A new pressure group from Ogoni land with the name Ogoni Voice Achievers Foundation (OVAF).
It has announced its opposition to the Nigerian Federal government’s indication action loop it will restart oil exploration in Ogoniland.
The OVAF Founder & Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Gospel Barifii Gokana, has condemned President Tinubu’s government’s approach as “deeply flawed, unjust, and unacceptable.”
OVAF warned that the planned resumption resumption of exploration alongside the failure to tackle the pollution could fuel resentment and renew conflict.
He said the government
should encourage genuine consultation with the Ogoni.
“Only a select few have been invited into closed-door negotiations. This selective engagement fails the test of free, prior, and informed consent, which is… a right under international human rights norms.”
USAfrica multimedia networks in Houston notes that the exploration and transporting of crude oil and other derivatives have caused more than 64 years of devastating impact on the riverine Ogoni and its neighboring communities and States in the zone and further up in Imo and Abia States of Nigeria.
By Chido Nwangwu
