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History

Brief Historical Background of Ogoni

Ogoni territory lies on 404 square miles off the coastal plains terraces to the north-east of the Niger River Delta. Inhabited by about a million people, its population density is among the highest in any rural area of the world. The Ogoni people have settled in this area as farmers and fishermen since remembered time and had established a well-organized social system before the British colonialist invaded them in 1901. Within thirteen years, the British had destroyed the fabric of Ogoni society. British rule of the area was "haphazard" and no treaty was signed with the Ogoni. By 1960, when colonial rule ended, the British had consigned the Ogoni willy-nilly to a new nation, Nigeria, consisting of 350 or so other peoples previously held together by force, violence and much argument in Britain's commercial and imperial interests. The nation which the British left behind was supposed to be a federal democracy, but the federating ethnic nations were bound by few agreements and the peoples were so disparate, so culturally different, so varied in size, that force and violence seemed to be the only way of maintaining the nation. In the circumstance, the interests of the few and weak such as the Ogoni were bound to suffer, and have suffered. Petroleum, the symbol of Ogoni agonies and pains, was discovered in Ogoni in 1958, and since then an estimated 100 billion US dollars worth of oil and gas has been carted away from Ogoni land. In return for this, the Ogoni people have received nothing. The exploitation has turned Ogoni into a wasteland: lands, streams and creeks are totally and continually polluted; the atmosphere has been poisoned, charged as it is with a hydrocarbon vapors, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and soot emitted by gas which has been flared 24 hours a day for 33 years in very close proximity to human habitation. Acid rain, oil spillage and oil blowouts have devastated the Ogoni territory. High-pressure oil pipelines crisscross the surface of Ogoni farmlands and villages dangerously. The results of such unchecked environmental pollution and degradation include the complete destruction of the ecosystem. Mangrove forests have fallen to the toxicity of oil and are being replaced by noxious neap palms; the rainforest has fallen to the axe of multinational oil companies, all wildlife is dead, marine life is gone, the farmland has been rendered infertile by acid rain and the once beautiful Ogoni countryside is no longer a source of fresh air and green vegetation. All one sees and feels around is death. Environmental degradation has been a lethal weapon in the war against the indigenous Ogoni people. Incidental to, and indeed compounding, this ecological devastation is the political marginalization, complete oppression, and Genocide of the Ogoni, and especially the denial of their rights, including land rights. At independence, Nigeria consisted of three regions. Since then 30 states* have been created largely for the ethnic majorities who rule the country. Most of the states so created are unviable and depend entirely on Ogoni resources for their survival. The demands of the Ogoni for autonomy and self-determination even within the Nigerian nation have been ignored. The Ogoni had been corralled into a multi-ethnic administrative state in which they remain a minority and therefore suffer several disabilities. Mining rents and royalties for Ogoni oil are not being paid to Ogoni people. In spite of the enormous wealth of the land the Ogoni people continue to live in pristine

2 conditions in the absence of electricity, pipeborne water, hospitals, housing and schools. The Ogoni are being consigned to slavery and extinction. *Nigeria now has 36 States and a Federal Capital Territory in Abuja Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People MOSOP A Brief Presentation

Background
The MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE OGONI PEOPLE (MOSOP) is an Ogoni-based non-governmental, non-political Organization committed to the advocacy of human, environmental, economic, political, and cultural rights of the Ogoni ethnic minority people of Southeastern Nigeria. Adjudged 500,000 in population by the Nigerian census of 1963, the Ogoni may number about one million people currently. In land mass Ogoni is larger than 21 and, in numerical strength, more populous than 37 nations registered with the United Nations. As an ethnic nationality of one of the indigenous peoples of the West African sub-region, the Ogoni fought for their survival among other ethnic minorities of todays Niger Delta and enjoyed self determination under- self rule until the advent of colonialism when it was forced into varying types of political arrangements over different periods of its history. The Ogoni struggle for survival and self- determination can rightly be said to have begun with western colonialism and the resultant geo-political amalgam which resulted from it, the Nigerian nation state. Today, in independent Nigeria it fights internal colonialism which began with the political penetration of Ogoni through a planned but ethnic- inspired political control and resource transfer from the numerically weaker Ogoni for the development of the dominant areas. By that indigenous colonialism with its tins of oppression, repression and criminal exploitation, Ogoni has remained impoverished despite the endowment of all its six kingdoms with a fertile alluvial pain for agriculture, streams and rivers for fishing, and oil and gas. Through undemocratic laws, Ogoni lands have been allocated for people of other tribes, its resources exploited without consultation or participation and its environment degraded.

