BATTLE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Ogoni: Women vow to resist oil exploration

By Samuel Ogunsona

Indugenous women in Ogoni will resist any attempt to begin oil exploration in the Niger-Delta community. The Ogoni indigenous peoples have fought decades-long battle for the control of their natural resources the resistance of which has led to hundreds of deaths caused by British colonial Government and later its succesor, the Nigerian authorities.Over 300,000 Ogoni led a peaceful protest on November 10, 1995 against oil companies and the Nigerian Government. Subsequent events led to the indigenous peoples shutting down oil pipelines to save their humanity. The Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu launched a return to oil exploration but the indigenous peoples insist they have not been adequately consulted apart from th Government’s discussion with a few “Yes People.”

On Friday, Irohinoodua, Nigeria’s first indigenous online media reports a coalition of 17 Ogoni indigenous women groups in Rivers State of Nigeria said they would vehemently oppose the Federal Government’s proposal to resume crude oil extraction in Ogoniland. They called on indigenous peoples in America, Brazil, Latin America and Asia to come to their rescure by putting presure on the Nigerian Government.

“We are very small and dealing with principalities and powers who prefer to kill all of us for oil and profit. We need the voices of indigenous peoples in America, Asia, Brazil and Latin America and those in Africa to join in this campaign,” was stated on one of their campaign materials. Oil was explored in Nigeria since 1950s without consideration for the owners of the land. The resistance of the 1990s led to the hanging of eight Ogoni leaders including Ken Saro Wiwa, the leader, a poet and writer whose only weapon of resistance was his pen.They were sentenced to death by hanging by the Nigerian Federal authority following the death of four Ogoni leaders. Many believed the four Ogoni leaders who supported the Federal Government were killed by Government agents creating the opportunity to blackmail Ken Saro Wiwa and the eight others that led the campaign for justice. The sordid November, 1995 event drew condemnation from leaders across the world.

The groups said the Government is interested in profit without any interest in the livelihood and spirituality of the people. They called on Indigenous peoples all over the world to rise up and support them by putting pressure on Shell Petroleum Company and the Nigeria Government to stop their desperate drive for profit at the expense of humanity. Billions of dollars have been realised by oil companies in Ogoni yet the population of over 700,000 people live in misery without access to water, medicare and quality education while the water and farmland have been degraded and polluted due to years of oil exploration and gas flaring. Few years ago, a report was issued on Ogoniland by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report absolutely validates all the plea of the Ogoni people about environmental genocide. The Centre for Clean Foundation, (CEF) recently conducted a research indicating serious health implications for Ogoni people due to oil and gas pollution.

The group, comprising thousands of Ogoni women, expressed their stand at a news conference in Port Harcourt, emphasizing that the implementation of the Ogoni Bill of Rights must precede any oil-related activities in the area.

Programme Coordinator at Lekeh Development Foundation, Barileloo Patricia criticized the government’s approach.

She said “It is disconcerting that, amid the rush to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland, the concerns outlined in the Ogoni Bill of Rights – which led to the suspension of oil extraction – have not been addressed.”

Oil exploration was suspended in Ogoniland following series of protests embarked upon by Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, (MOSOP) led by Ken Saro Wiwa who was later killed is what has been described as judicial murder.

Patricia who spoke for the women groups highlighted the Ogoni Bill of Rights, adopted in 1990, as a declaration of the Ogoni people’s demand for environmental protection and self-determination.

She emphasized that justice has not been secured for the families who lost lives, livelihoods, and property in the 1990s crises.

“The atrocities committed against the Ogoni people by the Nigerian security forces remain one of the worst attacks on an indigenous population in Nigeria’s history,” Patricia added.

“Those responsible for genocide and human rights abuses against unarmed populations have never been brought to justice, despite openly boasting about their actions.”

Lezina Ntetep, coordinator of Eedee Ladies of Tai, questioned the government’s decision to restart oil exploration while the clean-up of Ogoni’s polluted sites remains incomplete.

“How can a site supposedly being cleaned up be deemed fit for a full-scale oil extraction, with all the pollution that comes with it?” she asked.

Ntetep further emphasized the suffering of the Ogoni people due to oil extraction, with little or no development to show for it.

“No apology has been made for the destruction of our environment, the killing of our people, the loss of livelihoods, the destruction of our villages, and the murder of our leaders, among others.”

The coalition urged the government to halt the planned resumption of oil activities in Ogoniland and instead focus on addressing the ecological disaster in the area.

They called for the implementation of the UNEP’s clean-up recommendations, decommissioning aged oil infrastructure, providing alternative livelihoods for the people, and securing justice for the countless Ogonis who still await closure.