speak at the appropriate time. He called on Ogoni political elites to promote cohesion as they lobby the support of other nationalities in Rivers State to actualize their dreams rather than sponsoring actions that can turn the political tide against the entire Ogoni people in Rivers State.
MOSOP further wants to make it unequivocally clear that we will not be responsible for any violence inflicted on the Ogoni people or Rivers State in the quest to push forward an Ogoni governor for the state in 2023 and those responsible for any violence should be held accountable.
Nsuke further called for the cooperation of the media to prevent any crises in Rivers State and warned against the implications of promoting falsehood which people like Prince Biira represents.
Meanwhile, some Ogoni women have threatened to boycott the 2023 governorship election in Rivers State, if the two major political parties fail to zone their governorship tickets to Ogoni land.
The women, made this known during a protest in Bori, on Friday.
They said it was disheartening that since the creation of the State, no Ogoni person has been governor of the state, noting that they deserve to govern the state come 2023.
The women called on other ethnic groups to support them for the sake of equity and justice.
They also called on the All Progressives Congress not to go ahead with the endorsement of Tonye Cole as its flagbearer, as an Ogoni person deserves the ticket.
Additional report by Elanhub
