The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says the Ogoni problem will be resolved with respect for the basic rights and freedom for the Ogoni people.

President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, made this assertion last weekend when he hosted the President of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), Theophilus Mbagha, in Yeghe, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Nsuke said the youths have a responsibility to protect and sustain the very costly Ogoni struggle until victory is won.

He assured the youths that “freedom for the Ogoni people is very near and nothing can stop them from enjoying their God-given rights and benefiting from the natural endowments in Ogoniland.”

The MOSOP President said Nigeria’s failure to respect the basic rights of the Ogoni people to self determination, as a distinct ethnic group in Nigeria, has not only threatened the very existence of the Ogoni people but has also negativity affected the economic fortunes of our country. He said Ogoni youths have the responsibility to reverse the trend and save their nationality and country.

“The discrimination against the Ogoni people is sad, painful and deliberate and the youths must stand for social, political, human and environmental justice and liberation of Ogoniland in Nigeria,” Nsuke said.

He urged the youths to respect the principle of non-violence as a tool for the liberation of the Ogoni people noting that Ogoni must jettison the violent approach as it will lead to the extermination of our nationality.

“I understand that Nigeria has encourages violence by actually rewarding it as we have seen with the Niger Delta amnesty programme and offers made to the Boko Haram insurgents. However, I urge you never to be attracted to the violent approach for they will use it to wipe us from the face of the Earth,” Nsuke said.

Earlier, Ogoni youth leader and the president of NYCOP, Theophilus Mbagha, had intimated the MOSOP president on the plans of NYCOP to advance the interest of Ogoni youths including job creation, peace and security in Ogoni communities monitoring the cleanup programme and support for freedom for the Ogoni people.

The NYCOP President however condemned the current approach used by the Federal Government’s Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in the cleanup of Ogoniland which, he said, does not include the implementation of the emergency measures especially the provision of water and the establishment of the Integrated Soil Management Center to support the cleanup programme.

He called for support for the MOSOP president and pledged to support every programme initiated by the MOSOP leadership for the good of Ogoniland.

R