The Birth of MOSOP

Having failed, through decades of a painful pursuit of economic and political empowerment for the Ogoni through political participation, petitions and agitations, it became clear that Ogoni emancipation would not be achieved so long as the constitutional arrangement and the existing political structures remained. An alternative strategy to amplify the Ogoni struggle and hasten the realization of its goals was to be pursued. Behind this new thinking was Ken Saro-Wiwa, prolific writer, business-man, minority rights campaigner and environmentalist. He wrote the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) and convened the Ogoni assembly to consider it. It was unanimously adopted and local chieftains, elders and the Ogoni elite scrambled to sign it. MOSOP was then proposed to be the umbrella organization through which the OBR was to be pursued through non-violent struggle. The Bill of Rights which was presented to the Government in 1990 called for, among other things, political autonomy to participate in the affairs of the republic as a distinct and separate unit (by whatever name called), provided that this autonomy guarantees political control of Ogoni affairs by

3 Ogoni people; The right to control and use a fair proportion of Ogoni economic resources for Ogoni development; Adequate representations, as of right in all Nigerian national institutions, and the Right to protect the Ogoni environment and ecology from further degradation. The OBR was ignored by government for three years. The Ogoni assembly, under the leadership of Ken Saro-Wiwa reconvened and in an addendum to the OBR empowered MOSOP to make representations to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the economic and cultural rights of the Ogoni people especially that the Nigerian constitution does not protect the rights of the Ogoni as an ethnic minority.

Mobilization:
Although the efforts to mobilize the Ogoni people had been sustained from 1989, a major turning point was in 1992 when Ken Saro-Wiwa, spokesman of the Ogoni presented the Ogoni case before the UN Commission on Human Rights at its summer confab in Geneva. The OBR received wide coverage in the local and international media. Village, district and nationality meetings and rallies were held in Ogoni to educate the people on the purpose and tenets of the struggle. If the whole idea of MOSOP and an organized struggle was exciting to the Ogoni, the presence of Ken as the Grand theorist and commander of the movement had an electrifying effect. His patriotic love and zeal for the Ogoni had long endeared him to the people. Some elite and chieftains that had long been discarded by the Ogoni were beginning to earn respect and acceptance merely by association with MOSOP. An elite Ogoni group, KAGOTE, under the leadership of Dr. G.B. Leton (first president of MOSOP at the time) conferred the first Ogoni national merit award on Ken in November 1992. The citations on that occasion cannot be reproduced here, except to say that when envy and jealousy, oiled by the government tactic of divide-and-rule set in later, some members of the same elite group were not only to desert the movement but also rewrite their eulogies to call for Kens hanging

Protests:
January 4, 1993 was the day for carefully planned demonstrations throughout Ogoni. All six kingdoms of Ogoni turned out 300,000 people in protest rallies characterized by marches, speeches, drumming and dancing. Most of the lost vegetation appeared replaced on the streets, roads and playgrounds as every protester brandished green leaves alongside placards. The rally was also to mark the UN International Year of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples.

Reaction of Shell &amo; Government

Rather than dialogue with MOSOP and accredited Ogoni leaders, government and Shell chose to harass, arrest and detain them, especially Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa. Rallies and demonstrations were frequently stopped and the people intimidated but the Ogonis were not to be deterred. When peasant farmers turned out to protest further destruction of their crops for new pipelines, Shell would promptly call in soldiers who would shoot, kill and maim. In April 1993 government promulgated the treason and treasonable offenses Decree which made the demand for any form of political autonomy a capital crime. The Attorney-General at the time explained that the decree was aimed at combating organizations such as MOSOP which are viewed as secessionist by virtue of their championing of ethnic causes and their advocacy of fundamental changes in the relations between the central government and local communities. Since the decree would not deter the Ogoni people, Government and Shell held meeting on how to stop the Ogoni agitation and counter the international campaign against government and Shell. They were to monitor Saro-Wiwa and mount an anti-

