Okafor Ofiebor/ Port Harcourt
The leadership of the Movement for the Survival Ogoni of People, MOSOP, the umbrella pressure group of Ogoni People worldwide today, Friday August 4 staged a mass protest in Biara, Gokana local government area of Rivers State against the purported plan by Shell Petroleum and Federal Government to resume oil exploration in Ogoniland.
Legborsi Pyagbara, President of MOSOP said prominent Ogoni sons and daughters turned out for the peaceful protest to marks the sixth year that a team of experts from United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, submitted its report to former President Goodluck Jonathan after intensive research and soil analysis of the polluted sites on August 4, 2011, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja and recommended urge clean up and remediation of polluted sites.
He added that the protest was also to show disapproval for alleged attempt by Shell to start oil exploration in Ogoniland through the back door.
Pyagbara lamented that despite the inability of Federal Government start proper clean up of impacted sites in Ogoni land, there are suspicious, surreptitious move by Shell and the Federal Government through Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC to start the exploration.
The MOSOP leader noted that that some experts are even calling for reassessment of the polluted sites because more damages had taken place since the last assessment six years ago.
He regretted that the Federal government had not taken note of the fact that the Ogoni remediation is a health emergency because of the cancerous nature of the polluted water and the environment in the area
He warned that patience of the Ogonis is running out.