Ledum Mitee, environmentalist and human rights activist, is former president, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP. He succeeded Ken Saro-Wiwa, the renowned writer and environmentalist, who was hanged with eight other Ogoni leaders after a sham trial by the military government of General Sani Abacha. Excerpts:
If Ken Saro-Wiwa were alive today would he be happy with the autonomy that was recently declared by the Ogonis as a dream come true?
I think people are giving this thing more seriousness than it is. And it stems from the fact that somebody can just go to the Internet and make a proclamation and many people start taking it seriously, without checking if it has substance. For me, it is nothing more than something that exists in the cyber world than the real world. The Ken I knew existed in the real world.
In essence, what you are saying is that this self-autonomy that was declared should be taken with a pinch of salt?
Salt! Let me give you this analogy. If someone declares today that he is the president of Nigeria and issues a press release towards that fact, how does that make him the president. In fact, the president should not take that person serious until he comes to Aso Rock and says ‘Jonathan get out.’ And that is the same thing with this declaration. At the end of the day has anything changed in Ogoni after the declaration? Is the local government not functioning? Is the apparatus of the government in any of these areas threatened? Those are the fundamentals and that is what people should deal with and not one press statement that was made under one tree.
From what we read in some of the papers, it was said that a court system and law making system had been put in place in Ogoni land to make decisions for the people?
Take a trip to the village, there is no such thing. Even Goodluck (Diigbo) that declared it, we do not know his office. We do not know where he operates from. If there is an authority, it should at least have an office where it operates and can be contacted. But where is he? I also heard that the Bakassi people declared self-autonomy. I don’t take all this seriously. However, all this points to something: that these areas need attention, that there are problems there. We Ogonis have always said from day one, that we have a problem. What people should try to find out is why is it that the Ogonis are not happy with River State? Those are questions we should answer.
Why are the Ogonis not happy to stay in Rivers State?
Basically they believe that some of the things that pertain to them are not being dealt with. Those are the issues we are looking at in terms of development, and control over issues that pertain to them.
Is it that the Ogonis would want a state of their own, not that they want to secede from Nigeria?
Absolutely. If you read the bill of rights, it says that while we affirm our wish to remain part of the Republic of Nigeria, we make this demand; one of which is political autonomy that guarantees Ogoni control over their affairs, their languages, and their environment. In other parts of the world they would call it devolution of powers or decentralisation. By the time you devolve power like that to the local community, then you find out that they will be able to take care of their own affairs.
Some people have attributed the Ogoni struggle as being about resource control while some insist it is about the degradation of their environment, what is it really about?
The fundamentals of Ogoni struggle are that we live in a rural community in which the population density is very high for a rural area. We are sharing the same territory with pipelines that spill occasionally. This occasional spillage has contaminated our land. The United Nations confirmed it last year when they released a report. These are the things we saw that made us feel agitated. We also feel that we are not getting sufficient and adequate proportion of the resources of our land for our own development. They are taking the resources from our land and yet we are living in conditions that our people drink polluted water, living in squalid conditions, yet billions of money is generated from our resources. There is everything to make us believe that if we do not do anything we will be extinct soon. The rate of death and the prevalence of diseases that have been recorded are not things that were there before.
But there seems to be disunity within the ranks and file of MOSOP?
The Ogoni and MOSOP are actually very united. Even though we have some elements that disagree but essentially we are still united.
What about the Diigbo faction. He still parades himself as the president of MOSOP?
If he says he is the president of MOSOP? Then ask him, where is his office? We have an office in Port Harcourt, why is he not there?
Let me ask you categorically; is he a member of MOSOP?
I can’t see his name in our books. Let me explain, it is not as simple as that. You see, every Ogoni person believes that he or she is MOSOP. Now, after the crises that put me and Ken in jail, MOSOP sat down and decided that we should not be held accountable for the activities of each and every Ogoni person. We also have our own criminals, people who can do lots of things. In order for MOSOP to be held accountable, every person now needs to be registered and also pay membership dues. For you to contest an election in MOSOP you must be registered.
And you’re saying Diigbo is not registered?
Unless he did that last night (August 12, 2012) (Laughs)
If Ken Saro Wiwa were alive would he be happy with the state of Ogoni right now?
He would be disappointed that in spite of the sacrifices he had made, he would have expected far more progress than we have made. But at the same time he would be happy that some of the things he had said have come to reality. The United Nations have confirmed, in languages that look exactly like the ones he was using, about our devastated environment
Source: OgoniNews
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