The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People in the United States of America (MOSOP-USA) has called on the Nigerian Government to create a separate state for the Ogoni people in Rivers.
Rivers state is mostly dominated by Ogoni Ethnic Nationality, Ogoni which is located at Rivers East Senotorial District and it is Made up of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme local Government areas of the State.
According to report by Leadership, the group called for equal right to employ Ogoni people In all the Nigerian Government companies in Ogoni Land.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by Elder Dinebari Augustine Kpuinem and Mr Kesiup C. kpooni, President and Secretary of the group.
They added that if the Government didn’t give ear to this call that Ogoni is no longer part of Nigeria.
The statement reads partly,
“It is very sad that the Ogoni people who contribute almost one-quarter of the national resources are permanently ignored and excluded from the Nation’s budget for decades.
“We also feel neglected and abandoned or excluded as, according to figures from the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS), Ogoni has the highest population of unemployed youths in Nigeria; with insecurity and underdevelopment being the ethnic nationality’s additional non-developmental trophies.
“But in contrast, we have more than enough federal government’s investments in Ogoniland capable of eliminating poverty and unemployment.
“Despite all our outcries and demands as an ethnic nationality that should make us have equal rights and treatment in the Nation, the people and government of Nigeria still treat Ogoni as an outcast.
“We demanded an autonomous political State in Nigeria – one of the critical demands that will reassure and integrate us as part of Nigeria.
“We demanded the exoneration of our leaders who were innocently murdered. We demanded the total cleanup of our environment. But all these demands as of right had fallen on deaf ears.
“If Ogoni is still considered part of Nigeria, MOSOP-USA, in collaboration with all Ogonis in Diaspora, hereby call for full implementation of the above demands, as a matter of urgency from the federal government of Nigeria, or let Ogoni go.”
