Ogoni Native Rulers and Politicians Refuse To Disown Self Government

During a visit to President Goodluck Jonathan, some Ogoni native Rulers on government payroll and politicians in Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who visited the president practically avoided any attempt to deny the August 2, 2012 declaration of Ogoni political autonomy by MOSOP President/Spokesman, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo.

MOSOP learned that they were invited by President Goodluck Jonathan to discuss the Ogoni declaration of self government on August 2, 2012.

In a reaction from New York, Dr. Diigbo said “those who visited Jonathan realize that the Ogoni people are doing the right thing enforcing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). They did not reject political autonomy, but they frowned at misrepresentation of the Ogoni internal autonomy by sections of the media as sovereign state. Ogonis are not fools and the visit made the case.”

Speaking on behalf the native rulers and politicians during the visit to President Jonathan in Abuja, Mr. Abe (PDP River South Senator) said: “I don't think that it is correct to say that anybody has called for a Sovereign State of Ogoni people, I think, there was a kind of misrepresentation in the media.”

“If they had disassociated themselves from the Ogoni right to political autonomy as was declared; their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan would have been irrelevant and considered a betrayal,” Diigbo pointed out.

Diigbo who is currently in New York exploring opportunities to consolidate the Ogoni self government as authorized by the United Nations Declaration said the visit to Jonathan by his fellow Ogoni leaders enabled President Jonathan to understand the commitment of Ogonis to take their own destiny in their own hands and not to be treated as third class citizens in Nigeria.

“All I can say unequivocally, is that August 2, 2012 declaration of political autonomy for the Ogoni people is irrevocable and it remains valid,” Diigbo reaffirmed.