OGONI NEWS: DON'T START INTER-TRIBAL

MOSOP Warns Gov Amaechi on Tribal War

The faction President/Spokesman of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Dr. Goodluck Diigbo, has warned the Rivers State Government against instigating intertribal war between the Ogonis and their neighbours in the state.

Diigbo

The MOSOP leader expressed concern that Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s perceived “rush into boundary adjustment for Ogoniland” in the wake of the August 2 Self-Government declaration, had ulterior motives.

A statement this morning by MOSOP Media associate editor, Tambari Deekor, said Diigbo handed down the warning on Monday during “a joint session of the Ogoni Farmers’ Association (OFA) and Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers Association (COTRA) sitting in Bori.”

He said “such imposition of a boundary adjustment committee violates Ogoni indigenous land rights and increases the blood pressure of Nigeria; thus, threatening peace and security within, and by implication for international economic cooperation and global trade.”

“Ogoni is the heartbeat of Nigeria. Ogoni is not closer to the Sahara Desert. We are far from the dried land. We sit on wet crude-logged trunk and pipes, surrounded by significant economic installations with global interests; making our land the heartbeat of Nigeria and those of nations that tap our wealth and natural resources,” Diigbo remarked.

The statement quoting Diigbo as recalling that Amaechi “hastily set up a committee to carry out a boundary adjustment between Ogoniland and their neighbors pre-empting Ogoni Autonomy, almost immediately following MOSOP announcement of 2nd of August, 2012 as D-Day for the formal declaration of the Ogoni Self Government.

“We have acted nonviolently and lawfully. I was stunned by such pre-emptive act of poor judgment. I was concerned as you are that the motive behind the hasty boundary adjustment committee might be to plant the seed of inter-tribal disputes that could threaten peace and security in this fragile nation state,” Diigbo told native rulers and Ogoni farmers.

Chief Samuel Asongho, President of the Ogoni Farmers’ Association, who is also the vice president of COTRA, also cautioned Amaechi to tread gently, saying the land he tampers with belongs to Ogoni.