President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday conferred national honours and title of the Commander of the Order of the Niger posthumously on four late Ogoni leaders.
The Ogoni Four, as they are commonly known, are Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Theophilus Orage, and Samuel Orage.
At the State House in Abuja on Wednesday, Tinubu made the announcement of the conference after receiving the Ogoni Consultations Committee’s report.
He encouraged residents of Ogoniland to embrace unity and reconciliation following decades of conflict.
“May their memories 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,” Tinubu said.
At the meeting on Wednesday, the President reassured stakeholders that his administration would support Ogoniland’s journey towards peace, environmental remediation, and economic revival while also facilitating the return of oil exploration to the region.
This comes 16 months after the President promised in May 2024 to “pursue diligently and honourably” the Ogoni cleanup and increase the number of its indigenes benefitting from its empowerment programs.
Tinubu also pledged his commitment to unlocking Ogoniland’s human and natural resource potential while ensuring the environmental and economic security of Nigerian communities.
He stated, “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.”
Tinubu pointed to events in 2022, when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its joint venture partners took over the oil field’s operations from the Buhari administration.
He maintained that his administration would uphold and expand upon Buhari’s ruling.
He therefore instructed Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, to initiate communication between the people, NNPCL, its partners, and all pertinent parties in order to finish the procedures for resuming operations.
In his closing remarks, Tinubu called on the people to seize the moment, saying, “Let us together turn pain into purpose, conflict into cooperation, and transform the wealth beneath Ogoni soil into a blessing for the people and for Nigeria.”
Additionally, he instructed the Environment Minister to incorporate environmental recovery and pollution repair into the larger framework of public discourse.
All four zones participated in the consultations, according to National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu, who also presented the findings. Local communities, traditional leaders, and the diaspora provided feedback.
Ribadu said, “In all aspects of our national life, Ogoni is one, thirty-something years of very unfortunate history rewrite the wrong now,
“To us was instruction, then we carry out this dialogue, community engagement, talking with the people and getting to understand how to move forward. It has succeeded like what you have seen today.
Meanwhile, Prof. Don Baridam, the chairman of the dialogue committee, stated that the report represents the people’s collective will and that the group made sure all interested parties were included in the process.
According to Baridam, the research reflected the public’s desires for a framework for sustainable growth, renewed environmental remediation, and organised involvement in oil production.
In 1958, oil was first found commercially in Oloibiri, Ogoniland. However, after persistent demonstrations against unfairness and environmental devastation, exploration ceased in 1993
The Ogoni Four are four traditional chiefs from Rivers State who were killed in the hamlet of Giokoo on May 21, 1994.
The murders occurred as part of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People campaign, which was spearheaded by activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and had been organising against the Nigerian government and oil firms, especially Shell.
Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other leaders were hanged by the Abacha dictatorship in 1995 as a result of their following battles to defend their environment against destructive oil development.
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