Get Guardian on GoogleA group, Ogoni Liberation Initiative, OLI, has issued strong warnings to mischief makers and individuals sponsoring ‘divide and rule’ tactics to cause divisions in the communities, saying, it will be very difficult for any of these people to stall the Ogoni struggle for personal interests.
The President/CEO,Dr. Fabeke Douglas,in a statement made available to The Guardian in Abuja, said that our struggle cannot be stopped by division or by agendas that seek to divide us, adding, those who tried it before were stopped by men who offered their lives for the freedom of the Ogoni people.
Douglas cited late Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others that were unjustly hanged to death, and”they knew that they would die, yet they did not refuse to die. In his final statement before the tribunal, Ken Saro-Wiwa said, The Ogoni people have suffered tremendously.”
“Oil resources run across local governments and through many communities. Organisation has the right to develop programmes for their communities as oil bearing communities,but it should not be used as a tool for public campaign against the struggle.”
“We’re not against giving special recognition to the communities that suffered most from severe environmental pollution, and no one should use this as a public campaign against the unity of the struggle. When God blesses the Ogoni people, those most affected communities will be properly repositioned,” Douglas added.
The President recalled, “in 1990, we all stood up against tyranny with one voice. Let us continue with that same voice to free our people. Every voice and every mission must work toward one goal. That is why a document was drafted to guide the struggle.”
