MOSOP Statement On Land Seizure In Ogoniland

Reposted from  Sahara Reporters New York
July 21, 2011

Press Statement

RE: REVOCATION OF RIGHT OF OCCUPANCY NOTICE IN RESPECT OF LAND REQUIRED FOR THE SERVICES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA FOR  PROPOSED NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PARCELS A AND B AT NYOKURU AND BEERI COMMUNITIES

Members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has become aware of an advertorial by the Rivers State Government (RSG) published in The Nation Newspaper of Friday, July 15, 2011. The RSG in the advert says it intends to expropriate over 258,954 hectares of land from the Ogoni nation purportedly for overriding public purpose – to wit the development of a new town by the Federal Government.

The advert called on anyone who has right or interest in the expropriated lands to put in their claim within two weeks from the date of the advert. May we remind the state government that many of the affected landowners and farmers, do not have access to national dailies and so would not be aware that the state government is about to take their lands. It is also pertinent to once again call the attention of the government to the fact that there is an intrinsic link between the survival of the Ogoni nation and their lands. It is therefore imperative that in this democratic dispensation, the state government should imbibe and espouse the benefits of wide and adequate consultations in situations where they would deprive communities and individuals of their livelihoods and their ability to survive.

We find it difficult to rationalize government’s insistence on seizing another 258,954 hectares of land in Nyokuru and Beeri communities in Khana local government area of Ogoni immediately after an earlier controversial land grab of over 100,000 hectares spanning Tai and Khana LGAs and which has claimed three innocent lives. We are concerned that government has deliberately ignored the fact that its spate of land seizure in Ogoni would have dire implications on local communities.

MOSOP is aware that the discredited Land Use Act, the abrogation of which the governor himself has championed; vests authority over land in the State Governor. We are however concerned at the tone of the advert and the willingness of the state governor to take advantage of this obnoxious law to deprive communities and individuals of their right to livelihood and survival without transparent and adequate consultation.

This coercive tendency no doubt betrays sinister intent as this appears not to fit into the development agenda of the present national government. It is suspicious that while the story circulated earlier related to an industrial estate, we are now reading about development of a new town. It is on record that past regimes have seized colossal amount of lands from Ogoni communities for new town development only to abandon the project. Besides, huge amount of our lands have been captured for oil and gas production, many others grabbed by past administrations for some other development initiatives but abandoned and are wasting. We condemn this colonizing scramble for Ogoni through land grabbing, which will no doubt generate unmanageable land shortage for local subsistence food production and other uses especially housing development.

Internationally recognized best practice in land resettlement schemes require that when government expropriates lands from communities for overriding public purpose, it must first offer those who have lost lands, an alternative and suitably situated land, acceptable to them and on which they can continue their farming. It also requires that adequate compensation be paid to affected landowners and farmers for crops and other improvements on the land, taking care to compute the life span of perennial crops and the aggregate income landowners and farmers would have earned during the lifespan of such crop. The two weeks time frame set out in the advertorial is certainly grossly insufficient to resolve these issues.

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Image attribution: Flag of the Ogoni People by Mysid [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Wikileaks On Nigeria: Shell’s Ann Pickard Says Turai, Tanimu and NNPC GMD Yar’adua Were Collecting Bribes From Oil Lifting Contracts Posted: January 24, 2011 – 13:38, SaharaReporters, New York

A cable recently released by Wikileaks paints a portrait of the extent to which powerful oil giant, Shell, was involved in the political schemes in Nigeria. The US ambassador routinely contacted Shell to discuss important political and economic developments in Nigeria.

In this cable, Shell executive, Ann Pickard, reveals that Umaru Yar’adua’s wife, Hajia Turai, his economic adviser, Tanimu Kurfi, and the former Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Abubakar L. Yar ‘Ádua, were receiving bribes from companies lifting oil from Nigeria. SaharaReporters revealed these illicit activities in a report we did on Turai in 2008.

