Former president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, said what the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State are demanding from the federal government is autonomy, and not secession from the country.
Pyagbara, who disclosed this yesterday while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, the state capital, as part of activities marking the 30th Ogoni Day celebration, said the demand was in line with the provisions of the Ogoni Bill of Right.
He advised the federal government to use the occasion of the celebration of the 2022 edition of the Ogoni Day, to engage the people of the ethnic nationality on the Ogoni question raised in the Bill of Right.
The former MOSOP president said: “Ogoni struggle is 30 years down the line. What has happened as far as the issues that were raised are concerned.
“In the preceding 30 years of the struggle for a just and inclusive Nigerian society, the continued refusal of the federal government of Nigeria to enter into a broad and genuine reconciliation with Ogoni people is a clear temptation to violence and anarchy, especially when others are being rewarded.
“It will be nice if the government of Nigeria will use the period of this year’s Ogoni Day celebration to call Ogoni people for a dialogue. We call on the federal government to enter into a dialogue with Ogoni people on the Ogoni question being raised by the Ogoni Bill of Rights.
“What are the basic questions? We are talking about autonomy to Ogoni people within a federal Nigeria. Ogoni people have never said any day that they are seceding from Nigeria because the Ogoni Bill of Rights said ‘while we are affirming our faith in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we make the following demands as follows’.
“So that is a preamble paragraph in the Ogoni Bill of Rights and that does not in any way suggest secession. So, anybody saying that we want to secede from Nigeria are only misinterpreting the Ogoni Bill of Rights,” he said.
