HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE OGONI PEOPLE:

EARLY HISTORY

Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest the Ogoni have inhabited the Niger Delta for more than 500 years. They established an organized social system under which men and women of courage and ability enjoyed special status.

Although Ogoniland lay on the slave route from the hinterland to the coastal slave market, there is little evidence of Ogoni people being taken as a slave.

When other forms of trade were introduced into the region in the second half of the 19th century, weapons were purchased and wars became the order of the day. After the Berlin Treaty of 1885, Nigeria came under British colonial rule, but it was not until 1901 that British forces arrived in Ogoniland. The Ogoni people known for their fierce independence launched a strong resistance against this intrusion into their territory by the British forces, which lasted for more than a decade before they were finally subjugated in 1914 by the British forces. The British saw Nigeria in terms of three major ethnic groups: the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and the Igbo, thereby ignoring more then 250 smaller peoples, including the Ogoni. The Ogoni were regarded with contempt by all other groups in the Delta region and were often positioned at the bottom of the social ladder.

HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT

Shell Oil company, began oil exploitation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in 1956 and there is a long history of their collaboration with the Nigerian government to quell popular opposition to its presence in the region. It became evident that for the Ogoni, who live in this region the environmental and social costs of oil exploitation would be painfully high.

Beginning December 1992, the people of Ogoni issued a thirty-day demand notice to Shell which raised the alarm bell of an ensuing struggle between the company and the Ogoni people. This demand notice was followed almost immediately by series of non-violent activities including the Ogoni protest of January 4th 1993 in what was regarded as the Ogoni Day in commemoration of the declaration of 1993 as the International Year of the world’s Indigenous People.

This singular non-violent mammoth protest in which an estimated three hundred thousand Ogoni people participated was indeed a novel event with striking impacts. It indeed showed that the Ogoni people have come of age and imbued the struggle with a greater level of seriousness and intensity on both sides. This event and other subsequent non-violent passive resistance activities such as the holding of successful vigil nights across Ogoni nation and the launch of a survival fund sent panic signals to the Nigerian authorities and the oil company, Shell.

In the light of the forgoing developments, by the first quarter of 1993, Shell withdrew from Ogoniland, citing the hostile attitude of the Ogoni community to the company’s activities. Around April of the same year, Shell through its contractor went back under the protection of the Nigerian military to construct an oil pipeline. This was met with peaceful protests by Ogoni women whose farmlands were to be traversed by the pipelines leading to the destruction of their crops without any compensation. Rather than deal with the issues that had been raised by the women, the military that was hired by Shell opened gunfire on the protesting women.

Protests marches were organized all over Ogoniland in repudiation of the above incident and the military responded with highhandedness. This was to become the standard response of the government in the ensuing months. Several conflicts reportedly sponsored by the government occurred between July 1993 and April 1994 between Ogoni people and her neighbors all in the attempt to wear the Ogoni people down and box them into submission. Available evidence, including the sophisticated weaponry that was used by the adversaries of the Ogoni, indicate that governmental authorities were probably behind these supposedly "ethnic conflicts".

Following the third of such conflict, in April 1994, a huge military operation was launched by the government, supposedly to restore order, but which in fact was aimed at destroying Ogoni lives and properties in the Afam area of Ogoni.

On May 21, 1994, four Ogoni leaders were murdered in Gokana Kingdom, reportedly by angry youths. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ledum Mitee and a number of other MOSOP leaders were arrested and accused of involvement in the murders. The day after the murders, the Internal Security Task Force, a military unit set up especially to "restore order" in Ogoniland, under command of Lt. Col Okuntimo, stormed into Ogoniland raiding, burning and looting villages. While thousands of Ogoni villagers took refuge in the bush, hundreds were detained and tortured. Many Ogoni died in the weeks that followed. It is an enduring record of the non violent nature of the Ogoni struggle that in all these attacks and in spite thereof, there is no single incident of any reprisal attack on any of the repressing troops.

In February 1995, after eight months of being detained without official charges, Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni leaders were brought before a special tribunal, established by the military government. While in detention, the accused were often denied access to lawyers, medical care and family members. Independent international observers expressed their deep doubts about the fairness of the trial in protest of the Tribunal’s failure to meet even Nigeria’s own standards of fairness. On October 31, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni were sentenced to death by the Special Tribunal. In blatant defiance of numerous appeals by the international community, the well-known Nigerian writer and poet, Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight Ogoni colleagues were executed on Friday, November 10, 1995.

