NYCOP celebrates Saro Wiwa’s 22 years anniversary

Gives FG ultimatum on Ogoni cleanup
President of the national youth council of ogoni people (nycop), young a. npkah, yesterday extolled the virtues of the late ogoni leader, ken saro-wiwa, who was killed by the sani abacha junta.

He stated this during the anniversary of the death of ken saro-wiwa and 12 others in 1995.

“without mincing words, let me start by identifying five cardinally ugly areas, which in the truest candour, deserve some mentioning either by way of advancing recognition for or by way of condemning.

“They include: insecurity, pipeline-laying/oil resumption, clean-up, accountability and peace,” he said. speaking on the proposed cleanup of ogoni land, he said: “we are two years away from that sugar-coated innuendo of promise regarding the clean-up of ogoniland.

“And sorrowfully today, nothing has taken place. not even a grain of sand, not even a tea spoonful of our polluted waters or a leaflet has been cleaned.

“What we hear everyday over the radio is the over-bloated and senseless reverberation of claims by the government that it has commenced the cleanup of ogoniland. this is not true as a careful observation of the degraded environment reveals.

“We, therefore, give the federal government of nigeria a 21-day ultimatum to mobilise to site or be ready to engage the ogoni people in a fresh legal, logical and internationally recognised opposition.”

On insecurity, he said the senseless spate of insecurity, which has infiltrated and emasculated development in ogoniland is not just worrisome but highly condemnable.

“It is, therefore, a thing of regret that we allow ourselves to be used against one another to create tension, terror and horror in our god-given land. what to do is not fight and kill ourselves, but to unite against the nigerian government.”

He added that it was quite regrettable, that some strange elements whose bourgeoning interest is to milk or fleece us of our god-endowed resources have laid pipes in tai local council and parts of gokana local council without bothering to negotiate with the people.

We, therefore, use this medium to warn in strong terms that such an unwholesome, selfish and thieving operation should stop forthwith. pipes cannot be laid nor can oil exploration resume in ogoniland without having an all-encompassing negotiation with the people and a cleanup of the land.