4 MOSOP campaign. Ken was arrested in June 1993 and charged for treason. Alhaji Alhaji, Nigerias High Commissioner in Britain said MOSOP had declared Ogoni republic, hoisted its flag and printed its own currencies. Shell and government collaborated also to use the divide-and-rule tactic on Ogoni to weaken the movement. Money and other enticements were to be used to split the organization by bribing people against each other. Armed attacks were sponsored against the Ogonis, first, using the Andoni axis (June-September 1993), the Okrikans (Nov. 1993), the Ndoki-Ibo axis (April 1994). The grand finale was to start on May 21, 1994 after four pro-government Ogonis were murdered at Giokoo in a riot precipitated by a planned military occupation of Ogoni that day. The entire Ogoni was sent into the forests and several people shot (reports on these incidents are available from several human rights organizations). Several Ogoni villages were wiped out in some of these wasting operations.

Military Tribunal and the 1995 Hangings

Accusing MOSOP of dissident tendencies and acts of economic sabotage, the Nigerian military, in collaboration with Shell, rather than address the demands articulated in the Ogoni Bill of Rights chose to visit warfare on the people and kill MOSOP. Without any valid allegation Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis were sentenced to death and executed on November 1995 using testimonies witnesses were bribed to sign. Shell retained the services of an attorney, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to represent the interest of Shell throughout the proceedings of the military tribunal. In that, Shell and the Nigerian military, demonstrated again, that the spilling of blood is legitimate as long as oil would flow. While 20 other Ogonis await trial by the same tribunal, Ogoni remains under military siege. MOSOP leadership is being decimated in an attempt to crush the movement.

January 1996 killings

Undeterred, the Ogoni defied the military to hold their annual Ogoni Day celebration on January 4th 1996. The army again went to work, increasing troops to over 3,000, shooting, killing, and looting at the end of which some persons were killed, several wounded and at least 300 arrested, including Ledum Mitee, lawyer and deputy president of MOSOP who came out of a 16-month detention in October 1995. Ogoni remains under severe suppression. MOSOP offices have been looted and sealed by security forces while several officers and activists have gone underground or fled into exile in different countries. While government lies that Ogoni is free for everyone to visit and see things for themselves independent reporters who venture into the area are arrested and detained, sometimes tortured. Paul Adams of the Financial Times of London is one of their latest victims arrested on January 4th, 1997. Ogoni is today in an undeclared state of emergency and its people under severe military repression and punishment.

Government Propaganda
The anti-MOSOP campaign by Shell and the Nigerian military have been intensified since the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The circulation of two booklets printed by government since last year have been intensified and Nigerian diplomats have been given handouts to advertise in foreign newspapers. While the booklets aim to discredit MOSOP the trust of the advertisements is to justify the judicial murder of Ken.

5 Although the first booklet is unsigned, MOSOP has evidence that it is published by the Federal Ministry of Information. Captioned The Ogoni Crisis: How Saro-Wiwa turned MOSOP into a Gestapo and the later (though backdated) booklet, The Ogoni crisis: The true Story contain fake pictures and documents to portray MOSOP as a terrorist organization. Government got smarter with the latter in accrediting it to a non-existent Ogoni Study Group. Government films on Ogoni have been aired on State stations and circulated in the Western world. A commissioned film has been released which is partly sponsored by Shell. --- Sir Meshack Karanwi (Published by MOSOP Bureau of Information & Publicity, October 1997)

MOSOP-USA: HISTORY PREAMBLE

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, United States of America (MOSOP-USA) is a non-governmental, non-political, developmental and cultural organization of the Ogoni people. MOSOP-USA is an affiliate of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP). Its aims are to promote democratic awareness among Ogoni people, protect the Ogoni environment and to struggle non-violently for the rights of the indigenous people of Ogoni.

