By Yemi Olakitan
A former deputy speaker of the Rivers State, House of Assembly Leyii Kwanee, bemoaned the persistent marginalisation of Ogoniland.
In a statement to commemorate the 2023 Ogoni Day celebration, Kwanee claimed that the people had endured both environmental and political backwardness, which had a negative impact on the region’s growth.
He emphasised that President Muhammadu Buhari’s election in 2015 marked the beginning of the Ogoni cleanup, which the UN had advocated beginning in 2011.
“Unfortunately, even though the President will leave office in a few months, up to 15% of the hydrocarbon emissions that have ruined the ecosystem in the Ogoni still haven’t been cleaned up,” he said.
Kwanee, who is running for governor on behalf of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), called the situation of the populace “extremely terrible.”
“The European community had heard our cries of hardship. The British Commonwealth was approached by the authors of our Ogoni Bill of Rights. Therefore, the Ogoni people are considered mainstream in the global mind.
“Similar to this, MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) has reaffirmed its stance on the necessity of restructuring Nigeria even as the nation starts to count down to general elections that would usher in new leadership in February.
“MOSOP emphasised the urgent need for the Nigerian Federation to be properly restructured in order to protect the rights of Ogoni and other minorities and enable them to function inside the Federation as a people and to have equal rights with other tribes in the nation.”
Fegalo Nsuke, the factional president of MOSOP, claimed in a statement that the entire cleansing effort lacked transparency.
