Ogoni people who assembled at the Birabi Memorial Grammer School (BMGS) Bori on Monday, January 4, to celebrate Ogoni Day have described the disruption of the event by the police as a sacrilege.
Some of them who spoke to journalists likened the Ogoni Day to Sunday which is globally revered within the Christendom, saying by disrupting it the police have desecrated a holy object.
Although the youths and women left the venue peacefully, they had warned while escorting the factional MOSOP president , Lazarus Tamana round Bori, the ancestral headquarter of the Ogoni people that they would not tolerate such disruptions again.
At a press briefing in Port Harcourt ,the MOSOP President Tamana said the DPO of Bori had called and told him that the chairman of Khana Local Government said they should not allow the celebration because of the ravaging COVID-19 Pandemic.
He however informed them that his people had complied with all guidelines put in place to prevent the spread of the disease. He also informed journalists that he had earlier obtained police permit to hold the event and wondered why the authorities would stop it midway.
Tamana further explained, during questions and answers session that his election as MOSOP President was valid having been based on a valid court judgement given by a High Court of Rivers State, Nchia Judicial Division which authorized the Electoral Committee set up by the central committee of MOSOP to conduct elections into the offices of its executive committee as the tenure of the former executive was coming to an end on 31st December ,2018.
In the judgement paper with Suit No. PHC/161/2018 which the MOSOP President displayed at the briefing which was between members of the committee of MOSOP as claimants and Mr Legborsi Saro Pyagbara -1st defendant, Mr Fegalo Nsuke, Mr . Barinara Kpalap- 2nd defendant ,the court had ruled that the 1st defendant Mr Legborsi Saro Pyagbara having served for two terms of [3] years each was not entitled to seek re-election or elongation of his tenure as MOSOP President based on the organization’s constitution.
The court suspended the 1st defendant from office as President as at November 3, 2018 and warned that any activities he embarked upon after that day were null and void.
The court equally ruled that the purported rise as factional President by the 2nd and 3rd defendants was unconstitutional , void and of no effect and issued a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from parading themselves as presidents of MOSOP.
The court judgement which also awarded #50,000 to the claimants was signed by Levi T. Nsirim ESQ, Assistant Chief Registrar, Nchia Judicial Division .
Other Prominent Ogoni citizens who spoke at the press briefing authenticating the position of the MOSOP President were: FR. Emmanuel Gokana, Chairman Eleco of MOSOP 2020/2021, Chief Barinua Nwikonee – COTRA Chairman MOSOP and Chief Hon. Mrs Rose Zoranen Micheal, President Federation of Ogoni Women Association [FOWA].