FOUNDING
MOSOP-USA is guided by the provisions the 1990 MOSOP Constitution although it functions under the Articles of Incorporation (AOI) as required by the United States law. MOSOP-USA accepts as its working instrument, the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR), which detail the demands of the Ogoni people within the environmental, social, economic, and political and human rights frameworks of Nigeria and the international community. MOSOP-USA was created in 1994 by a devout group of Ogoni sons in the United States of America in apt response to the invitation of Ken Saro-Wiwa to be involved in propagating to the world the environmental and ecological devastation of their motherland, OGONI . According to a letter of approval of the organization from the Secretary of State Office of The State of Texas dated March 21, 1994 and signed by the Assistant Secretary of State, Hon. Audrey Seeden, IT HAS BEEN OUR PLEASURE TO APPROVE AND PLACE ON RECORD THE ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION THAT CREATED YOUR CORPORATION. WE EXTEND OUR BEST WISHES FOR SUCCESS IN YOUR NEW VENTURE. Letter, with a Certificate of Incorporation, was addressed to Dr. Sean LeBari, the Incorporator and Legal Adviser of the organization. Five directors - Dr. Vincent Idemyor, Mr. Joseph Poroma, Mr. Nnule Mpeba, Mr. Joseph Baakel and Mr. Lucky Naadueba constituted the initial board of directors of the corporation (Article of Incorporation, Appendix IX).

PURPOSE
Under Article IV of the Articles of Incorporation of MOSOP-USA, the organizations purpose includes:

To protect and preserve the natural resources and environment of OGONI

To protect and promote the indigenous people of OGONI, its culture and languages To encourage and promote the economic, educational and social advancement of the OGONI people

1st. MOSOP-USA EXCO Members:

President Dr. Vincent Idemyor Secretary General Joseph Baakel Financial Secretary/Treasurer Mr. Joseph Poroma Assistant Secretary Mr. Yereba Kina

(He took over as Secretary General of the organization after Mr. Baakel relocated back to Nigeria). In 1996, their ranks were swelled with the arrival of more Ogoni activists-turned-refugees from the Republic of Benin and Ghana. A second wave of Ogoni refugees poured into the States between 1998 and 2000 with a continued trickle through the coming years. These activities occasioned the expansion of the MOSOP-USA EXCO and general membership. MOSOP-USA organized and held consistent outings including peaceful demonstrations against the activities of Shell and its allies in Ogoni; enlightenment campaigns; advocacy; workshops and representations to the United Nations. However, at the zenith of its successes, and especially with the new arrivals, the organization began to experience rifts and drifts. As a result, MOSOP in the Americas was born. Notwithstanding, its core held tight and both organizations functioned at parallels though still pledging allegiance to the parent body, MOSOP. The situation created serious concerns amongst MOSOP elder statesmen who took on the challenge of ensuring both organizations became one under the auspices of MOSOP-USA. After several months of behind the scene meetings and negotiations spearheaded by Dr. Vincent Idemyor, Rev. (Dr) A.N. Bulo, etc., an agreement to dissolve MOSOP in the Americas and a bipartisan Caretaker Committee formed to pilot the affairs of MOSOP-USA pending the election and inauguration of a MOSOP-USA Executive Council.

CARETAKER COMMITTEE Members:

Chair Dr. Vincent Idemyor Co-Chair Rev. (Dr) A.N. Bulo Secretary Mr. TomBari McFini Financial Secretary/Treasurer Mr. Joseph Poroma Publicity Secretary Mr. Meshach Karanwi

The parameters for the formation of an Electoral Committee (EC) and the organization of a formal election were to be worked out by the Caretaker Committee and the Council of Elders. In November, 2005, in a general meeting held at Atlanta, Georgia formalized these accord leading up to the meeting at Houston, Texas in 2006. At the meeting, an Electoral Committee comprising Bishop Augustine N. John-Miller, Chief Stephen B. Kpea, Mr. Member Tsaro-Mene and Mr. James Naley, was formed. Terms of Reference which included the organization, conduct and inauguration of a MOSOP-USA Executive Council were spelt out. In July 2008 at Washington, DC during a MOSOPUSA Leadership Retreat, the span of the Electoral Committee was unanimously streamlined to conform to MOSOP Constitutions provisions. In May 2009, members of the Executive and Board of Trustees voted unanimously to increase the membership of the Electoral Committee by one. Mr.

7 Leburah Ganago was appointed and approved as the fifth member. The EC was, thereafter, mandated again to conduct the 2009 MOSOP-USA general elections.

ELECTIONS
On September 1, 2007, at a general conference in Chicago, elections were held. Members of the EXCO were elected and inaugurated into a two-year term in office, in accordance with the MOSOP Constitution. The Caretaker Committee was forthwith dissolved. To commemorate the memorable occasion, conferees capped it up with a Church Mass at St. Paul by the Lake, Chicago on September 2, 2007.

