The continual use of military force to attack civilians in the Ogoni area each time their is a protest against Shell calls to question the commitment of the Nigerian government to human rights and respect for the dignity of the human person especially the rights of the Ogoni people to express their displeasure over the devastation Shell has done to the land in over 50 years of the company’s presence in the area.
Last Friday’s military crackdown on protestors in Eleme, Ogoniland by men of the Military Joint Task Force (JTF) is one frightening demonstration of Shell-sponsored and government backed repression against the Ogoni people. One keeps wondering why a peaceful protest by a civil group to register their displeasure against Shell’s activities in the area will attract the use of military men to disperse.
On Friday November 30, Shell had arrived with some security personnel in Ebubu to clear a location preparatory for the resumption of operations in the area. This sparked a community protest. The company immediately invited the Military Joint Task Force who promptly came in to the area forcing the protestors to run for safety.
Two military helicopters immediately took over the airspace causing great panic to the residents. This is coming at a time the Nigerian government is graciously giving away the oil-rich Bakassi Penisula without question. Back home in Ogoni, the country is exercising it’s might against a small peaceful and non-violent Ogoni people for seeking to assert their fundamental rights.
It is puzzling why Shell is in the habit of inviting the military against a peaceful and justifiable civil protest? why is the government backing Shell on this psychological and lethal war against the Ogoni people? Why can’t the government seek an all inclusive and peaceful means to resolve the Ogoni problem? Why will Nigeria be so brutal against the Ogoni people?
The Ogoni are not asking for too much. The area sustains the economic life of Nigeria with two refineries, a petro-chemical complex, a fertilizer complex, two seaports, and an electricity power generating station.
Ironically, the Ogoni people live without electricity, water, and the unemployment rate is above 50 percent with over 70 percent of the population surviving on subsistence farming.
The conditions under which the Ogoni people find themselves are very pathetic and they deserve an emergency response. Ogoniland has contributed over 30billion dollars in oil revenue to the Nigeria economy between 1958 and 1993 yet the land and the people are dying – no right of identity withing the Nigerian state where major ethnic groups who make no contribution to the economy have been split into multiple states, no water to drink, an entirely polluted environment, no electricity, no schools, no hospitals, no employment for the young people, nothing at all to support a decent living.
The war against Ogoni is multifaceted. Recently, the Rivers State Government has indicated that 2000 hectares of farmlands will be handed to a Mexican farmer for some kind of mechanized farming. In an area where much of the land had been polluted, the government is still pursuing a land grab policy aimed at denying subsistence farmers their only means of livelihood. This is a highly lethal war and the world must rise to save the Ogoni people from being strangulated by Nigeria.
Can the government not find justification in the Ogoni protest? why should the government rather than resolve the issue use military repression? Has Nigeria deteriorated to the point where there can be no conscience in its actions and the country can allow the use of military might against a small and peaceful people who are protesting a violation of their fundamental rights?
Why should government expect the over 1million Ogoni people to keep silent and allow themselves to die for Nigeria’s economy grow in oil revenue? Nigeria needs to be more humane in dealing with the Ogoni people and save the country’s face in the international community.
Nigeria is prosecuting a program of genocide against the Ogoni people. And this is most painful because Ogoni people are also Nigerians, they have suffered a lot and have equally made more contributions than many parts of Nigeria, like Abuja, where the revenue derived from Ogoniland had been used to build and provide a decent environment for living.
By Davio Teniente ( davio@ogoninews.com) with contributions from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
