Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
As the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State mark the 2022 Ogoni Martyrs’ Day, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state, Magnus Abe said it is a period for sober reflection.
This is as the governorship candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), in Rivers State, Leyii Kwanee has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to exonerate the environmental right activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni compatriots of alleged criminal charges that led to their murder 27 years ago.
Abe, in a statement yesterday, said the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the gruesome murder of foremost environmentalist, Saro-Wiwa and his fellow compatriots, calls for sober reflection.
He said: “It is a great opportunity, once more, for the Ogoni people to reflect not just on the supreme sacrifice of blood, which the martyrs shed for the Ogoni cause but the reasons for which they made that sacrifice.
“I want to use this opportunity of the remembrance to thank the Ogoni people for their resilience and their determination that the sacrifice of the martyrs will not be in vain.
The struggle for the liberation and prosperity of the Ogoni people and indeed all those oppressed, economically, politically, environmentally, will continue until not just the Ogoni but all of God’s children across the world are liberated.
“It is my hope and prayer that we continue to uphold the tenets of the Ogoni struggle, the principles of non-violence, people-participation and the projection of the power of the people above the power of every tyrant.”
Also in his speech on the anniversary, Kwanee urged president Buhari to hearken to the voice of the people and clear the names of the Ogoni matyres from the blemish as one of the legacies of his administration which was in its last lapse.
Kwanee noted that the killing of Saro-Wiwa and other eight Ogoni activists was not justifiable, stressing that they were not given the opportunity of fair hearing in a normal court of justice.
He also pointed out that 27th years after the killing of the Ogoni activists, Ogonis have remained endangered species as the issues of environmental justice and economic resuscitation of Ogoni which they advocated was yet to be addressed.
He stated that Ogoni land remained desolate and bearing the brunt of oil pollution and total economic denigration, despite their enormous contributions to the development of Nigeria.
Kwanee, however, called on Buhari “to expedite action on the remediation of the battered Ogoni environment and implement to the letters the recommendations of the United Nations Environmental Project, UNEP report in Ogoni, as well as declare an emergency on the development of Ogoni land.”
He added that the Ogoni matyre’s day remembrance is to rekindle faith in the Ogoni struggle by remaining resolute and united against the forces of balcanisation, to fight for the social economic and political emancipation of Ogoni.
