State creation: Ogoni petition Jonathan, Obama over exclusion

 

State creation: Ogoni petition Jonathan, Obama over exclusion

 

The people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State have expressed concern over the omission of Bori State from the 31 states proposed for creation by the national conference.
Sequel to the development, the Ogoni, under the aegis of Bori State Movement (BSM), led by a second republic fed­eral lawmaker, Senator Cyrus Nunieh, had urged President Goodluck Jonathan and his United States of America counterpart, Barack Obama, to come to their aid.
In a letter addressed to Presidents Jonathan and Obama as well as the Senate President, David Mark, the Speaker, House of Repre­sentatives, Aminu Tambuwal and Chairman of the National Conference, Justice Idris Ku­tigi, and signed by Senator Nunieh and five others rep­resenting the six local gov­ernment areas that make up Rivers South-East Senatorial District, the Ogoni said the petition became imperative to forestall future crisis in Ogo­niland.
They stressed that Ogoni people would not want any treatment that would cause disharmony in the land and capable of leading to an­other bloodshed.
Also, the people said they would not want to see the Federal Government as a liar, after the National As­sembly, on receipt of BSM’s memorandum requesting for the creation of Bori State, admitted that the area met the requirements as provided in Section 8 of the 1999 Consti­tution on state creation.
“We are appealing to all of you and the president of the United States of Ameri­ca, to come to the aid of the Ogoni people and other eth­nic nationalities in the Riv­ers South-East Senatorial District, which had submitted their memorandum for the re­quest for the creation of Bori State.
“For we fear that, if the Bori State is not created, it may result in another Ogoni crisis, which took the lives of many great Ogoni sons and daughters like Ken Saro Wiwa; and which caused our great country, Nigeria, to be suspended from the British Commonwealth.”