The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People in the United States of America (MOSOP-USA) has called for the creation of a separate state for the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State.

Ogoni ethnic nationality is one of the largest ethnic nationalities in Rivers East senatorial district and it is made up of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme local government areas of the State.

File photo used to illustrate story.

The group also called for equal rights of employment for the Ogoni people in all Nigerian government-owned establishments operating in the Ogoniland, Leadership reports.

This was stated in a statement jointly signed by Elder DineBari Augustine Kpuinen and Mr. Kesiup C. Kpooni, President and Secretary respectively.

They maintained that the refusal of the government to implement the demands would mean that Ogonis are no longer part of the country.

The statement partly read, “It is very sad that the Ogoni people who contribute almost one-quarter of the national resources are permanently ignored and excluded from the Nation’s budget for decades.

“We also feel neglected and abandoned or excluded as, according to figures from the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS), Ogoni has the highest population of unemployed youths in Nigeria; with insecurity and underdevelopment being the ethnic nationality’s additional non-developmental trophies.

“But in contrast, we have more than enough federal government’s investments in Ogoniland capable of eliminating poverty and unemployment.

“Despite all our outcries and demands as an ethnic nationality that should make us have equal rights and treatment in the Nation, the people and government of Nigeria still treat Ogoni as an outcast.

“We demanded an autonomous political State in Nigeria – one of the critical demands that will reassure and integrate us as part of Nigeria.

“We demanded the exoneration of our leaders who were innocently murdered. We demanded the total cleanup of our environment. But all these demands as of right had fallen on deaf ears.

“If Ogoni is still considered part of Nigeria, MOSOP-USA, in collaboration with all Ogonis in Diaspora, hereby call for full implementation of the above demands, as a matter of urgency from the federal government of Nigeria, or let Ogoni go.”