The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and a coalition of Ogoni organisations have demanded the immediate and unconditional delisting of Oil Mining Lease 11 (OML 11) from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), rejecting what they described as a Federal Government-backed 5 per cent equity arrangement involving the oil asset.
The groups made the demand in a statement issued on Wednesday after an extraordinary emergency summit involving members of the Coalition of Ogoni Diaspora Organisations, the National Union of Ogoni Students International (NUOS INTL) USA, Frontier Youth and Women formations, and allied civil rights organisations in Ogoniland and the Diaspora.
The statement was signed by Edwards Adookor, Acting President of NUOS INTL USA; Sira Mark, Leader of The Unseen Project; Ignatius Pango, Coordinator of CDHRAC; and Silvernus Alesaa, Leader of the Youth & Civil Society.
The coalition described its position as a “definitive declaration” to the Nigerian government, multinational corporations and the international community over the reported listing of OML 11 by Shell Nigeria for $2.4 billion.
The organisations said the Ogoni people and MOSOP were not represented by what they described as the Federal Government’s “handpicked” Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC), which they alleged included Ledum Mitee, Chief Lesi Maol and Nsuka Fegelo, whom they described as a “factional MOSOP leader.”
“The Ogoni people, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and its authentic affiliate bodies are neither represented nor spoken for by the Federal Government’s alleged handpicked Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC), Ledum Mitee, Chief Lesi Maol and the factional MOSOP leader, Nsuka Fegelo, who we see as a ‘rebel,’” the statement read.
The coalition alleged that the individuals were pursuing what it called an “illusory, phantom 5% equity mirage unknown to the Ogoni people.”
“They do not represent Ogoni or MOSOP. They are doing so at their own risk and at a time when Shell has shown zero remorse for 68 years of oil theft, genocide, and commercial piracy,” the organisations alleged.
The groups accused Shell, the Federal Government and Renaissance of undermining Ogoni interests by allegedly packaging and listing OML 11 outside Nigerian jurisdiction on the London Stock Exchange.
They argued that the reported arrangement threatened several longstanding demands associated with the Ogoni struggle, including the creation of Bori State, implementation of the Ogoni Bill of Rights, the “total and unconditional exoneration” of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists, and compensation for 17 Ogoni towns and villages.
The coalition also demanded compensation for families of what it alleged were more than 3,000 Ogoni people killed during violence in the region.
It further passed a vote of no confidence in Prof. Don Baridam, Barrister Tom Orage, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, Ledum Mitee, Chief Lesi Maol, members of the ODC and Nsuka Fegelo.
The organisations called on the individuals to resign and stop what they described as “fraudulent representation” of the Ogoni people.
The coalition also alleged that critical Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) jobs allocated to Ogoni people were being diverted.
It accused unnamed individuals of attempting to “steal, commercialise, allocate critical NNPC jobs slot for Ogoni people to themselves, their relatives, biological children or sell to non-Ogoni.”
The groups said refusing to demand the delisting of OML 11 amounted to assisting what they described as “Shell’s ongoing plot to plunder our sovereign ancestral heritage – OML II – on the floor of the London stock exchange.”
They described the alleged transaction as “a treasonous affront against Ogoni nation, a deliberate sabotage of MOSOP, and an existential attack on Ogoni thirty years sacrifice of our people.”
The coalition also placed President Bola Tinubu, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the domestic actors it criticised “on formal notice,” warning that any breakdown of law, communal unrest or bloodshed arising from what it described as an “unauthorized, backhanded transaction” would be their responsibility.
Despite its opposition to the reported arrangement, the coalition said it was not opposed to engagement over the future of oil operations in Ogoniland.
“The Ogoni people and MOSOP are not oppose to constructive engagement or the eventual oil operations dialogue under lawful transparency,” it said.
“However, Ogoni will not dialogue with itself, nor will MOSOP dialogue with FG or corporate entitles while our ancestral wealth and future are being looted, stolen and traded far away on foreign London Stock Exchange.”
The organisations also accused the NNPCL, Federal Government, Shell, Renaissance and the ODC of attempting to reclassify 11 ancestral communities in Ban-Ogoi, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State, as “non Ogoni.”
