The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has disowned calls by its youth wing, the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), for the removal of the project coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey.
The group in a statement issued by the publicity secretary, Comrade Imeabe Saviour Oscar, condemned the attitude of denting HYPREP bosses and development strides for pecuniary gains, pointing out that at the end of it all, it would boomerang on the entire Ogoni ethnic nationality.
The statement noted that MOSOP was disturbed that its youth wing could make such a call when the wing is the highest beneficiary of the Zabbey-led HYPREP Project, evidenced by the number of jobs created, capacity development and other benefits.
It urged Ogoni youths to continue to give their maximum support to the clean-up programme and resist attempts to be used by detractors as ready tools to truncate the project.
It stated: “MOSOP is particularly bugged that its youth wing has embarked on this vain mission and views it as arbitrary and a violation of the protocol of engagement in view of the subject matter.
“While we disown and condemn such an unpatriotic and self-serving gesture in the strongest terms, we insist that the HYPREP Project is a work in progress and deserves the support of all true sons and daughters of Ogoni, both here and in the diaspora, to succeed.
“The project holds enormous benefits for the aggregate mass of Ogoni women, youths, children, and the environment, and we should be constructively engaged to implement the project effectively. We are all beneficiaries of the Project, whether directly or indirectly, and should not be quick to throw away the baby and the bath water when it appears things do not align with our personal interests.
“MOSOP frowns at perceived pecuniary and self-serving moves that can derail the course of the Clean-up programme, especially the call for the change of the Project Coordinator. Professor Zabbey is the third substantive project coordinator of HYPREP. So far, he is making good progress in implementing the thematic areas of the Ogoni Clean-up programme and should be encouraged to stay focused on this mandate.
“It is a fundamental concern that the constant change of the project coordinator is at the base of the slack in the project pace, and we would not be a party to reinforcing this anomaly”.
It commended the federal government for its commitment to the clean-up of Ogoniland and urged HYPREP to be mindful of the enormous responsibility with which it is saddled, which is to remediate hydrocarbon-impacted communities and restore the people’s livelihoods.
