Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Rivers South East Senatorial District re-run election has enjoined Ogoni people to sink their differences and unite to ensure the implementation of the UNEP report.UNEP
Speaking during an interactive session the Minister of Environment had with all stakeholders in Ogoni, at the Freedom Centre, Bori in Khana Local Government Area, Abe said that achieving the implementation of the report required all hands on deck to encourage President Buhari to accomplish the task of realizing the clean-up of Ogoni land.
He appealed to every Ogoni not to indulge in any form of violence, rancour or conflict at this period that a good thing was about to happen in the area, rather should pull their efforts to welcome the process of the implementation.
The former Secretary to the Rivers State Government assured the Ogoni that whether voted as their senator or not, as a true son of the soil, he would within his ambits commit himself to realizing this once in a life time project.
Senator Abe urged other Ogoni leaders to also make such vows in the interest of the people without political consideration.
Reacting to the speech of Senator Olaka Nwogu that the money allocated for the cleanup was not adequately captured in the budget; Abe said that such was not a serious challenge.
He made reference to United States of America, where there was pollution and President Obama had to compel an oil firm to cough out more than 20 billion dollars for the cleanup, which was not in America’s budget.
Abe also cited the bailout funds for the states that was not in the budget yet it was made available.
He said that what was important in this case was the political will to address the matter, adding that the President had demonstrated the capacity to do so and should be supported.
At this juncture, the crowd thundered into ovation for Senator Abe for exhibiting patriotic comments.
In his speech, Senator Nwogu had asked why money for the cleanup was not captured in the budget and assured the people that on March 20th when he would go back to the senate, he would address the matter.
This, did not go down well with the crowd as they booed him. The crowd refused to calm down despite the appeal of the President of MOSOP.
In her own speech, the Minister of Environment, Ms Amina Mohammed assured that in a forth night the President would come for the launching of the programme and that there was no going back in the implementation of the report by the federal government..
Earlier in his address, the President of MOSOP, Legborsi Pyagbara conveyed the deepest appreciation of Ogoni people to President Buhari for his renewed interest and commitment to address the environmental nightmare in Ogoniland.
