Oil firms from Ogoniland - The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has vowed to apply what it described as "justifiable stiffer resistance," against attempts by the Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or any oil company to resume oil production in Ogoniland. The group said the resistance package would include the "use of tactics to protect Ogonis, their families and property against physical attack". The tactics, it said were part of the indigenous Ogoni customary and traditional law, designed to prevent desecration of ancestral lands and sacred sites.

The MOSOP General Assembly took the stand yesterday after reviewing the report of a committee it set up on August 18 to review the Federal Government's declaration that oil production on abandoned Shell's 30 oil wells in Ogoniland would commence as planned notwithstanding a damning United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report that indicted Shell Petroleum Develop-ment Company (SPDC) for causing serious environmental contamination and threat to human lives in Ogoniland that would take 30 years to clean up.

The committee, which included representatives of 10 affiliates of MOSOP, in its report submitted to the MOSOP General Assembly meeting on Friday, accused the Federal Government of being responsible for the environmental tragedy in Ogoniland, while Shell was its partner in crime.

MOSOP President and Spokes-man, Mr. Goodluck Diigbo, who presided over the meeting said the Federal Government was insensitive to the plight of the Ogoni people and did not see the tragedy in their land as an issue that required any attention.

"The Nigerian Government still doesn't see the tragedy in Ogoniland as a human tragedy. All that the Nigerian government sees and wants the Ogoni people to have is the Hobson's choice; only one option: to allow for oil production, or be hanged to death. The NNPC is the most senior partner in the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria and it is owned 100 per cent by the Nigerian Government," he said.

The MOSOP Chief said the Ogoni people will cooperate with relevant United Nations agencies, especially the United Nations Trusteeship Council to implement any acceptable UNEP Ogoniland Assessment Report.

The Trusteeship Council was formed in 1945 to oversee decolonisation to help ensure that trust territories were administered in the best interests of their inhabitants and of international peace and security.

He vowed that the people of Ogoni "will reject direct or indirect involvement of the federal, state or local governments in Nigeria".

The MOSOP leader said: "I have read various articles and reports attempting comparison between the Ogoni environmental tragedy and the U.S. blow-out. The oil there bubbled up from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico when the Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire on April 20, 2010 and sank two days later. President Barack Obama swiftly responded and decisively. In Nigeria, 55 years went by. No single cup of clean water has been provided in the entire Ogoniland with over 1.2 million people."

The NNPC disclosed recently that it had not shelved the plan to commence production on the oil wells abandoned by the SPDC in the wake of the crisis that greeted the killing of former MOSOP President, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his kinsmen by the then military administration. The corporation said the re-entry plan was at an advanced stage and that its production arm, the Nigerian Petro-leum Development Company's (NPDC) would ensure that various stakeholders were carried along in whatever decision that would be reached at the end of the day.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs at the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma had in a telephone conversation with THISDAY stated that the re-entry plan was on course, irrespective of the oil pollution report and that the NPDC would begin production from the oil wells after the necessary arrangements had been put in pace.

"The re-entry plan is in progress. We have not shelved the idea because of the UN report. The NPDC will take over the operatorship of those oil blocks, but with a different philosophy. The philosophy will be that of unity, oneness and respect for the host community.", Ajuonuma said, adding "the corporation will have to appeal to the Ogoni people that producing oil in their community will improve their lot".

The Group Managing Director (GMD) at the NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon had in January disclosed the NPDC would soon commence oil production from the abandoned wells in line with the corporation's mandate to produce 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day in 2015.

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku

This Day/20/09/2011