By Davies Iheamnachor

PORT HARCOURT— Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has said that the problem of the Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State was not oil deposited in their land alone, but injustice against the people of the area.

MOSOP noted that the people of oil-rich Ogoni were being marginalized by well-placed individuals, oil giants and the government.

In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Publicity Secretary of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, also alleged that MOSOP had uncovered a plot by key oil industry operators in Nigeria to kill its president, Legborsi Pyagbara.

He called for dialogue between the three key stakeholders in the Ogoni crisis, the Federal Government, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC and the Ogoni people, for pending issues to be resolved.

Nsuke said: “We emphasize that the Ogoni problem is not just about oil but an unjust system that has marginalised our people, discriminated against us and is driving us into extinction. These, we must note, are far beyond the capacity of any oil local industry operator to resolve.”

MOSOP restated its position on the Ogoni conflict, insisting that the three parties to the conflict including Shell, the Nigerian government and the Ogoni people must dialogue to resolve the issues.

Nsuke alleged that plot was being hatched through the sponsorship of local actors to engage in a campaign of calumny against the leadership of MOSOP, cause crises in Ogoni and provide an environment to kill Pyagbara just like the late Ken Saro-Wiwa treatment.

“We want to alert the world of the activities of two oil companies, which have engaged local actors, sponsoring groups and individuals solely to cause crises in Ogoni to justify a crackdown on activists and treat the current  leadership of MOSOP in the same way it dealt with a generation of Ogoni leaders in the 90s which eventually led to the 1995 hangings.”