In March 1996, non-partisan elections were held in Nigeria to fill all local government seats with elected civilian Chairs and Councilors. It was widely reported that all persons associated with MOSOP were prevented from participation, and those who presented themselves were either beaten or detained and later disqualified.

By June, 1998, the maximum dictator, General Sani Abacha under whose watch thousands of Ogoni people perished eventually died in mysterious circumstances. This ushered in a new attempt at democratic engagement and electoral processes. The electoral process ushered in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a former prisoner on death row under the late maximum dictator as the new head of state. The Ogoni people had hoped that with his election, a new era marked by respect for human rights and commitment to the ideals of democracy and good governance would be entrenched in the polity. This was not to be as the earlier signs of a democratic posturing by the administration soon evaporated giving way to a civilian dictatorship which in its twilight was already planning to tamper with the constitution to elongate his tenure in office.

In the first months of 2001, MOSOP participated at the Oputa Human Rights Investigation Panel hearings in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. MOSOP called on the Nigerian military to accept responsibility for grave human rights violations by its officer corps against the Ogoni, committed between 1994 and 1998. Senior officers appearing for the Oputa Panel played down and even denied any involvement in the arbitrary shootings, rapes, assaults and detentions. These testimonies, thus, seem to be nothing less than a disgrace to the whole purpose of the Panel; to bring justice to the victims of these human rights violations.

omenka:
And who told you there can't be smoke without fire There are countless number of ways you can generate smoke without fire- using liquid Nitrogen for instance.

Oh!
Now I understand where you are coming from: enjoying yourself on a very sensitive matter. Maybe because it didn't involve your tribe.
Happy weekend!!!

omenka:
This has gotta be the most useless wailer I've ever seen.

Please someone should tell the pleb it doesn't matter whether it is to neutralize someone or not- all that matters is that their land would be cleaned up after several years of neglect of the recommendation. Ogoni people themselves are ecstatic about the prospect of implementing the UNEP report and that is all that matters.

Whoever doesn't wanna live in a clean environment can go dwell in a pigery in Haiti.

[b]In an interview, he referenced a report by Channels Television, updated August 11, 2015, in which “Shell emphasized that in line with the UNEP position, treating the problem of environmental pollution in Ogoni land merely as a technical clean-up exercise is what would result in failure.”

He said, Shell understood the issues, which President Buhari may yet to find out. So, Shell reacted to a well-informed position taken by Amnesty International, saying “the President’s initiative would fail and the Ogoni people would continue to suffer, as long as Shell fails to change its method of oil spill clean-up.”

Diigbo said the acknowledgment by Shell of potential implementation failure, meant joint review was unavoidable to ensure comprehensive treatment of UNEP recommendations in Ogoni land, which, he pointed out, President Buhari’s unilateral re-writing of the Report, jeopardizes.

[/b]Now the big question is why will Buhari not implement the full UNEP report in Ogoniland??

Mind you, there is no smoke without fire

Happiness87:
lol

masturbators exposed!!

ApC=lying liars

But why will someone lie or play politics with such sensitive issue about a minority tribe in Nigeria

hardeniji:
opeeee o I made FTTC ( FIRST TEN TO COMMENT)

Clap for yourself

By Ogeco Ogeco



http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/…/buhari-ogoni-fast-track-o…


The Ogoni people on Thursday, August 13, 2015 began the Ogoni Springtime – an unlimited season of resentment to end injustice against the Ogoni people in Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday, August 5, 2015 approved several actions to fast-track the long delayed implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme Report on the environmental restoration of Ogoniland.

He had said the actions approved were based on recommendations to him by the Executive Director of UNEP, the UNEP Special Representative for Ogoniland, permanent secretaries of the Federal Ministries of Environment and Petroleum Resources, and others, include the amendment of the official gazette establishing the Hydrocarbon.

Now, President of Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority, OCIA, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo wants the Buhari administration to show proof by publishing the recommendations and names of the signatories.

Diigbo said “it is dangerous to mask domestic abuse of powers, with emblems of foreign governments, authorities and institutions.”

“I have found out that there were no new recommendations, other than the Ogoni UNEP Report. I challenge President Buhari to publish the new recommendations so that we can see the content and names of the signatories, said Diigbo.

