The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, has alleged harassment of its members by men of the Nigeria Police, most especially the Bori Area Command and the head of the Special Anti Robbery Squad known as SARS.
MOSOP, in a statement made available to the National Network alleged that the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS in Bori had consistently made attempts to disrupt the group’s gathering in Ogoniland.
The group cited an incident which took place early in the year, during a congress of Ogoni people at its secretariat, where the police allegedly ”led by a man in mufti and identified as the SARS commander in Bori walked into our gathering and attempted to take away the President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke while he was addressing the people.”
The statement condemned the action of the Nigeria Police in its entirety, describing it as ” very provocative and unprofessional.” MOSOP frowned at the alleged action of the police, stating that the move by the commander of the SARS was intended to spark serious crises in order to carry out what it described as a premeditated assignment in the area.
The body recalled that the incident was one of the few in the past: “On January 4, 2019, during the annual Ogoni day , the police also attempted to take away the President of MOSOP.
“During the MOSOP elections, there were similar attempts to stop the elections. In all these cases we remained peaceful,” read the statement.
While urging caution, MOSOP had wondered what could have brought about the present trend and the personal interest of the police against the peaceful gathering of the Ogoni people.
The Movement appealed to the authorities to intervene in the matter, just as the body noted that the present trends signaled a drift towards 1994 when Ogoni suffered a serious state-sponsored persecution that left more than 2000 people dead in its aftermath.
The statement further appealed to authorities to call”the police formation in Bori, Ogoniland to order so they do not cause any crises in the area. We expect the police to protect our people and not to be partisan to the extent of limiting our freedom to peaceful association.”
The statement which was signed by the Secretary General of the Movement, Monday Ziinu, maintained that MOSOP as a body has always conducted its activities in the most peaceful manner and called on Ogoni people to explore only non-violent means to resist attempt by the police to trample on their rights.
