Ogoni women threaten nude protest over planned oil exploration

Women from the Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State have vowed to protest nude if the Federal Government goes ahead to resume oil extraction in the area without addressing their grievances.

Speaking under the auspices of “Ogoni Women Coalition for Sustainable Environment,” the women said they would not allow the resumption of oil activities in the area until key issues that led to the stoppage of oil exploration in the area in the 90s were addressed.

In a statement jointly signed by 15 women groups in Ogoni, released in Port Harcourt, on Wednesday, the women said the area was not ready for oil exploration resumption.

The groups are Mba Okase Initiative, Eedee Ladies of Tai, De Voice of Eleme Women Association, League of Queens International, Gbogbia Feefee Women, Lekeh Foundation, and We the People.

Others are KEBETKACHE Women Development and Resource Centre, Global Concern Women and Youth Development Initiative, Miikeekor Environmental Development Initiative, Concern Ogoni Daughter, Peoples Advancement Centre, Ogoni Women Coalition for Sustainable Environment, Yerebaneko Women Group, Tai and Ogoni Women Development Initiative.

The women groups lamented that they were being excluded in the ongoing oil resumption talks.

Fielding questions from newsmen, the leader of Mba Okase Initiative, Dr (Mrs) Patience Osaroejiji, said women of Ogoni were ready to protest nude to draw attention to their plight.

She said before oil exploration would resume, the Federal Government must look into issues that cost the death of a generation of Ogoni leaders.

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“If, having taken this position today and the government goes ahead to resume oil exploration, we the women of Ogoni will come out en masse and protest naked until the world hears us,” he said.

Osaroejiji regretted that the women of Ogoni were not duly represented in the ongoing consultations in the area, adding that women were being neglected.

The Coordinator of Eedee Ladies of Tai, Pat Ntetep, reading a statement, “Ogoni Oil Again in the Eye of the Storm, Ogoni Women Stand Against Oil Resumption in their Land,” said Ogoni women and their communities had, for decades, endured the impacts of the industry’s adverse activities.

Ntetep stated that the Federal Government had not addressed issues raised in the Ogoni Bill of Rights, which led to the stoppage of oil exploration in the area.

“It is disconcerting that in the ongoing frenzy to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland, the concerns raised in the Bill of Rights, which led to the termination of oil extraction and the repression of the people, have not been addressed.

“Similarly, there has been no attempt to secure justice for the countless families that lost lives, livelihoods and properties in what is still the worst attack on a peaceful indigenous population by Nigerian security forces.

“Persons who committed acts of genocide and abuses against unarmed populations and boasted publicly about it have still not been brought to justice.

“It is worrisome why the government will decide to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland when the pollution of the last decades is yet to be cleaned and the recommendations of UNEP are yet to be fully complied with,” she stated.

Ntetep asked the government to halt any planned attempt to resume oil activities in Ogoniland and concentrate on redeeming the ecological disaster in the area.