He said this in a statement to mark the “Ogoni Springtime launching, which would involve a series of actions to end the threat against extinction of the Ogoni people in southern Nigeria.

He further revealed: “I sourced for information below and above the UNEP Executive Director. My sources said they were not aware of the involvement of the UNEP Executive Director in a behind the scene recommendations, meant to truncate the official UNEP Mission Report.”

Continuing he said: “Already some form of admission [confession] has been made by certain individuals as off-record for “certain journalists” in Port Harcourt. They claimed that they lobbied the Buhari regime and even drafted the press release that turned into Fast-track actions for the implementation of the Ogoni UNEP Report. According to them, the idea was to counter a suspicion that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was planning a unilateral implementation to “outsmart Buhari” through integration of some aspects of the UNEP Report into Rivers State administration reconstruction agenda.”

On Sunday, August 9, 2015, he had addressed OCIA Emergency General Leadership Session at Birabi Memorial Grammar School, BMGS. “I made it clear that I had no such understanding with Wike. However, I said, if he had contemplated doing so, it would not have discarded the UNEP report, or shifted responsibility from polluters,” he said.




The Ogoni Springtime has been planned to enforce the Ogoni demand for a joint stakeholders’ review of the Ogoniland UNEP Report, as precondition for its implementation.

In an interview, he referenced a report by Channels Television, updated August 11, 2015, in which “Shell emphasized that in line with the UNEP position, treating the problem of environmental pollution in Ogoni land merely as a technical clean-up exercise is what would result in failure.”

Diigbo said the acknowledgment by Shell of potential implementation failure, meant joint review was unavoidable to ensure comprehensive treatment of UNEP recommendations on Ogoni land, which, he pointed out, President Buhari’s unilateral re-writing of the Report, jeopardizes.

He said, Shell understood the issues, which President Buhari may yet to find out. So, Shell reacted to a well-informed position taken by Amnesty International, saying “the President’s initiative would fail and the Ogoni people would continue to suffer, as long as Shell fails to change its method of oil spill clean-up.”

“In a sense, Amnesty International, like others, can easily see through the manipulative tactics; the exploitation of ignorance that undermines justice to achieve ethnic, partisan, and corporate gains,” Diigbo said.

He remarked that, “even though Shell, seems bent upon playing on words; alongside other stakeholders, Shell would want to subscribe to “clarity rules” as an underlying due process requirements, to avoid potential insecurity, conflicts and bloodshed, in course of implementation.”

“Ogoni has sacrificed so much for Nigeria. The continual injustice, dirty ethnic and partisan politics on Ogoni affairs will set the sun on Nigeria,” Diigbo

Signed by: Hon Dum Ade John Budam
For Dr. Goodluck Diigbo President, Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority

OGONI SPRINGTIME BEGINS IN NIGERIA
The Ogoni Springtime, an indefinite season of resentment and protests to end injustice against the Ogoni people in southern Nigeria. It began today, August 13, 2015 in Bori, the cultural and political capital of the Ogoni people. The resentment and protests will spread throughout the Ogoni Nation, involving civil disobedience and waves of popular actions to occupy and reclaim control over Ogoniland.

The Ogoni Springtime has been provoked by the dirty ethnic and partisan handling of the UNEP Ogoni Report by President Buhari administration. Today’s nonviolent march was led by eight provincial governors, leaders of Ogoni National Legislative Assembly, officers of the Ogoni Customary Court System, and elected leaders of district and village councils. Participants joined from the provinces of Bori, Babbe, Ban Ogoni, Eleme, Gokana, Ken Khana, Nyokhana, and Tai. The Ogoni organized system at all levels will be free to embark on protests from time to time with focus on ending injustice against the people.

In a statement to put Nigeria on Notice, President of the Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority, OCIA, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo has called on President Buhari to reverse his recent unilateral orders meant to override the Ogoniland Environmental Assessment Study that was issued by the United Nations Environmental Programme on August 11, 2011. In order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, he called for immediate dialogue. However, Diigbo said all protests will remain nonviolent, unless the Ogoni people are compelled to act in self-defence within the framework of international law.

@op, a million thanks. Very educative.

