Environmental terrorism deadlier than Boko Haram, says MOSOP

Labour Party Expresses Concern Over $Ib ECA Fund For Insurgency
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has said environmental terrorism in the Niger Delta was deadlier than Boko Haram insurgency for which government plans to expend $1 billon.

MOSOP, therefore, asked the Federal Government to immediately put in place remedial measures needed to address water, health and infrastructure challenges, as Ogoni people could continue to drink the polluted water that is threatening their lives.

President of MOSOP, Legborsi Pyagbara, told journalists in Port Harcourt that the recent approval of the National Economic Council (NEC) that government should use $1billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to prosecute the Boko Haram amounted to clear discrimination.

“The environmental terrorism going on in the Niger Delta is far more serious than the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East because in environmental terrorism, no blood is spilled, no bone is broken yet thousands of human beings, animals, trees, herbs are dying daily due to pollution caused by environmental terrorism” he said.

He explained that MOSOP was concerned about the approval of $1 billion to fight Boko Haram from the excess crude account, whereas, calls by several groups that funds should be allocated for the cleanup of Ogoni land, have been largely ignored.

He stressed that MOSOP condemns discriminatory allocation of resources and projects by the Federal Government, adding that the approval of $1 billion was tantamount to insensitivity and total neglect of some sections of the country.

“Coming on the heels of the paltry allocation to the much hyped budget for the governance framework of HYPREP, it once again, demonstrates that we clearly have two sets of citizens in the country,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party (LP) yesterday said it was worried over the proposed $1 billion, which the Federal Government said it would withdraw from the ECA to fight Boko Haram in the Northeast.

Although, the party said it was not against any action towards ending terrorist activities in the region, it added that setting such amount for the project was worrisome.

Its National Chairman, Mike Omotosho, who spoke in Abuja, at a media parley with journalists, also disclosed that the party under his leadership would not adopt a presidential candidate of another political party for the 2019 general election like it did in the past.

The party argued that putting such an amount to fight terrorism in a particular section of the country and not accord similar attention to other regions, given that all regions of the country have peculiar security challenges, calls for great concern.

Apart from his concern that such amount was being channeled to addressing security issue in one region, Omotosho expressed fears that the handlers of the money may derail from accountability and transparency while deploying the funds.