Mr Viral
President Bola Tinubu has conferred the posthumous national honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) on four former Ogoni leaders.
The President announced this on Wednesday when he received the report of the Ogoni Consultation Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The quartet are – Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Theophilus Orage, and Samuel Orage.
The men, who were popularly known as the “Ogoni Four,” were reportedly holding a meeting in Giokoo community in the Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State when they were seized by a mob and gruesomely murdered in 1995.
The President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People at the time, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight others were accused of orchestrating the killings by the late Gen. Sani Abacha regime and arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by hanging.
They were executed on November 10, 1995.
In his remark at the meeting, President Tinubu urged the people of Ogoniland to embrace reconciliation and unity after decades of division.
He assured the leaders and people of Ogoniland that his administration would support their march towards peace, environmental remediation, and economic revival.
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The President recalled that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, in 2022, handed over the operatorship of the Ogoni oil field to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its joint venture partners, saying his government would honour the decision.
He directed the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to immediately commence engagement between the Ogoni people, NNPCL, its partners, and all relevant stakeholders to finalise modalities for restarting operations.
Tinubu said: “May the memories of the ‘Ogoni Four’ continue to inspire unity, courage, and purpose among us. I urge the Ogoni people across classes, communities, and generations to close ranks, put this dark chapter behind us, and move forward as a united community with one voice.
“I am encouraged by the overwhelming consensus of the Ogoni communities to welcome the resumption of oil production.
“The government will deploy every resource to support your people in this march towards shared prosperity.”
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