@OP, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, GOOD MORNING ALL

annibro:
Ds are d kind of topics dat shud make frontpage daily 2 begin d day b4 any oda tin
Cc: Moderators

Seconded

kay29000:
Sometimes I think of how easy and blissful it would be to just end my life and live all these worries and troubles behind, an then I think of my family members and the grief I would leave them in, and I get pissed. I wish I didn't have any family so I could just overdose on sleeping pills and end it all...If not for my family, I wont be missed. I would at least be less trouble to all the people I have caused problems for. I am in so much trouble, and the harder I try to get out, the deeper I sink. I ain't getting any younger, and I have been thinking of just ending my life. How I wish I could just do it in peace.

Have you contact the bone connector
or
visit the storm calmer??

am very sure He will connect your shattered bones and cam the storm of your life.

Try Him and thank me latter.

ochejoseph:
‎The Initiative was a good one, but Oby allowed her APC friends to transform it into political tool against President Jonathan, Today the Arrow heads are being rewarded with  appointments benefiting from the blood of the children they claim to be  standing for! 

It would have been much easier to rescue the girls if the Chibok issue was not over sensationalised today those who claim they will wipe BH in 2 week are still sweating after 2 months with no results! 

Our hearts and our prayers will always be with the girls and their families, Praying they come home to love and to kindness! 

that's if any girl was kidnapped my brother.

@op, well said, thanks.

But in all these, love survived or are sustained by SACRIFICE and some advisable level of mature compromise. Its my honest opinion that anyone who wants to be in love (relationship) should be ready to make sacrifices and compromise sometimes: expect the un-expectable and be ready to accept changes that will definitely come into the relationship as time flies. With these, love can never die but may be threatened.

Unfortunately, what many young people call love today are actually not love in the real sense of lovity. 85 to 90% of it May be infatuation, fuckism or fuckology, etc.

DON'T GET ME WRONG

ifedubaeorg:
Buhari should as a matter of urgency relocate the military command center to Jos now To curtail Boko haram insurgency there he should also relocate it to Redeem christian church Yobe to forestall any further killing in the church

hahahahahahaha

let me laugh in Bluetooth: hohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohohoyogohohohohohohohohhohohohohohohohohohohoho

pls op permit me to laugh in France: hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihhihihihihihihhihihihihihihihihihihihihihihhihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi

and finally, let me laugh in Yoruba:
hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi hahi haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Monalisa185:


nobe you wear yellow clothe? see as your legs hang for up.. #takesoff

come back here!
where are you running to
are you that woman in yellow

make una see me see trouble oo
na so love dey take start

if u luv me, pls come out and say it loud and clear, du ala
no dey use kona kona way biko

It rightly captured current trends in Nigeria, though I'm not in that picture.

socialmediaman:


Election of ministers is out of the question. Ministers must be loyal to the president, if they fail, he will be blamed so there's no question as to how he should appoint his ministers. If he decides to let godfathers select for him, that's nobody's loss but his. Election of ministers is completely out of place, based on what? They're there to help him do the job he was elected for, why should they be elected when they're working for him to achieve his objectives?

Taken. In any way, let the president pick his ministers so that government business will not suffer. Not picking his ministers, appoint SGF, SAs, NSA, service chiefs, etc one month after inauguration is the true definition of cluelessness and a violation of the constitution of the land.

His inaction is tearing up the patience of his supporters and slowly sending a bad massage of his administration to Nigerians considering that TIME WAIT FOR NOBODY.

socialmediaman:
OP ministers are needed constitually, the question is whether they should be headed by technocrats rather than core politicians.

My opinion is, ministerss should Be technocrats who are members of the national economic council, selected from successful multinationals, representing different ministries. Their jobs should be purely policy formulation based.

The minister should not be involved with ministry specific duties like recruitments, contract approvals etc. perm secs should be more focused with the internal workings of the ministry. The ministers are the ones who travel to supervise projects and make reports and recommendations to the presidency.

Perm secs should be more powerful than the ministers within the ministry itself, but the minister should be like the government eye when it comes to watching over things happening in the ministry and calling for the presidency's attention whenever necessary

That's the way it's supposed to be ideally.

I agree with you to some extend, but i think this thread and your position are a product of our present predicament as a nation. In my opinion, the method of recruitment into the service of our nation either as a minister or in other capacity determine the gains and successes. A minister appointed on the platform of a party will have a divided loyalty. His/her loyalty belongs to a godfather, party, president and lastly to the nation. and all these different levels of loyalty must have their individual interest. In the foregoing, the interest of the populace is the least to attend to by the minister, etc. this is so because he who pay the pipers dictates the tune.

