Drama Unfolds As Tinubu Bypasses NJC, FJSC To Appoint New CCT Chairman

Former Rivers East Senator and Third Republic National Assembly member, Senator Bennet Birabi, has expressed skepticism over government promises to improve the lives of the Ogoni people without tangible actions to back them up.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Birabi emphasized that the Ogoni community has endured decades of government insincerity, making it difficult for them to trust new promises.

President Bola Tinubu recently met with Ogoni stakeholders to discuss plans to resume oil exploration in the region, which has long suffered from severe environmental degradation. While Birabi described the meeting as commendable, he stressed that what Ogoni people truly seek is action.

“The Ogoni people want oil production even more than the federal government. But progress has been stalled because the government has been dishonest and insincere with us,” Birabi told Arise News.

A signatory to the 1990 Ogoni Bill of Rights, the former senator criticized successive administrations for failing to recognize the significant progress in Ogoni since the discovery of oil in 1958. “Back then, our educational exposure was minimal. Today, nearly every family in Ogoni has a lawyer, and we have 46 petroleum engineers of Ogoni origin,” he noted.

On whether he trusts President Tinubu’s administration, Birabi expressed cautious optimism, citing his participation in the meeting as a positive first step. “This is the first time I’ve been invited to engage in such discussions with any government. That’s why I’m hopeful this attempt will bring results,” he said.

Birabi also reflected on the origins of the Ogoni Bill of Rights, explaining that the Ogoni people resolved in 1990 to reject being reduced to a mere resource extraction site without corresponding development. “We cannot continue pumping oil from Ogoni for export to Rotterdam and New York while all that remains here are oil pipelines,” he concluded.