The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has urged Ogoni people to maintain close vigilance on Shell saying the company has a history of lying about the Ogoni situation. Chairman of MOSOP Kingdom Coordinators Forum Frank Jonah made the call yesterday at a media briefing in Port Harcourt.
The MOSOP spokesman was reacting to news of Shell’s planned exit from Ogoniland.
Shell is a lying company MOSOP said. They have a history of lies. They claim they are socially responsible but the Ogoni case where they have made billions of dollars and made no attempt to address the problems of the people shows how crude and irresponsible Shell truly is.
Mr Frank Jonah said “Ogoni people have long made clear their position on the issue, that we do not want Shell in Ogoni. We maintain that Shell is responsible for the killing of over 4,000 Ogonis including the killing of our leaders in 1994 and 1994.”
The MOSOP spokesman maintained that the Ogoni people cannot at this time build a relationship with a company that has caused us so much pain and still continues to use the Nigerian military against our people in a bid to force its way into our area. They are only interested in our oil and not in our development”.
Mr. Frank also said “the denial of every social benefit due for the Ogoni people and continual interest in our oil shows how racist Shell is and it our position that Shell does not merit doing business in Ogoniland any longer.”
Responding to a question on the solution to the problem, Mr. Frank said Shell should leave Ogoni alone, government should create a state for the Ogoni ans a matter of urgency and take steps to address the demands in the “Ogoni Bill of Rights”. The MOSOP leader believes that will help build some confidence about government seriousness and talks can be fruitful.
Source: OgoniNews
