PRESS RELEASE (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) January 24, 2014 A PASSIONATE APPEAL: I have invited you here today to help us deliver a message to the political actors in Rivers State. Particularly the governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, and their teaming supporters. We were reliably told after the botched rally of the save Rivers State movement at Bori, the Traditional Headquarters of the Ogoni people on Sunday January 19, 2014, that the governor had vowed to personally take the rally back to Bori on Saturday, January 25, 2014. We make bold to say that such is unbecoming of a state governor, who should be a custodian of and well versed in law and order. Such attitude exposes him to govern the State with dictatorial tendencies, which very many people frown at and hold against him. Bori should not be used as a testing ground for might and sacrilege. Permit me to say here and now that inasmuch as everyone has an inalienable right to launch whatever he wills (SRSM inclusive), so long it does not infringe on some others’ right, common sense tells all that, for Mr. Amaechi to insist on planting a Movement that is not Ogoni-based as such, with the consciousness of its consequences, on the people who are already volatile, is not only ill-advised, ill-timed and inhumane but certainly a continuity of the killing spry which he and Mr. Nyesom Wike, in collaboration with our Ogoni politicians started at Sogho and neighboring Communities in 2012. In my capacity as the Administrator of the Ogoni Environmental Protection Agency (OGEPA) and a foremost Human Rights Activist, of Ogoni extraction; I hereby humbly advise Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, our governor, and Mr. Nyesom Wike, the minister of state for Education and their supporters to PLEASE conduct all their political activities outside the Ogoni Territory for the now, for the sake of peace and humanity. This is because NONE of them is a friend of Ogoni and will not be. I and my colleagues believe that this battle that is engulfing Rivers society is succinctly for the soul of Rivers State (and Ogoni), which is for their individual and selfish gains, and NOT for the interest of all, as they would want us to believe; hence the duo have continued to use human lives to further their cause. In a quest for a better society for the generation after us, Ogoni has lost so many men and women which cannot be replaced. We do not want anyone to die anymore, especially for these selfish politicians who delight in using us as tools, give us N2,000.00 for to protest for them, while they smile to the banks. It is on record how both men (Ameachi and Wike) with their Ogoni political associates, masterminded the killings and unlawful confiscation of acres of farmlands in Ogoni, while thousands of defenseless indigenes of the area died, defending their ancestral properties. These same people are here again, claiming to love us and would give us the chance to rule Rivers State. We DO NOT want to rule Rivers State. Our struggle has a roadmap and we must follow that to its logical conclusion. Ogoni wants to rule herself and we have sounded that loud and clear; without fear or favor. An index for anybody to prove his love for Ogoni it to throw his weight behind that with those of us that believe in the Political Autonomy of Ogoni. I have said this over and over again. And I use this medium to challenge all Ogoni everywhere to invest a quarter (¼) of the energy which they intend to exert on ruling Rivers State, into the Self-Rule, which a section of Ogoni is ALREADY practicing since 2012; and see if it will not blossom within a year, and EVERYONE will live happily thereafter. That is the Ogoni struggle, that is the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) and that is why Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Eight compatriots surrendered to the hangman’s noose. It wasn’t to be tied to the apron-string of politicians or seek to rule Rivers State. Thank you gentlemen for your time and co-operation. JOHN LAR-WISA Administrator (OGEPA) 0803 355 1467
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 08:15:11 +0000