The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said the federal government under President Bola Tinubu is very committed to its plan of cleaning the hydrocarbons in Ogoni land.
This is just as the paramount ruler of Nortem Bori community in Ogoni, King Lenu Tsaro Igbara (Gbene Teekoo IX) expressed gratitude to the Tinubu-led administration over the plan to clean-up the poluted land.
Ganduje who spoke when the Ogoni King paid him a congratulatory visit at the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Monday expressed appreciation to his visitor for recognising the effort of President Tinubu in the Niger Delta.
He said, “So, I am happy today, our brother His Royal Majesty from Ogoni land has come to this office in order to appreciate what the federal government is doing to the Ogoni land. He (Ogoni monarch) appreciated the cleaning up because of the pollution, which everybody knows is an environmental hazard.
“Though, royal fathers are not partisan, same time, since they represent the security, the social and the need of the people, they are also in a position to thank the government if something is done to their own people. In that case, they are not exempted from doing what he has done”.
Earlier, King Igbara noted that the clean-up exercise is paramount to his people due to the environmental hazard the Ogoni land faces.
He expressed delight over the ressumption of production of petroleum products in the area.
He recalled that the oil well allotted to Shell Petroleum in Ogoni land was sealed up by the military administration of Gen. Sani Abacha in 1993 following the killing of rights activist, Ken Saro Wiwa.
“Over the years, Shell’s licence to prospect oil in Ogoni land expired but on assumption of office, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu embarked on the clean-up of Ogoni. The federal government handed over the well to NNPC, and the NNPC has since returned to the site in preparation to commence work.
“By the time this operation begins, about 300,000 barrels of oil, representing 25% of daily production, will be produced from the Ogoni oil well”, the King said.