2nd. MOSOP-USA EXCO Members:

President (Mene) IkpoBari Dumletam Senewo Deputy President Mr. George Komi Secretary-General Mrs. Catherine Nwileh-Ibeagha Assistant Secretary-General Mr. Koida Ejire Financial Secretary Mr. Godfrey N. Taneh Treasurer Mrs. Veronica Nkoroken Public Relations Officer/Publicity Secretary Mr. Felix B. Gumnwee*

(*Mr. Andrew Bulo was elected into this position but resigned after a few days. The EC filled the position with Mr. Gumnwee who came second in the election).

BOARD OF TRUSTEES (BOT)

MOSOP-USA is actively supported by a Board of Trustees (BOT). The BOTs roles are primarily consultative and advising. In 2008, its officers were appointed to work collaboratively with the EXCO to fashion out policies and way forward for MOSOP-USA. Chaired by Hon. Noble Obani NwiBari, the BOT is made up of the following officers and active membership: Chief Stephen B. Kpea (Vice Chairman); Mr. Member Tsaro-Mene (Financial Secretary); Dr. Vincent Idemyor (Member); Mr. Leburah Ganago (Secretary); Bishop A. N. John-Miller (Member); Mr. James Naley (Member); Elder Williamson Nwinee (Member); Mr. Joseph Poroma (Member); Mr. Meshach Karanwi (Member)

CHAPTERS AND AFFILIATES

Chapters of MOSOP-USA fan out across the United States of America. They all work towards the goal of furthering the Ogoni Struggle . Chapters of MOSOP-USA are active in: Arizona, Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Houston, Iowa, Kansas City, Memphis, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, St. Louis, Utah, and Washington, DC area. In cities and/or states with less than two Ogoni family presences, such a family allies itself with nearby Chapter(s) or represents itself independently at the national level. MOSOP-USA has, however, continued to call for the formation of more chapters in cities and states with Ogoni presences in the United States, no matter the number of Ogoni in such cities or states. Affiliates of MOSOP-USA have not been that pronounced in the United States of America. However, presently active affiliates are the National Union of Ogoni Students, International (NUOS, Intl.-USA) and the Federation of Ogoni Women Association (FOWA-USA). NUOS, Intl operates

8 mainly at the national level. In 2005, a chapter of NUOS, International was established at the Harry Truman College, Chicago. By the end of 2006, the chapter has died a natural death owing to the transfer of Ogoni at Truman to other colleges within and outside the Chicagoland area. Unlike NUOS, Intl, FOWA operates chapters in select cities. The affiliate is not functional on the national podium. However, considering its importance to the furtherance of the Ogoni Struggle especially in Diaspora, MOSOP-USA inaugurated the Ogoni Women Outreach Committee (OWOC). With membership drawn from the six Ogoni Kingdoms and Special Areas, OWOC was mandated to rally all Ogoni women in the United States in the bid to revive FOWA.

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) is a campaigning organization representing the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta and their ethnic and environmental rights. Its mandate is to campaign non-violently to: promote democratic awareness; protect the environment of the Ogoni people; seek social, economic and physical development for the region; protect the cultural rights and practices of the Ogoni people; and seek appropriate rights of self-determination for the Ogoni people.[1]

[edit] History
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People has struggled against the degradation of their lands by Shell in Nigeria. MOSOP was an offshoot of another Ogoni organization and only metamorphosed into MOSOP based upon a study of the republican struggle in Northern Ireland. Reference is made to this in a speech by Goodluck Diigbo, Ken Saro-Wiwa's confidant. Goodluck Diigbo, a journalist, was the National President of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People, NYCOP. Saro-Wiwa had charged him with the responsibility of establishing seven of the ten affiliates that made up MOSOP. Before the affiliates came into being, Saro-Wiwa who initiated the idea of MOSOP had attracted a mix of educated Ogoni elites and chiefs, including its first president Dr. Garrick Barile Leton,[2] Chief E. N. Kobani became vice president of MOSOP. MOSOP initiated its efforts with the 1990 Ogoni Bill of Rights, addressed to the federal government. The Bill reads like a model statement before a mediator. It lists their concerns: oil-related suffering of their people, governmental neglect, lack of social services, and political marginalization. These concerns were placed in the context of a self-definition: the Ogonis as "a separate and distinct ethnic nationality." On this basis they sought autonomy, environmental protection, control of a fair share of the revenues from their resources, and cultural rights, such as the use of their local languages.[3] Beginning December 1992, the conflict escalated to a level of greater seriousness and intensity on both sides. It was in this phase of the conflict that overt violence was applied on the large scale by the Nigerian government. Diigbo, who had survived seven attempts on his life as he administered day to day affairs of MOSOP said in February 2002 at the Indigenous Peoples Global Conference, IPGC held at the United Nations, New York that: "Ogoni was boxed in, stuck with nonviolence and had no resources to weather the violent storm instigated by Shell and the government. We risked instant extermination, if we, the Ogoni people had dared to resort to violence. We were barricaded by excessive violence. Violence tempted us to respond and watched over us to dare. Let me admit that we were incapabable of violent self-defence, so we dared, but without recourse to violence." The collision course between the two parties was set with an ultimatum to the oil companies (Shell,

