he leadership of the International chapter of the National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS) – an affiliate of Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) – recently announced its willingness to pursue the demand for an Ogoni State within Nigeria. The announcement was contained in a widely circulated letter dated October 21^st 2007 and signed by its president, Mr. Kornebari Nwike. 

NOUS Int. in the said letter also called on Ogonis to sign a petition posted on its website demanding for the creation of an Ogoni State thereby indicating its commitment to this initiative by the signed endorsement of amongst others, Kornebari Nwike, Mr. Austin Lemea, Lambert Deebom, Fred Idamkue, Charles Wiwa, Joseph Waadah, Godson Naasua, Pius Nwinee.

In line with the demand by the foremost student body, Chief Ikpobari Senewo, the president of MOSOP-USA, added his voice to the call made by NUOS on the fifteenth anniversary of the World Indigenous Day – also recognized as Ogoni Day – on January 4^th 2008. In his speech to the Ogoni people published both locally and internationally, Senewo said: “Fellow Ogonis, Comrades, we have been saddled with an enormous responsibility to re-chart the course of Ogoni history, on this fifteenth anniversary of Ogoni Day celebration. I urge you therefore, to: Intensify demands for an Ogoni State; ensure that Shell or any other multinational oil prospecting companies don't step into Ogoni until the Ogoni problems/demands as clearly outlined in the OBR are met. While not against genuine negotiation, Ogoni people should resist any parochial arrangement that takes no cognizance of the needs of the generality of the Ogoni people and Ogoniland. Demand that the NDDC streamline its Niger Delta Master Plan specific to the needs of the Ogoni and peoples of the Niger Delta; pressure the international community to boycott Shell products so as to force it to break its alliance with the Nigerian government and deal directly with Ogoni people. Write and flood the Nigerian Senate, House of Representative and the Rivers State House of Assembly with your letters demanding for one thing: the creation of A STATE FOR OGONI” The argument in favor of the creation of an Ogoni State within Nigeria by comrades Senewo and Nwike follows the same pattern and are consistent with each other. Nwike had earlier argued in the letter signed solely by him that: “… we solicit your support for the creation of an Ogoni State for the Ogoni people (within Nigeria) as a panacea to the crisis in Ogoniland… apart from signing this petition yourself, help convince a colleague, Christian,(or) Muslim friend to participate in this crusade. Our target is 20-50, 000 signatures.”     The demand for an Ogoni State, when placed strictly against immediate and empirical needs, looks plausible and comes across as a noble course, but contextualized within the broader aspiration for emancipation, it is a project that provides the platform for political aloofness. It is in this broader context that many have argued that MOSOP-USA, NUOS and Ogoni activist groups should have focused their energy on the bigger political agitation as stated in the Ogoni Bill of Rights.The greater task expected of NUOS is within the frame that it was formed as one of the nine affiliates of MOSOP, founded by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa to fight for the political liberation of the Ogoni ethnic nationality. Under the canopy of MOSOP, NUOS mobilized students in tertiary institutions to take up the liberation struggle of the Ogoni people, and has served to unite and has been a catalyst for students’ movements of other ethnic nationalities from the Niger Delta region to follow suit. The roles played by NUOS in the propagation of the gospel for liberation of the Ogoni people made it one of the most common victims during the military reign of terror codenamed, “Operation Waste”. The organization remobilized itself from the refugee camp in Come’, Benin Republic and as several of its members were resettled to the USA and Canada, NUOS campaign became an international lobby and advocacy group of the Ogoni struggle. Like NUOS, MOSOP as the umbrella body was also established in Canada, the USA, the UK and even South Africa. MOSOP South Africa closed down because it could not cultivate logistic and strategic support for its mandate, but the OSF is back in the country to advance the Ogoni cause.After almost fifteen years of operating abroad and being the country’s beacons of hope, MOSOP-USA and NUOS are seen to be soft pedaling in the fight that is regarded as the catalyst, which should enhance the reconfiguration of Nigerian federalism and the enthronement of political autonomy for the indigenous peoples of Nigeria? It is also interesting to interrogate the current positioning of the two bodies as they had been at the fore-front of criticizing MOSOP-Nigeria for its compromise with the Nigerian authorities and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

But most striking is the fact that this new position is coming only a few months after the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution to recognize and protect the rights, land and resources of indigenous peoples in the world. Therefore, it begs the question: “have these groups thrown in the towel and are they no longer able to sustain the fight against Nigeria and Shell? Is it diplomacy or tacit complacency to postulate that “an Ogoni State within Nigerian federation is the panacea to the Ogoni situation”?