Reference ID     Created     Released     Classification     Origin
09ABUJA259     2009-02-10 16:04     2011-01-22 21:09     SECRET//NOFORN     Embassy Abuja
Appears in these articles:
www.spiegel.de

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INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 0802
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000259

NOFORN
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STATE PASS USTR FOR AGAMA
USDOE FOR GEORGE PERSON AND CHAYLOCK

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2028
TAGS: EPET ENRG ELAB PINR ECON SENV PGOV NI
SUBJECT: (C) NIGERIA: SHELL BRIEFS AMBASSADOR ON OIL GAS ISSUES,
COMMENTS ON PRESIDENT’S HEALTH AND HIGH-LEVEL CORRUPTION

REF: ABUJA 203

Classified By: Ambassador Robin R. Sanders for reasons 1.4. (b
& d).

1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: Shell’s regional executive vice president for Africa Ann Pickard and government relations representative Pete Francis met with the Ambassador on January 27 in Abuja and provided an update on problems in the oil and gas sector. Pickard said that things were going from bad to worse, especially the security situation. She said that Nigeria now had one of the highest negative ratings for maritime operations, creating problems for Shell in hiring oil tankers to load, as tanker operators will work only under highly selective conditions. Last year there were about 80 piracy attacks on land and water combined. This year already 15 have been tallied, which includes 3 for Shell and 3 for Exxon. On corruption, Pickard said that Nigerian entities control the lifting of many oil cargoes and there are some “very interesting” people lifting oil.

Oil buyers would pay NNPC GMD Yar’Adua, Chief Economic Advisor Yakubu and the First Lady Turai Yar’Adua large bribes to lift oil. Pickard also reported an instance of the Attorney General Aondoakaa allegedlysoliciting a $20 million bribe to sign a document. The International Oil Companies (IOC) are quite concerned about the “very flawed” new petroleum sector energy bill. The IOCs will be asking U.S., Dutch, and U.K. COMs to convey points on the bill to GON policymakers. Pickard agreed that the President’s health is a guessing game. She said that in her recent meetings with Yar’Auda he seems alert, though very drawn in the face, thin, and frail. Her information is that the President was not in danger of dying soon, but also was unlikely to ever fully recover from his ailments. (Note: see septel on oil/energy sector issues for the Ambassador’s meeting with the new Minister of Petroleum Resources. End Note). END SUMMARY.

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Nigeria ‘To Charge Dick Cheney’ over Halliburton, KBR Bribery Case, by M.J. Smith, published on Thursday, December 2, 2010 by Agence France-Presse

LAGOS – Nigerian authorities plan to charge ex-US vice president Dick Cheney in connection with a bribery scandal allegedly involving energy firm Halliburton, a spokesman for the anti-graft agency said Thursday.

Cheney served as head of Halliburton before becoming vice president under George W. Bush. (AFP)

Asked whether Cheney would be charged over the investigation into construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in southern Nigeria, Femi Babafemi said, “it’s true … definitely.”

The spokesman could not give details on the charges that he says are likely to be filed next week, but said “they are not unconnected to his role as the chief executive of Halliburton.”

A prosecutor on the case said Cheney would be charged jointly along with the former and current leadership of Halliburton and others.

Officials from companies in a consortium involved in the LNG plant would also be included in the charges to be “placed before the court at the latest by Tuesday of next week,” said Godwin Obla.

Cheney would face conspiracy charges and a Nigerian judge would be asked to issue an arrest warrant for him that would be transmitted to Interpol, said Obla.

“As the CEO of Halliburton, he has the responsibility for acts that occurred during that period,” Obla told AFP.

Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper also reported that Cheney would be charged. Halliburton’s office in Lagos would not comment when reached by phone.

Cheney served as head of Halliburton before becoming vice president under George W. Bush in 2000.

The LNG case involves an alleged 182 million dollar cash-for-contract scandal over 10 years until 2005 over construction of the LNG plant in southern Nigeria. Halliburton has denied involvement in the allegations.

US authorities said last year that Halliburton and its former subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) had agreed to pay 579 million dollars in fines related to the case.

It was one of the biggest fines ever paid by US companies in a foreign corruption case.

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Activist: Civilian deaths in Nigeria’s oil delta by Jon Bambrell, Associated Press – Fri Dec 3, 4:19 pm ET

WARRI, Nigeria – Nigerian warplanes bombed a village near a militant camp and soldiers opened fire with machine guns, killing as many as 150 people, human rights activists and witnesses said Friday.

image credit: next

Oghebejabor Ikim, national coordinator for the Forum of Justice and Human Rights Defense, told The Associated Press civilians have suffered a heavy toll in the military operation that began Wednesday. He said as many as 150 had died around the village of Ayakoromo, though he could only offer a list of 14 names of those dead who have already been identified. The lawyer said many people remained hiding and mourning in the region’s winding creeks.

