A chieftain of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to use the opportunity offered by the amendment to the Petroleum Industry Act to curtail the excesses of the Nigerian oil industry in the violation of human rights and instill some discipline and corporate responsibility on oil industry actors.
Chieftain of MOSOP, Chief Emmanuel Nkala made the call in Eleme on Thursday. Nkala said the Nigerian oil industry was committing heinous crimes, sponsoring violence and inciting people against innocent community residents and could continue to do so because there are no consequences for the crimes.
Chief Nkala specifically accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of sponsoring groups such as the Ogoni Liberation Initiative to cause crises in Ogoni.
He said the NNPC was attempting to use unjust and brutal tactics against the Ogoni people to divide the Ogoni and force oil resumption in Ogoni.
Chief Nkala who is a former president of the youth wing of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), the youth wing of MOSOP, who led MOSOP during the detention periods of Ken Saro-Wiwa between 1994 – 1995 noted that the moves by the NPDC were strong signals of another plot to massacre the Ogoni people.
Nkala regretted that the oil industry was encouraged to sponsor groups in oil producing communities to set people against one another because there were no consequences for their actions.
He condemned the ease with which the Nigerian oil industry had access to the military and could deploy the same against the Nigerian people.
Nkala called for new rules in the conduct of oil business by multinationals and corporations noting that the Nigerian people needed to be protected from the ease with which companies deploy the military, kill civil opposition against unethical practices and force the people to submit to globally unacceptable practices.
Chief Nkala further condemned the NNPC over recent moves to force oil production in Ogoni against the wishes of the people noting that it was clearly another plot to unleash violence on Ogoni using the Nigerian military.
He stated that consultations with all critical stakeholders were important before resuming oil production in Ogoni to avoid the bloodshed experienced in the past where an estimated 4,000 lives were lost to state backed repression from Shell Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.
Nkala said it was important for all critical stakeholders to meet and agree on oil resumption modalities to avoid another bloodshed in Ogoni.
The MOSOP chieftain said the Ogoni people were prepared for a peaceful resistance against the threats posed by the NPDC to the lives of the people. He noted that what the NNPC was plotting is to deploy the military to kill the people.
Nkala called on all parties interested in oil in Ogoni to give peace a chance noting that the Ogoni people have lost too many lives in state repression and what the NPDC was plotting against Ogoni must be avoided by all means.