The coalition insisted that Ban-Ogoi had historically been part of the Ogoni nation and warned against any attempt to divide or excise the community for oil-related purposes.
“Ban-Ogoi has been an integral, indivisible and historically recognized part of Ogoni nation long before the advent of British colonialism or the emergence of the Nigerian state,” it said.
The organisations warned that “not one millimeter of Ban-Ogoi Community or any other territory will be excised or balkanized to satisfy corporate pipeline routes or fraudulent concession boundaries.”
The coalition specifically demanded that Shell immediately delist OML 11 from the London Stock Exchange before any further stakeholder discussions could take place.
“Shell must immediately and unconditionally take down and delist OML II from the London Stock Exchange before any further stakeholders’ discussion can occur,” it said.
It also demanded that Renaissance immediately stop what it described as its “parading and trespassing” on Ogoni soil, insisting that “Ogoniland remains closed to its operations.”
The statement further addressed the reported administrative settlement between the Federal Government and the families of the four Ogoni men whose deaths preceded the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists.
The coalition said it stood with the families of Ogoni 4 but insisted that justice and compensation should extend to other victims and communities affected by violence in Ogoniland.
“We acknowledge that FG has quietly reached an administrative settlement with the families of Ogoni 4. We stand with the families of Ogoni 4 in their grief and we are available to support them whenever they call upon us,” it said.
“However, for over thirty years, the FG and Shell have weaponized the tragic death of Ogoni 4 as a political cudgel to divide our communities and justify the judicial murder of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists.”
The coalition called for “identical closure, justice and accountability” for the more than 3,000 people it alleged were killed in Ogoni, as well as compensation for 17 towns and villages it said were destroyed by military task forces.
It also called on the families of Ogoni 4 to support affected communities and families in their demands for justice.
The groups condemned what they described as the “weaponazation of the judicial system and security agencies against vocal indigenous advocates” and demanded the immediate dismissal of what they called “trump-up charges” against Chief Gani Topba.
The coalition called for Topba’s immediate release, alleging that he was targeted after raising concerns over clean-up contracts, challenging Chief Lesi Maol’s commercial deal, opposing Shell and Renaissance activities in Ogoni and questioning the NSA’s account of oil spills in Kpean-Teraue.
“This is an attempt to silence whistleblowers using the old play book of repressive tactics that sent our martyrs to the gallows in 1995,” the coalition said.
The organisations also criticised the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), alleging that the agency had reduced implementation of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recommendations to “an avenue of contract patronage and chemical dumping.”
The coalition alleged that public water facilities were collapsing shortly after installation in communities including Gwara and accused HYPREP of using untested chemicals under the guise of bioremediation.
It called on the governments of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Northern Ireland, as well as the Serious Fraud Office, His Majesty’s Treasury, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and other regulatory authorities, to investigate what it described as “Shell’s corporate plunder and Renaissance corporate fraud on the LSE.”
The groups also alleged that Shell had engaged in lobbying campaigns aimed at evading liabilities in cases including Kiobel and claimed that historical lobbying by the company obstructed the resettlement of more than 500 Ogoni refugee families in the United States.
The coalition further accused Shell and its foreign corporate surrogates of involvement in activities linked to violence and instability in the Niger Delta, although it did not provide supporting evidence for those allegations in the statement.
The organisations maintained that Ogoni’s ancestral resources should not be traded outside Nigerian jurisdiction without the consent of the people.
“Ogoni OML II stolen oil is not for sale at this time or any other other time. Ogoni cannot sell it’s future and generation unborn future,” the statement said.
The coalition warned that any government, agency, corporation or individual involved in helping Shell sell what it described as “Ogoni stolen oil (OML II)” would do so “at their risk.”
It also rejected the authority of the ODC to sign any interim Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government on behalf of the Ogoni people.
According to the coalition, only MOSOP and its affiliate bodies had the authority to sign such an agreement.
The groups said their complaints had been submitted to more than 10 foreign governments and international institutions, including the United Nations and the United States, as they seek international scrutiny of the reported OML 11 transaction and other issues surrounding oil operations, environmental remediation and representation in Ogoniland.