The attacks on a village in the Niger Delta continued Friday as the military tried to kill or capture a militant called John Togo who runs the attacked camps and who officials said gave up on a government-sponsored amnesty program. The amnesty program for militants brought an uneasy calm to a region vital to U.S. oil supplies, which is now threatened by new militant attacks and government offensives that put civilians at risk.

In a statement issued late Friday, a military spokesman said any civilian building targeted by soldiers had been used by militants as cover, meaning they became “a military target.”

The military “wishes to state categorically that it did not carry out any genocide in Ayakoromo, neither was Ayakoromo or any other community its target,” the statement from Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha said.

The statement did not offer any death toll for the operation targeting the village and surrounding communities.

“I can describe it as a killing spree of innocent civilians,” Ikim said. “Houses have been burnt. Women are raped. There are killings. Is that how to get at John Togo?”

There appeared to be confusion about whether those in Ayakoromo initially fought back when the military began their assault Wednesday afternoon. Ikim said all of Togo’s fighters left the area before the fighting, while a witness in a nearby village told the AP by telephone that “there was shooting from both sides.”

The witness said the military had returned several times to launch new assaults, calling in heavy machine gun fire from patrolling Navy vessels and dropping bombs from military aircraft. One attack took place Friday morning, he said.

“We could only hear the sound — boom boom boom — everywhere,” he said. “Everyone (was) running.”

The man spoke on the condition of anonymity as he remained fearful of being targeted by military forces for speaking publicly about the attacks.

Amnesty International issued a statement Friday saying one eyewitness who spoke to its researchers said he saw soldiers transferring more than 20 bodies from boats to military vehicles.

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More news on the military attacks in the Niger Delta:

Ijaw Peoples Council wants JTF to limit attacks to militants, Vanguard, Dapo Akinrefon, Nov 18, 2010

A Niger Delta group, Ijaw Peoples Congress, IPC, has called on the Commandant of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta to limit their attack to militants in Ughelli South and Burutu Local Government Areas of Delta State.

In a statement by its national president, Mr. Ekanpou Enewaridideke, the group expressed worry over the deployment of soldiers to the councils in the state, noting that the councils were in no way connected with the militants.

“We condemn in strong terms, any resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta and will assist in any capacity to curb the menace. Let the public know that Ayakoromo is a community of intellectuals, who are diametrically opposed to militancy in any form and therefore, do disassociate ourselves from any form of complicity or companionship with John Togo in the on-going battle between him and JTF soldiers.

“We wish to place on record that JTF soldiers should limit their attack to only John Togo’s camp. The commandant of JTF should carry out his military operation in such a way that innocent and harmless people and communities are not affected.

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“Already stray bullets have begun flying to Ayakoromo in invasive torrents and this must stop because Ayakoromo people are not part of the war,” he said. While urging the JTF commander to refrain from harming innocent people in the areas, he said what happened in Gbaramatu should not be allowed to repeat itself.

“We wish to say that communities such as Akparemogbene, Oyangbene, Ogbobabougbene, Okwagbe, Egbo-Idei, Ekameta, Egolegbene, Gbekebor, Eseimogbene, Newtown and many others are in the vicinity of Ayakoromo and these communities are peaceful and anti-militancy and will not applaud militancy in any form,” he said.

The Nigerian joint military task force (JTF) carried out a land, air, and marine assault in the Niger Delta, freeing 19 hostages and raiding two suspected criminal camps after several kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities.

“At the moment we have ongoing operations in several locations simultaneously,” JTF spokesman Timothy Antigha was earlier quoted by Reuters as saying before the hostages were freed.

The military had warned on Saturday it planned to carry out raids on suspected criminal camps in the Niger Delta and told civilians in the vicinity to leave.

A major military offensive would be the first in the heartland since an amnesty brokered by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua began in August 2009.

JTF Attacks More Militant Camps, Frees 19 Hostages, Paul Ohia with Agency Reports, All Africa, 17 November 2010