Ogoni women threaten to protest naked over planned oil exploration

Women groups from the Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State, have threatened to embark on a naked protest if the Federal Government goes ahead with it’s planned oil exploration in the area without addressing their grievances.

The groups which came together under the umbrella of “Ogoni Women Coalition for Sustainable Environment,” said in a statement on Wednesday that they would not hesitate to go on a nude protest aimed at disrupting any oil exploration activity in the area until key issues that led to its stoppage in the 90s were addressed.

In the statement jointly signed by 15 women groups after a press conference in Port Harcourt, the women said the area was not ready for oil exploration resumption and they would do everything possible to prevent any of such activities, lamenting that they were excluded in the ongoing oil resumption talks.

The groups include Mba Okase Initiative, Eedee Ladies of Tai, De Voice of Eleme Women Association, League of Queens International, Gbogbia Feefee Women, Lekeh Foundation, We the People, and KEBETKACHE Women Development and Resource Centre

Others who signed the document are 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.

A spokesperson for the group,
Dr (Mrs) Patience Osaroejiji, who spoke with journalists after the press conference, said women of Ogoniland were ready to protest nude to draw attention to their plight.

“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,” she said.

Osaroejiji said it was regrettable that the women of Ogoniland 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, who also spoke, said Ogoni women and their communities had, for decades, endured the impacts of the industry’s adverse activities.

“It is disconcerting that in the ongoing frenzy to resume oil extraction in Ogoniland, the concerns raised in the Ogoni 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,” Ntetep stated.

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