Ogonis Asks Tinubu To Stop Activities
Scores of Ogoni residents gathered in Bori, Rivers State, at the weekend to protest the planned return of oil exploration in parts of Tai Local Government Area, where hundreds were killed during past conflicts.
The demonstrators urged President Bola Tinubu to step in and stop activities they say could reopen old wounds.
They criticised the restart of oil operations without talks or restoration in 17 affected communities.
Speaking for the group, the Executive Director of the Ogoni Liberation Initiative, Douglas Fabeke, said oil work was resuming in communities destroyed between 1993 and 1998, where over 300 people died and many residents remain displaced.
He warned that restarting operations without environmental repair or resettlement poses serious risks and could trigger unrest.
The group called for direct federal control of OML-II, rejected Sahara Energy’s presence in Ogoniland, and demanded accountability for a $300 million fund meant for Ogoni development.
They warned that if their concerns are ignored, protests would be taken to Abuja, stressing that decades after the struggle for justice began, Ogoniland remains poor and unsettled.