9 Chevron, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company) which demanded some $10 billion in accumulated royalties, damages and compensation, and "immediate stoppage of environmental degradation," and negotiations for mutual agreement on all future drilling. If the companies failed to comply, the Ogonis threatened to embark on mass action to disrupt their operations. By this act, the Ogonis shifted the focus of their actions from an unresponsive federal government to oil companies actively engaged in their own region. The bases for this assignment of responsibility were the vast profits accrued by the oil companies from extracting the natural wealth of the Ogoni homeland, none of which were trickling down to the Ogoni. The national government responded by banning public gatherings and declaring that disturbances of oil production were acts of treason. In spite of the ban, MOSOP went ahead with a massive public mobilization on January 4, 1993. The event, called the first Ogoni Day, attracted about 300,000 people in massive festivities, the largest mobilization of the Ogoni ever conducted. Over the next month as the mobilization continued, one Shell employee (out of thousands) was beaten by an Ogoni mob. As a security measure, Shell Petroleum Development Company withdrew its employees from Ogoniland. This action had very mixed consequences. Oil extraction from the territory has slowed to a trickle of 10,000 barrels per day (1,600 m3/d) (.5% of the national total). However, because the withdrawal was a temporary security measure, it provided the government with a compelling reason to "restore order": resume the flows of oil from Ogoniland and of oil money to national coffers. On May 21, 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were murdered. Saro-Wiwa, head of the opposing faction, had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but was then detained in connection with the killings. Rivers State Military Administrator Lt. Col. Dauda Komo did not wait for a judicial investigation to blame the killings on "irresponsible and reckless thuggery of the MOSOP element".[citation needed] The occupying forces, led by Major Paul Okuntimo of Rivers State Internal Security, claimed to be "searching for those directly responsible for the killings of the four Ogonis." However, witnesses say that they engaged in terror operations against the general Ogoni population. Amnesty International characterized the policy as deliberate terrorism. By mid-June, 30 villages had been completely destroyed, 600 people had been detained, and at least 40 had been killed. An eventual total of around 100,000 internal refugees and an estimated 2,000 civilian deaths was recorded.[4] On 10 November 1995 nine activists from the movement, among them the playwright Ken SaroWiwa, were hanged by the Nigerian government on charges of "incitement to murder". The Commonwealth, which had pled for clemency, suspended Nigeria's membership in response.[5] Ogoni Day observances and protests were held under military occupation on January 4, 1996. Five or six protesters were killed in the town of Bori. 1990 - At the centre of the struggle was Ken Saro-Wiwa, a respected writer and activist who was instrumental in founding MOSOPthe Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni Peoplein 1990. The Ogoni Bill of Rights issued by MOSOP in the same year demanded ... Show more From Land rights - Related web pages books.google.com/books?id=JOQscXNUWLwC&pg ... 1991 Aug 1991 - Shortly after MOSOP's decision to seek international support in August 1991,

