MOSOP demands Bori State for Ogonis, writes Senate

A socio-ethnic movement in the Niger Delta, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People USA (MOSOP-USA), has demanded the creation of an autonomous state out of Rivers State, to be known as Bori State.

The demand was contained in a memorandum signed by the President of MOSOP-USA, DineBari Augustine Kpuinem, and submitted to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review.

The movement, in the memorandum, said that given the economic viability of Ogoniland, the people of Ogoni deserve an autonomous state and should be constituted into a state to be called Bori State with Bori as its capital.

Kpuinem argued that the Ogoni people are an economically viable, resourceful, and independent ethnic entity that can sustain themselves if granted a politically autonomous state in the country.

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According to the group, the resources derived from Ogoniland would be better managed optimally for the benefit of the Ogoni people if they had full control and management of their resources as a state.

MOSOP-USA, therefore, demanded that Section 8(1a, b, c, and d) of the 1999 Constitution that pertains to the process of state creation be amended to include economic viability, ethnic and cultural distinctiveness, and marginalisation as the dominant criteria for the creation of new states.

It also demanded that Section 3(1) of Chapter 1, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) should be further amended by including Bori State as among the states in the federation.

The memorandum also sought the amendment of the First Schedule, Part 1 of the Constitution to include the five local government areas of Eleme, Gokana, Khana, Oyigbo, and Tai in the present Rivers State as component units of Bori State.

“It is the view of MOSOP-USA that Section 8 (1a, b, c, and d) that pertains to the process of state creation should be amended to include economic viability and ethnic and cultural distinctiveness and marginalisation as the dominant criteria for the creation of new states.