Comment & analysis

Ledum Mitee does not believe that Shell should go

Pastor Barry Wuganaale (2007-05-17)

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Pastor Wuganaale, of the Ogoni Solidarity Front in Nigeria maintains that the Ogoni people wish to be free of 'indigenous colonisaton' and will not make a deal with Shell.


Barely 48 hours after the 'spiritual cleansing' service that was held in Ogoniland, the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) in Cape Town hosted Rev. Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah for a public talk entitled 'Nigerian Election: Is the country no Longer at Ease?'

The news of his visit to Cape Town, ostensibly to polish the image of the Obasanjo government and create a platform of acceptability for the incoming government, filtered into the office of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum about 24 hours before the programme.

Rev. Fr. Kukah summarily said that the Nigerian election is acceptable, considering the history of Nigeria and within the context of its politics, because there had been no credible election in the past. He emphasised that the George Bush election was as much fraud as the Nigerian election. 'But because it is America, things are still moving on' he said.

Kukah said the criticism of Nigeria’s own electoral charade is like describing the poor as thief. The Nigerian election is painted as fraudulent because it is Nigeria. This done to justify the mindset, perception and public opinion held of the country.

He argued that if the elections were as bad as the international observers claimed, 'why is it that there is calm in the country; the military should have taken over by now'.

Kukah went as far as to say that a fraudulent election is not the problem of the average Nigerians: 'what the people are looking for service delivery, no matter who is in power or how such person came to power'.

Kukah contradicted himself, even though he reaffirmed some of the things that are known facts.

For instance, he stated that the National Constitution Reformation Conference was aimed at elongating the period of Obasanjo in power. When it failed Obasanjo has to seek means of remaining relevant by becoming the power behind the power.

He also said that Shehu Musa Yar’Adua is not as clean as he has been portrayed. Stating that it is not practically possible for anybody to contest the position of the presidency in Nigerian without spending as much as 100,000,000 dollars he asked: 'who paid for all the planes that were used for the campaigns of Yar’Adua?'

His extensive presentation ended with the call that the Nigerian incoming government should be accepted, while at the same time he described Olusegun Obasanjo as the main disease that has bedeviled the country.

To his shock, the first person that intervened was an Ogoni, the project coordinator of Ogoni Solidarity Forum, Pastor Barry Wuganaale. He asked Kukah, 'if you know this much of Obasanjo and the fact that he runs a highly centralized state that masquerade as democracy, why have you been working with him to force the Ogoni people back into the failed state you describe Nigeria to be?'

The chairperson of the Anti-War Coalition of Western Cape followed with another question: 'Why is your committee aligning with the imperial force – Shell, that is behind the suffering of the people?'

The hall was dominated by the pro-Ogoni struggle activists. It turned the discussion to focus on Ogoni. Kukah flared in demonstration of his enragement and consequently made a lot of revelations. He was obviously stirred with the number of placards carried up from that moment till the end of the programme.

Some of the placards read:

'Rev. Fr. Kukah, what is your interest in Ogoni oil?'

'Kukah, what happened to the Oputa Panel?'

'If oil was in Kaduna would you allow it to be stolen?'

'Your Committee didn’t respond to the petition of the refugees in Benin!'

'Ogoniland does not need spiritual cleansing” “Ogoniland need environmental cleansing.'

'Don’t force Ogoni people to negotiate with HELL.'

'Kukah! Shell means HELL, what kind of clergy advocate for HELL for a people?'

'Ogonis are not ‘Nigerians.’

'Ogonis want to be free from indigenous colonization.'

'Ogonis are not your slaves.'

'Kukah; the time of slavery is over.'

'If you have no deal with Shell, hands off Ogoniland.'

In responding to the questions on Ogoni, which took over the whole discussion, Kukah said, it was Ledum Mitee that actually initiated the invitation of the United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP) and that he has never been to Nairobi to have discussion with the UNEP.

On this matter, there seem to be a kernel of truth in Kukah’s statement. During the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Pastor Barry who was in Nairobi narrowly missed Ledum Mitee who left on the day of the opening of the WSF. Legborsi Pyagbara confirmed to Barry that Ledum was in Nairobi solely for a meeting with UNEP. After the WSF, Legborsi stayed behind for almost two weeks to follow up with meetings with the UNEP.

Kukah told the audience under suppressed anger that 'money had been given to your president, Ledum, on several occasion by the governor of Rivers state and he did not utilize them'.

Kukah made a staggering revelation that when Ledum Mitee was asked to say what should be given to the families of the eight other Ogonis that were hanged with Ken, that he 'suggested five hundred thousand or at most one million naira to each family'.

Kukah stated that the 5,000,000 naira that was given to each of the families of the deceased were out of the magnanimity of Peter Odili. From that point, the heat was turned to Mitee, he asserted that if MOSOP is fighting for democracy, why is it that Ledum Mitee has ruled MOSOP for ten years without an election and set outside the constitution of the organisation?

Kukah reiterated that the problem of the Ogoni people is the prominent Ogoni people that collect contract from the back door from Shell and the government, that countless number of opportunities had been given to the Ogoni through their elites but they were squandered by their representatives in government and the MOSOP.

Kukah went on to openly say that even Mitee does not believe that Shell should be driven out of Ogoniland because 'as your president, Ledum, puts it, Shell is not a chicken that can just be driven away like that.'

The most important revelation that Kukah made to the audience is that the Ogoni people are already being antagonised, because, 'other tribes are worried that the Ogoni is cheating them for not allowing Shell to drill from their land, so whose oil would be used to develop your own land?'

Kukah implied that the Ogoni people must allow themselves to be part of the corrupt Nigerian system because the time of carrying placards over. Communism he said is death. 'Placards or guns had never enabled any people to form a government in the world, you have to join to the government because no matter how good your voice is, you can never sing anywhere except in the choir.'

He explained in no uncertain terms that the several Ogonis had been begging for appointment and departing from the Ogoni Bill of Rights. In apparently referring to struggle for resource control by the Ogoni people, he said:

'No ethnic group has ever had control over oil, it is the right of the federal government to mine and control oil and your people cannot achieve that.'

Mathew Kukah concluded by saying that the prayer and dedication of Ogoniland that was organised on 14 May was initiated by the Christian leaders of Ogoniland. 'If the Ogoni people say they want to pray and cleanse their land, l am not an Ogoni man and l cannot oppose it.'

* Pastor Barry Wuganaale is from the Ogoni Solidarity Front, Cape Town, South Africa.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

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