Tension is brewing in Ogoni ethnic nationality of Rivers State following the insistence by Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, that the people of Ogoni have not endorsed any company to resume oil exploration on their land, as it called one Federal Government to monitor the activities of oil firms in the area. This came as some royal fathers in Ogoni, under the aegis of Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers of Ogoni, have endorsed RoboMichael Nigeria Limited to explore oil in OML 11. It will be recalled that Shell Petroleum Development Company had 25 years ago abandoned OML 11 after a face-off with the host communities over environment degradations caused by oil exploration.
Meanwhile, the leader of Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates, KSA, Chief Gani Topba, has described the royal fathers’ endorsement of RoboMichael Nigeria Limited to explore oil in OML 11, as a mere joke, adding that the resolution of the chiefs will not stand. Spokesman of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, in a statement in Port Harcourt, yesterday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to avert a possible breakdown of the peace in Ogoniland by putting a check on the activities of Belema Oil Producing Limited and Robo Michael Limited, adding that their desperation for Ogoni oil has created local groups sharply divided against one another.