Ogoni: 8 Killed During State Election Poll
On Saturday 9 March 2019, eight inhabitants of Ogoniland were brutally killed on their way to the polling stations. UNPO Member the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) deplores the involvement of the police in these assassinations and calls for investigations. Ogoniland recently witnessed an important deployment of military which led to a rise of police brutality and arbitrary killings.
The article below was published by The Independent:
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called for full investigations into the killing of at least eight persons in Ogoniland during last week’s [4-10 March 2019] governorship and state assembly elections.
MOSOP said that its assessment of the brutality and killings conclude that the violence against innocent Ogoni citizens reflected a state policy, adding that such crimes were “very painful, shameful, unfortunate and a representation of our depreciated values as a country”.
The group expressed sadness that innocent people got killed during the process of exercising their rights to vote, saying that it was quite regrettable that these killings and torture happened not just publicly in the full glare of security personnel whose primary responsibility is to protect the citizens, they happened with the active involvement of the security-men especially the Police.
“We regret that Ogoniland has been turned into a shooting zone for the exercise of military dexterity and probably turned into an area of dominant military impunity where citizens’ life means little or nothing and security forces display the military might in our country.
“We warn that this trend is becoming alarming and seriously worsening the conditions of our people and we feel dejected and hated by the Nigerian state each time state security personnel who should be protecting us are deployed to unleash terror on our people”.
A statement by Fegalo Nsuke, factional President of MOSOP explained that the experiences of the Ogoni people during the past elections showed that Ogonis were marked for the worst in Nigeria.
“We call on all men and women of goodwill to act now, condemn the killings and urge the Nigerian government to end the endless deployment of fierce military men to Ogoniland even against peaceful protests. We call for a public probe into these killings and cases of brutality with the hope that those responsible will be brought to account for their deeds”.
Fegalo strongly condemns the shooting of Dr. Ferry Gberegbe, the brutalities meted on many innocent Ogoni citizens, some of whom have been sent to early graves and demand for a public probe into these killings, especially the involvement of the Police.
Photo courtesy of Flickr
