Shell Vs Ogoni: Between Kukah And MOSOP

Ifeanyi Izeze

From all indications, the collapse of confidence in Rev Fr Hassan Kukah’s mediation in Ogoni is now complete. MOSOP which once welcomed him on the believe that at least he was better than any previous facilitator is now praising the good old effort of Justice Okwudifu Oputa- headed Reconciliation Panel which it said was more transparent in dealing with the Ogoni/Shell crisis.

Interestingly, it took MOSOP a whopping 24 months to realize this fact that was obvious from the onset. The truth was that the clergyman exploited his closeness with former President Obasanjo to misrepresent the situation of a breakthrough in the Ogoni-Shell crisis. What else would anybody including MOSOP expect when it was glaring that Kukah was too close to the former president to do his job in Ogoni very well.

Recent developments have shown that Fr Kukah, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation of Ogoni and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) failed to register how seriously the Ogoni people took their protest against Shell. Also, it seemed he has not fully appreciated the seriousness of the issues involved in the crisis, despite his claims of high level dialogue even a MoU among the stakeholders.

Since the latest reconciliation effort started two years ago, no tangible achievement has been recorded aside deteriorating security situation in the entire Ogoni. While the ordinary Ogoni people are wallowing in oil/neglect-induced poverty and hardship, both the facilitator and the activists have been busy enjoying themselves across the different continents of the world. As at today, it is only in Ogoni that bicycles are still used to taxi commuters from one point to another. In the Yorkana area of Ogoni, people still live in the primordial standards and this is not a joke.

To Fr Kukah, the first and the most important thing to do after two good years of ‘dialoguing’ with Shell and Obasanjo was to order for a spiritual cleansing of the entire Ogoniland, a carnival which MOSOP alleged would have provided the platform for the facilitator to smuggle into the domain of the ordinary Ogoni people the Shell-prepared plan of relationship. In a plain language, Kukah simply turned the issues in the Shell-Ogoni conflict into child’s play.

Since Fr Kukah started his second missionary journey in Ogoni, his claims of progress could best be described as “delusional” as was rightly captioned by MOSOP. On several occasions the facilitator’s efforts to publicly exaggerate his progress have bordered on causing a major crisis in Ogoni as alleged by MOSOP. The Ogoni rights group has been vehement in declaring that “none of the maneuvers of the past two years have resembled anything like a frank and open discussion, which Ogoni specifically sought two years back when the people accepted Kukah as a mediator.” And rather than claim credit for reconciling the people, the Kukah-led panel should ascribe that feat to the Oputa Panel.

To place in proper context, Fr Kukah’s dialogue process started when the International Centre for Reconciliation from Coventry Cathedral wrote to MOSOP that they have been approached by Shell to explore the possibility of some dialogue process. This followed a report by Coventry that reconciliation was possible but must be conducted with integrity. That report encouraged the Federal government to identify credible facilitators which eventually led to the appointment of Kukah. Regrettably, the clergy’s misplaced priorities failed to address the major grouse of the Ogoni people.

What tangible achievement can Fr Kukah and his team claim throughout Ogoniland for two years now? Absolutely nothing! From Eleme to Bodo Waterside, the story remained the same- abject deprivation, environmental devastation and continual Shell/Government harassment. How long can Kukah and his team feast on Ogoni while the people continue to wallow in abject poverty and deprivation? The plain truth is that the Kukah-led has failed woefully in its assignment except they one full millennium to achieve a single tangible result.

Whether the group likes it or not, MOSOP’s impotence or rather selfishness has been a major part of the problems militating against peace and reconciliation efforts in Ogoni. Pathetically, none of the attempts so far to reconcile Ogoni and Shell has yielded any positive result due to insincerity on the part of the Shell, at least this has been the claim by MOSOP. The question is: Could it be possible that MOSOP itself has also contributed immensely to the failure of earlier efforts? The answer is a very big yes for the obvious reason of insincerity also on the part of leaders of MOSOP.

The Fr Kukah initiative was the third attempt to reconcile Ogoni and Shell. The first, which was by the Methodist Church, failed as MOSOP alleged that the facilitators, could not muster the courage to call Shell to order, when the company allegedly started to undermine the process. Kukah was also involved in the second attempt, which was under the auspices of the Oputa Commission. That ended when the Ogoni people pulled out after Shell failed to render an apology for insensitivity as ordered by the Commission on the demand of MOSOP.

Ogoni issues must be addressed the MOSOP way if not, Shell must be held responsible for destabilizing Ogoni with the intention of forcing itself back into the area against the will of the people. For how long can the people afford to continue to buy that MOSOP mindset? Such posture cannot be said to be beneficial to the general interest of Ogoni people because almost all the elite of the area are enjoying privileges either abroad or in governments at the Rivers state and federal levels. Although the divide and rule tactics of both Shell and Government in Ogoni must be opposed vehemently, MOSOP also should wake up their ideas and realize that it is time to come to a middle ground for Ogoni to move forward.

What is MOSOP’s business in deciding which oil company replaces Shell in Ogoni? How is that going to change the unsustainable oil and gas exploitation practice in the area? The crux of the Ogoni agitation as stated publicly and which I have followed or rather participated for over 15 years has nothing to do with whoever is involved in oil operations in the area. Ogoni was battered environmentally with nothing to show for the massive wealth extracted from the area, the people were amongst the poorest and most backward in the entire Niger Delta, and the people wanted to have some levels of control over the resources in their area. Also, there should be a massive capital injection to bring the area to a manageable level of development and this was where the issue of reparation came in. These were my understandings of the entire Ogoni struggle except there are other hidden agenda. And if there is none, it is very difficult to see how preference for a particular oil company against another would help address the issues.

MOSOP would have been better off today if it had since the beginning of the conflict registered and oil exploration and exploitation company. It would have entered into a joint venture agreement with existing companies either foreign or local to provide the platform to insist on selection of the companies to operate in the area. It is no longer enough to simply protest for the sake of activism as this may be rightly taken for lack of proactive initiative and this may not be very far from the truth.

MOSOP’s declaration that Kuka never kept to the terms of the reconciliation agenda was nothing but an outright acceptance of impotency by the Ogoni rights group. “While the Ogoni team was waiting for the agenda, the people were given SPDC’s clean-up plan without prior consultation.” How would MOSOP be up to date in the reconciliation process when its top leaders have been fully occupied traveling across the world feasting on Ogoni goodwill?

If Fr Kukah actually rejected the people selected by MOSOP to represent Ogoni at the committee it actually ‘may’ be in the overall interest of the area. It is possible that MOSOP was selfish in nominating its loyalists to serve in the committee as against the wider interest of all the diverse opinion groups in the area? Needless to say that many interest groups have sprung up in Ogoni. And whether well or evil-intended, it is only appropriate to carry everybody along in the ongoing reconciliation exercise if the peace and reconciliation is to be total. This may help also to avoid sabotage or opposition from certain quarters as currently happening.

IFEANYI IZEZE IS A PORT HARCOURT-BASED ENABLING ENVIRONMENT CONSULTANT (iizeze@yahoo.com)