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• KAGOTE, MOSOP at daggers drawn; FG wields legal stick against activist
By Daniel Abia, Port-Harcourt
There is an atmosphere of frustration and distrust over the already established peace process between the Ogoni people and the federal government. The process is aimed at ensuring a diplomatic resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni land after about 32 years.
A globally recognized environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa and other prominent Ogoni activists and chiefs paid the supreme price in that struggle to save the Ogoni environment from bastardization.
Fairly enough, in January 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu magnanimously established the Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC) with the mandate of engaging the Ogonis towards achieving a durable resolution of the issues surrounding the resumption of oil production.
It was also aimed at rebuilding trust and strengthening relations between the Ogoni people and the government. The position of government was further engrained when the National Security Adviser, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu personally visited Ogoni to personally assess the condition of things on December 22, 2025.
Collapse of trust?
In a more worrisome circumstance, the leadership of KAGOTE, an acronym for Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme local government areas that make up Ogoniland recently raised the alarm that the dialogue process has been hijacked by some privileged individuals who may be highly connected to the NSA office.
KAGOTE believes that the establishment of the dialogue process and the President’s decision to entrust its coordination to the NSA as the chief negotiator on the part of Government demonstrated the seriousness with which President Tinubu approached the Ogoni question and his desire to promote reconciliation, peace, equity, transparency and sustainable development.
The President of KAGOTE, Chief Lesi Maol recently expressed worry over the conduct of a few individuals whose actions require urgent intervention to preserve the credibility of the dialogue process. He alleged a growing apprehension among sections of the Ogoni population that certain oil-related activities may have commenced in parts of Ogoniland while consultations between the Government and Ogoni stakeholders remain ongoing.
Maol alleged that the absence of clear information from the leadership of the ODC has created uncertainty within the communities. “In my capacity as President of KAGOTE, I have received several representations and expressions of concern from Ogoni communities. Unfortunately, the absence of authoritative information has made it difficult to provide the necessary clarification”.
He called for a response regarding the status of oil activities in Ogoniland even when dialogue is still ongoing. There is a serious fear that this could spike tension in Ogoni which may take the shape of the 1994 scenario.
Founded in 1947, the apex socio-cultural organization of the Ogoni people, KAGOTE, however demanded an investigation of allegations that the name of the NSA is being invoked by unauthorized persons in relation to appointments or nominations within the dialogue process;
MOSOP reassures Ogonis
Barely 48 hours after KAGOTE raised the alarm, the movement for the survival of Ogoni people, MOSOP, reassured the Ogoni people of a good deal from the ongoing dialogue with the government.
President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said “For over 30 years, we have advocated for a peaceful resolution of the Ogoni conflicts. I am glad that the dialogue is ongoing and it is going well. I am also very optimistic that we will strike a good deal from the process.”
Nsuke described the process as a reward for non-violence and urged other regions of the country to emulate the peaceful resistance of the Ogoni people rather than taking to arms struggle.
Conflicting interest
There is a conflicting dimension to the brewing oil crisis in Ogoni. This is as Dr. Awaji-Inombek Abiante, a Member, representing Andoni–Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives said that there should be no oil resumption in Ogoniland without justice, remediation, transparency and community consent
Abiante said that while the desire for national economic growth and energy security is understandable, economic considerations cannot come at the expense of the rights, health, dignity and future of the Ogoni people. “My position is therefore clear: any proposed resumption of oil exploration or production in Ogoniland must be preceded by genuine reconciliation, environmental responsibility, transparency and meaningful agreement with the people”.
Despite defending what many believe to be the content of the Ogoni Bill of Rights which was adopted on August 26, 1990 with major stakes on environmental protection, resource allocation and political control among others, Hon Abiante was rebuked for having talked against oil resumption in Ogoni.
Apparently throwing his weight behind the lawmaker, a highly revered Ogoni cleric, Rev. Msgr. Pius Kii, and a member, Ogoni Dialogue Committee, questioned why the process should be committed to a speed lane. “It took us almost 33 years to get to this point. Why must we now rush the process? If the answer is that elections are approaching, then I respectfully submit that this would be an inadequate reason to compromise the quality of an agreement that may affect Ogoni for generations”.
Rev. Kii who served as a Secretary of the Port Harcourt Diocesan Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Committee, established by the late Bishop Alexius Makozi with funding support from the European Union, to assist in the rehabilitation and resettlement of victims of the Ogoni-Andoni crisis, appealed to the leadership of the Ogoni Dialogue Committee, to open up the process sufficiently to enable the people understand and interrogate the fundamental issues being negotiated in their name;
But in an open letter to Hon Abinate, Dr. Fabeke Douglas from Ogoni reminded the lawmaker of an abandoned Federal College of Fisheries and Maritime Technology project in Ngo, Andoni LGA of the state. ”This project remains a major source of disappointment to our people and a missed opportunity for development and jobs for our youth”, he said.
“The Ogoni people do not need politicians who will use sweet but deceptive press statements to seek our votes. What we need is action, accountability, and fulfilled promises”, Fabeke mocked.
First casualty
The Federal Government on Thursday wielded the big stick as it charged a 47-year-old Ogoni activist, Gani Topba, before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over allegations against oil activities and others in Ogoniland.
Topba, an indigene of Khana LGA is facing a four-count charge. On August 10, 2026, two days after a meeting of KAGOTE, he allegedly made a video to malign the leadership of KAGOTE.
According to the charge, the alleged publication was made with the intent to seriously destabilize or destroy the fundamental economic and social structure of Ogoniland and potentially trigger a repeat of the crisis of 1994 in Ogoni.
Oil resumption by all means?
It does appear that the government of President Tinubu may not be intimidated or cowed to abandon the ongoing peace process as a precursor to resuming oil mining in Ogoniland.
It appears also that with the prevailing state of confusion amongst the Ogonis, distrust and a clear case of self-aggrandizement, the federal government may not hesitate to deploy the defunct Soviet Union’s glasnost and perestroika twin policy to settle the decade-long crisis in Ogoni as long as the pipes steams again.
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