10 Ogoni leaders began direct foreign lobbying of transnational NGOs.32 MOSOP was able to pitch the Ogoni case for several reasons discernible by comparing MOSOP to other oil ... Show more From Globalization and human rights - Related web pages books.google.com/books?id=BdoSjsfe3McC&pg ... 1992 Dec 1992 - "343 In October 990, MOSOP sent the Ogoni Bill of Rights to then head of state Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, but received no response. In December 1992, MOSOP sent its demands to Shell, Chevron, and NNPC, the partners in the joint ventures operating in ... Show more From The price of oil - Related web pages books.google.com/books?id=TS33XBkRZhsC&pg ... 1993 Jan 4, 1993 - It was not by accident that the Green Peace, a leading world environmental protection body was among the first international NGOs to identify with MOSOP by attending the Ogoni national day celebration on January 4, 1993, when 300000 Ogoni people ... Show more From Ogoni: Time to Real Reconciliation www.unpo.org/content/view/9869/134/ 1994 May 21, 1994 - 58 Following a mob attack against the liberals, who were meeting at Gionkoo in Ogoniland, which resulted in the death of four prominent Ogoni on May 21, 1994, a Special Tribunal convicted MOSOP leaders of murder. Show more From MINORITY RIGHTS: International Law of Self-Determination and the - Related web pages https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com ... 1995 May 1995 - Saro-Wiwa, Mitee and other leading members of MOSOP were arrested in May 1995 on trumped-up murder charges. After a show trial which featured false evidence and bribed witnesses, Saro-Wiwa and eight others were hanged. Mitee was the only one to be acquitted. Show more From Stop environmental racism in Nigeria: Boycott Shell! - Related web pages

11 www.greenleft.org.au/node/13901 Nov 10, 1995 - He and eight other Mosop members were hanged on 10 November 1995 for murder after a special tribunal, widely adjudged unfair in Nigeria and abroad. The then military dictator General Sani Abacha ignored all protests and pleas by the international community for ... Show more From Ogonis still mourning 10 years on - Related web pages news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4424238.stm 1998 Oct 1998 - Ledum Mitee, who had led the group from exile after the death of Saro Wiwa soon had problems with other members of MOSOP abroad, especially those in the United States. In October 1998, the MOSOP (USA), which included Dr. Owens Wiwa, Ken Saro Wiwa's ... Show more From Natural resources and conflict in Africa - Related web pages books.google.com/books?id=D2qt0c4vAF8C&pg ... 2005 Nov 10, 2005 - Port Harcourt As part of activities marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Ken Saro Wiwa, elders of Ogoniland and members of Movement for the Survival for the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Wednesday night observed a peaceful candlelight procession in memory of their kinsmen. ... From allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Ogoni Elders, Mosop Rememmber Saro Wiwa, - Related web pages allafrica.com/stories/200511110298.html Apr 26, 2009 - The court order followed the election of a new MOSOP President/Spokesman, Hon. Goodluck Diigbo, who was sworn-in on April 26, 2009. Mitee who lost the election refused to give account and to handover after 14 years in office. The constitution of MOSOP ... Show more From Mitee Back To Court To Restrain Mitee from further Parading as MOSOP Related web pages www.modernghana.com/newsthread1/265467/1/ REFRNCES 1. ^ "About Us - Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)". http://www.mosop.org/about_us.html. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 2. ^ Okafor, Obiora Chinedu (2006). Legitimizing human rights NGOs: lessons from Nigeria. Africa World Press. pp. 3941. ISBN 9781592212866. 3. ^ Rwomire, Apollo (2001). Social problems in Africa: new visions. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 8385. ISBN 9780275963439.

2009

12 4. ^ http://allafrica.com/stories/200807250063.html 5. ^ "Nigeria suspended from Commonwealth". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/nigeria/11-11/. Retrieved 2010-05-13. 6. ^ http://www.native-net.org/archive/nl/9601/0061.html

External links

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People official Website Memorial Events for Tenth Anniversary of November 10th Executions [hide]v d eNigerian militant groups

Arewa People's Congress (APC) Bakassi Boys Bakassi Movement for Self-Determination Egbesu Boys Igbo's People's Congress (IPC) Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force Niger Delta Vigilante Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_for_the_Survival_of_the_Ogoni_People" Categories: Secessionist organizations | Energy in Nigeria | History of Nigeria | Ogoni people | Political movements Hidden categories: Articles lacking reliable references from June 2009 | NPOV disputes from June 2009 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from May 2009

Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a secessionist movement with the aim of securing the resurgence of the defunct state of Biafra from Nigeria. It is led by an Indian-trained lawyer Ralph Uwazuruike, with headquarters in Okwe, in the Okigwe district of Imo State.