From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Former agitators and some critical stakeholders from Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State have written a petition to President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, condemning their exclusion from the negotiation to resume oil production in Ogoniland.
The stakeholders led by a former militant leader and pioneer secretary of First Phase Ex-Agitators, General Nature Dumale Kiegha, vowed to resist the non-inclusion, warning that excluding Ogoni ex-agitators from the technical committee on resumption of oil production was a recipe for crisis.
Nature wondered why someone like him, who hails from Kono, a major oil producing community in Ogoni and leads ex-agitators and other non-violent people from the area, should not be considered on the negotiation table, despite his contributions to preventing violence through peace building, not just in Ogoni, but in Niger Delta region and Nigeria at large.
He lamented that persons involved in the interface deliberately kicked the ex-agitators out to create a lacuna for another round of unrest.
Nature, who is also the coordinator of Eco Citizen Ogoni Initiative, said any attempt to exclude the ex-militants from the negotiation table would be met with strong resistance and called on the Federal Government to split Ogoni oil fields into three blocs for economic justice.
He reminded the Federal Government that youth restiveness and violent extremism was a direct consequence of decades of environmental pollution, unemployment and exploitation by oil companies, which operated in the area without proper community engagement.
He said the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and the peace achieved so far were possible because ex-agitators chose dialogue over violent extremism, adding that ignoring their voices and suggestions was capable of reversing the gains of peace.
He cautioned that excluding them while rewarding only the elite and political actors would send a dangerous signal that the system was rewarding self centred elements while sidelining peaceful former agitators.
He warned that such narratives could rekindle militancy among frustrated youths, who might feel betrayed by a system that only remembered them when it needed peace but forgot them when it was time to share the benefits.
Nature said he was part of a recent two-day validation workshop that was held at the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) through the Office of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) on a revised policy framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in Nigeria.
He said: “I am the Coordinator of Eco-Citizens Ogoni Initiative and the CEO/MD, Youth Rescue international Development Organisation. I am also the immediate past secretary of the Niger Delta Ex-Agitators First Phase. I also doubled as the first Chairman, Strategic Communication Committee of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
“Over 3000 young violent youths have gone through our process of rehabilitation. They were accommodated for six months, fed for six months and catered for six months. The government and IOCs have not supported this initiative for once.
“Many of these youths have been delivered from violent extremism. They have been delivered from drug abuse, cultism, kidnapping and oil theft. Many of them in Ogoniland know the efforts we have made, yet they don’t want somebody who will bring about positive change and positive transformation in the life of the youths in the land of Ogoni to be part of the ongoing negotiations.
“What we intend to do with the eco-citizen Ogoni initiative is to move wealth from self-centred individuals to community youths. That is why in a few months from now, we will be engaging 560,000 Ogoni youths as Eco Citizen Ogoni marshals, who will go into mangrove restoration and ecosystem restoration because that is where the world is heading.
“All these responsibilities qualify us to be critical stakeholders not just in Ogoni but in the Niger Delta region. But, we have taken time to observe that we have not been given the attention or the respect and honour we deserve as Ogoni sons.
“We represent a constituency and that constituency has not been contacted or engaged. The ex-agitators, critical stakeholders that have to do with the youths of Ogoniland are the people who will give the social license to any company coming to do oil exploration in Ogoniland.
“We represent a generation of young leaders who believe that our young men can be empowered to become positive change agents. One way that can be done is through knowledge sharing and leadership transitioning. Negotiation of oil and gas resumption in Ogoniland is one way that can be done.”
Nature called on Tinubu, whom he fondly referred to as, ‘our father’ and the NSA to quickly review the report submitted to them and ensure their inclusion in all activities relating to oil resumption in Ogoniland.
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