On the other hand, if the perm sec are empowered, their are tendency that they may abuse the power thereby making corruption inevitable in the system.

Its my suggestion that states should elect ministers that will serve in the federal level. A periodic assessment of the minister's performance and a process of recalling such minister for non performance should also be put in place.

No president of Nigeria has giving the trailer load of blind and fictitious excuses, blames, complains and mirthful governance that Mr. buhari has subjected Nigerians to over one month today; not excluding his inability to live up to his elephant promises couple with his otiose media officers is indeed a milestone achievement which qualify him for a medal.

DON'T ASK ME WHICH MEDAL.

That's if they don't have prayer proof heart

My advise would've been that you should leave the strange woman, but you've already said "don't tell me to leave her".

but remember, old wine was once a new good testy wine, time is the difference. Am sure your wife once test good and pleasant to you sexually, emotionally and otherwise. After two kids, do you expect her to remain 100% sexually active? Didn't you see those signs & discussed it with her before marriage?? If you have issues with your family (wife) and taking another woman is the only option, what is the assurance that your new found love would not behave the same way after giving birth to two or three kids

jumping from one woman to another is not the solution to marital problem, men who engages in such always live to regret it.

SOLUTION: engage your wife in a constructive, revealing talk.

This is getting very interesting by the day.

watching events unfold in HD

[quote author=Cutehector post=35133284][/quote]

hahahahaha
thanks bro, all join.............................

@op, karma is a bad visitor I swear.
let her find a way to settle with her asap especially with the help of her boyfriend. and if she disagree, forget the relationship, but if you want to continue, make solid arrangement for your burrier which include buying all necessary things like casket, pay for your wake keep, and other burrier needs cause she is determined to sent you six feet below.

REMEMBER, KARMA IS ON HER SIDE!!!

Cutehector:
This is super storyyyyyyyyyy

Walel adenuga productions

we're pencil in the hand of the creator

VickJames:


Cotonou good na. Atleast no terrorists there

okay ooh
bye bye
Be praying for us oo
niaja is our own

VickJames:
Hahahhhahahhahahaha!



Mehn! Packing my bags, leaving this country asap.

come back here, where do you think you're going. Hope you're not going to Afghanistan or Somalia??
cotonou is better for you oo

papoose999:
rhymz said Buhari's constant knack for excuses and lack of direction is beginning to get
everyone worried, he obviously was not prepared from the on set, he has
been struggling to even form a cabinet, most of the decisions he has been
making lately obviously shows a man that is gripping in the dark and looking
for excuses to explain his failures just in case it happens. Get to work and
stop whining.true talk

We saw the signs during and after the primaries of the party but we ignored it because of the lies and deceits from the APC. The long delay in the process of picking his running mate after the primary was a clear demonstration of his lack of preparedness to lead this giant nation.

cy4cent:


He has come to put things right with the hands or teeth of the writer of this crap right?

Jesus needed 5 loaves of bread n 2 fishes to perform a miracle, that is a supernatural being yet he wanted something to be on ground.

Same with turning of water into wine.

same with Elisha when he was about helping the widow fill her jars with oil, he asked , ''tell me what has thou got in the house'' she responded , nothing but a little jar of oil. 2kings 4


what has your GEJ left on ground for PMB to put things right with? you guys should take a chill pill abeg ,let him source funds then you can start talking of turning things around, he is no magician.

ALL THIS CHARGE AND BAIL PASTOR SHAAAA

OGAH,
Na 4 dis fake story u dey quote bible so
hmmmmmmm
Nigeria is on a long thing.

tchidi:
I believe he won't fail us.... yes, he's being kinda slow, but somehow, I believe he'll be better than what we've been having... he has not stayed 1 full month so we shouldn't be too fast and write him off.

God bless Nigeria.

Baby, pls understand that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. its only a lazy farmer that always complained of his tools (instrument).
How do you start a journey with incessant excuses and complains
This is not time for campaign and promises. Trust Nigerians, once they loss their patience, pass vote of no confidence on you then you're gone. If you like, turn workaholic overnight, you will only be struggling to redeem your battered image. That's what happened to GEJ.

LET BUHARI RESIGN AS FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER, CULTURE AND TOURISM MINISTER (in one cloth), STOP TRYING TO SHOW US PICTURES AND START WORKING. Is this too much to ask for