Pres. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, of Nigeria should act fast to extend the educational opportunities reportedly given Niger delta ex-militants to study overseas to hundreds of Ogoni nonviolent activists roasting in refugee camps-and other locations-in Benin Republic, West Africa.
Pres. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, of Nigeria should act fast to extend the educational opportunities reportedly given Niger delta ex-militants to study overseas to hundreds of Ogoni nonviolent activists roasting in refugee camps-and other locations-in Benin Republic, West Africa.
This call is coming in support of an earlier advocacy by Barry Wugale of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF), published by the Daily Independent of March, 2011, and titled: "800 Ogoni in Benin Republic: Group petitions Jonathan," by Valentine Amanze, Regional Editor.
The Ogoni Children Cultural and Fundamental Rights Council (OCAFAC-USA) sees this move by Jonathan's administration as a step in the right direction even though we don't believe granting amnesty to Niger delta for its just struggle was necessary. Every struggle, as clearly declared by the Ogoni-African and world's human and environmental rights icon Ken Saro-Wiwa, is a pain. Whether violent or nonviolent-though nonviolence is preferred-struggles, when they start, what matters to those involved is a rousing end that would bring their aims and objectives to reality. No matter how painful, how many deaths incured in the process, victory is always looked to in the end. Ogonis are also eager for such victory and must not be excluded from positive fall over from a struggle they started and have sacrificed so much for.
It's this victory anticipated some day that's propelling Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans and motivated South Sudan to stand up for change. It's same spirit that Americans used to take up arms against the British imperialists, therefore the experiment and better experience that is America today. Just to mention but few, this same spirit of victory at the end steered and stirred Mahatma Ghandhi of India; Martin Luther King Jr. of America, Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Ken Saro-Wiwa of Ogoni/Niger delta whose state and corporate murder by hanging (with 8 other innocent activists) and teachings/motivation opened the eyes and stirred Niger delta peace activists and militants. Jonathan, is of course a product of that inspiration/motivation.
Therefore, knowing what we know about freedom, its challenges especially the fact that more people probably die in nonviolent struggle than violent, and while OCAFAC applaud Jonathan and his team for this latest move to rehabilitate these freedom fighters known as Niger delta militants, we request as a matter of urgency and fairness that same benevolence or magnanimity be extended to Ogoni nonviolent advocates spread all over Benin. This is, if the government isn't indirectly saying that those looking for change or freedom, justice and development should take up arms as legitimately done by the Ijaws of Niger delta, Jonathan's tribe.
No gainsaying the fact that Ogoni under the able leadership of Saro-Wiwa (who brought peaceful indigenous groups's mobilization as never seen and felt on the continent of Africa and forced the cruelty of the Nigerian government and multinational oil rogues such as $hell Oil on the global map) brought the pains and ruins, exploitations and deaths in Niger delta to global fore. Yet, Ogoni nationality has been systematically edged out and denied every opportunity and good things/developments they desire and deserves. Ogonis who escaped persecution in the wake of Nigeria's hanging of the Ogoni Nine for nothing than our determination to demand our fundamental rights, resist exploitation and death, are still languishing in appalling conditions in Benin refugee camps since the mid 1990s.
According to the Daily Independent, ” “If the ongoing amnesty programme and rehabilitation of former militants is to discourage violence and encourage constructive engagement, the use of logic, the invocation of policies and best accepted political principles to advance the cause of the Niger Delta... the Ogoni activists who were victims of violence perpetrated by the state and Shell cannot then be excluded from the process," Barry Wugale of OSF was quoted as saying. The report continued, “It will be a betrayal of the philosophy of the current government if Ogoni activists that had refused to subscribe to violence all through the span of their struggle are conspicuously ignored in the attempt to usher in sanity in the agitations for the development of the Niger Delta.”
It's based upon these premises and many others too numerous to mention herein that the Ogoni Children Cultural and Fundamental Rights Council (OCAFAC-USA) is calling on Jonathan, his team of advisers on Niger deltans-which includes Oronto Douglas, who reportedly destroyed his law gown when Saro-Wiwa was unjustly killed, and had traveled abroad speaking out-, the National Assembly and presidency to treat Ogoni fairly by including those in the Benin refugee camps in the overseas educational opportunities granted Niger delta militants. They'd also assist in allevating the sufferings on those at home. The government owe it to Ogoni to work out a framework that will allow Ogoni activists home and abroad to collaborate with her and take note of Ogoni refugees in Benin Republic for onward processing for travel to accredited and quality schools in America and Europe. This, and many other well thought development plans/efforts (including the creation of Bori State) will make Ogonis feel a sense of inclusion in the Nigerian State and help ease the tension between them and the Federal government.
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