The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has described the plans to resume oil production in Ogoniland without the consent of the people as a continuation of the genocide against the Ogoni people being persecuted by Shell and Nigeria. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, made the observation on Tuesday during a meeting with the leadership of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), the youth wing of MOSOP, led by its president, Theophilus Mbagha, at the MOSOP National Secretariat in Bori-Ogoni.

Nsuke told the youth leaders that the attempt to force oil resumption in Ogoni is clearly a continuation of the repression the Ogoni people have suffered in Nigeria describing it as shameful for the country which seeks to play a leading role in the West African sub-region.

Nsuke said it was a national shame for Nigeria whose representative currently sits on the United Nations Human Rights Commission to be entangled in the humiliating disregard for human rights as is the case with the Ogoni people.

Citing the “notorious document” leaked to the public during the regime of Sani Abacha “Wasting, Operations”, in which the federal government allegedly planned to maintain military presence in Ogoni, cause crises within and between communities, the MOSOP President said the plans to resume oil drilling operations in Ogoni was a prosecution of the recommendations of Okuntimo in the “Wasting Operations” as the plot will certainly generate conflicts between local Ogoni dwellers and state security forces who have always been used to repress peaceful protests against injustice.

He said it was very shameful that a justifiable demand for fairness and equity to end the discrimination against the Ogoni people was being repressed by Shell and the Nigerian state.

Nsuke said the Ogoni people were not asking for too much, noting that as a major contributor to the Nigerian economy with capacity for 185,000 barrels of crude daily, huge gas reserves, two sea ports, two refineries, a petro-chemical complex, a power plant amongst others, the Ogoni people deserve the best treatment in Nigeria.

He said it was regrettable and unacceptable that the government “takes our land, our resources and share it to the rest of Nigeria leaving the Ogoni people empty”, stressing that the Ogoni struggle had been to secure the future of Ogoni which has been destroyed through Nigeria’s unfair and discriminatory laws as well as Shell’s unethical and irresponsible business practices of over 50 years.

The MOSOP President used the opportunity to call on Ogonis and all men of good conscience to stand for truth and justice and urge Nigeria to respect the political rights of the Ogoni people to self-determination.

“Shell and Nigeria have taken everything from us, they have taken away our land, they have taken away our resources and the proceeds from the sales are shared to the rest of Nigeria and all we are left with are the painful consequences of revenue generation. That is not acceptable to us and we demand a change,” Nsuke said.