The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has warned that any backdoor joint venture partnership between the NNPC and Sahara Energy will not be acceptable to the Ogoni people. MOSOP stated that attempting to foist Sahara Energy on the Ogoni people may lead to a major upheaval which will dampen MOSOP’s current efforts at achieving a mutually beneficial settlement of the conflicts.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke made the position known at the end of a meeting with the leadership of the Council of Ogoni Leaders of Thought (COLT) on Saturday at the MOSOP secretariat, Bori, Ogoni. Nsuke warned against any maneuvers to foist Sahara Energy on the Ogoni people and throw Ogoni into crisis. While he reiterated MOSOP’s commitment to peace and development in Ogoni and Nigeria at large, he advised the Nigerian Government against acts that can truncate ongoing reconciliatory efforts and return Ogoni to the repressive era.
“MOSOP rejects any backdoor move to transform the FTSA between Sahara Energy and the West African Gas Limited (WAGL, an affiliate of the NNPCL) into a Joint Venture operatorship. The Ogoni people have maintained that the FTSA between Sahara and NNPC is not acceptable to us and we will strongly resist any move by the NNPC to force Sahara Energy on us by any means whatsoever” Nsuke said.
“We have laid down our conditions for a peaceful resolution of the Ogoni issue. The government should look into those demands and we are ready to make the necessary compromises on mutually beneficial terms”
Nsuke called on the Nigerian Government to immediately halt Sahara Energy’s moves to enter into a joint venture agreement with the NNPC over OML 11 without the input and consideration of the position of MOSOP and the Ogoni people. He noted that Sahara’s penchant to force itself on Ogoni is a threat to the peace of the Ogoni and the Niger Delta region.
“The position of MOSOP is critical in discussions on oil production in Ogoni because we stopped Shell’s operations in the first place. Ogoni made enormous sacrifices to get Shell out of the fields. If the NNPC attempts to force Sahara Energy on us without consideration for our demands.
“Any attempt to foist Sahara Energy on Ogoni will only mean a deliberate plot to repress the Ogoni people. That will result in a civil crisis of monumental proportion, the rest of the Niger Delta will show solidarity and that could throw the entire region into crisis which we do not want”
“We will therefore strongly advise against any attempt to kill our people through some backdoor moves to force Sahara Energy on us without consideration for our position on the issue”
“We urge the Nigerian government to give peace a chance and accept discussions on the recommendations we have made in the interest of peace in our land. We do not want anything to take away our peace and the NNPC should spare us that trouble.”
“We have proposed a pathway to address the Ogoni problem and that option should be given a chance. Our proposal calls for the operationalization of the Ogoni Development Authority (the ODA)” he said.
Sahara Energy had, during the regime of President Buhari, entered into an FTSA with WAGL in a deal which was not transparent and did not pass through due process. MOSOP rejected the move. Sahara later attempted to acquire OML 11 through the National Assembly and was blocked.
MOSOP insists that Sahara Energy’s actions are cynical and has the similitude of Shell.
