LEGBORSI SARO PYAGBARA, of Anti-Racism Information Service, said that he wished to bring to the attention of the Commission the egregious violations of the civil and political rights of the Ogoni people, and other Niger delta ethnic groups, by the Government of Nigeria which was committed to the protection of oil companies and the maintenance of the flow of crude oil. Since the return to civil rule, the country had descended into repression, especially against the Ogoni, who protested against the resumption of Shell Oil operations. Shell Oil, backed by Government security forces, had been implicated in a series of human rights violations and increased conflict in the Niger delta. The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People had faced increasing pressure from the Nigerian police and other State security apparatuses. The situation of the right to freedom of expression and association continued to deteriorate in the delta, as criticisms of oil operations were being viewed as threats to national security. The voting rights of the Ogoni people had also been flagrantly violated in the 2003 and 2004 elections. The Commission should redirect its searchlight on Nigeria, and should monitor the evolving deterioration in the human rights situation there.

Source: UNOG

Full text:

ANTI-RACISM INFORMATION SERVICE (ARIS)

Oral Submission to the Commission on Human Rights
61st Session
14th March - 22nd April, 2005

April 4th 2005

Agenda Item 11: CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Mr. Chairperson,

I am making this statement on behalf of the Anti-Racism Information Service (ARIS) to bring to the attention of the Commission, the egregious violations of the civil and political rights of the Ogoni people and other Niger Delta ethnic groups by the Nigeria government, all for the protection of the oil companies and the maintenance of the continual flow of crude oil.

Nigeria has a choice to make. It is, either it exists to serve and protect the interest of its own citizens or it chooses to protect the corporate interest of multinational oil corporations against its own citizens.

Since the return to civil rule, we have watched with awe the spiral descent of the country into a golgotha of repression especially with the Ogoni people who continue to suffer arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial/summary executions and denial of freedom of expression and association for protesting against the resumption of Shell operations in Ogoni and the disenfranchisement and denial of voting rights by the Nigeria government.

Shell Oil backed by government security has been implicated in series of human rights violations and increasing violence/conflict in the Niger Delta, which the company’s commissioned report had pointed out. The report had also warned that the social license of the company is expiring and would only require serious human rights violations and repression to continue oil production.

Mr.Chairperson, members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni people (MOSOP) is facing increased pressure from the Nigeria Police and other State Security apparati for their principled stand against Shell.In April 2000,there was a Mobile Police raid on the Ogoni town of K.Dere.The MOSOP President, Mr.Ledum Mitee and five others were arrested for alledgely leading the community protest against Shell and detained for a week before release. In December 2001, thirty Ogoni persons including women and children who participated in a MOSOP Protest against the Shell backed exclusion of the Ogoni people from the Niger Delta Development Commission were arrested and detained for several days under inhuman conditions.

Furthermore, in March 2003, I was arrested and detained on my way to attend the 59th Session of this Commission by Security agents at the airport for publishing a pamphlet titled The Ogoni of Nigeria: Oil and Exploitation, which accused Shell of violence and inappropriate development intervention in the Niger Delta. In October 2004, I was again arrested and detained with two colleagues for visiting a Shell Pipeline blowout, which spilled crude into surrounding streams and farmlands. This was followed by an unprecedented posting of security agents into Ogoni for the protection of Shell when the company attempted to commence operations in the area without consultation with the people.

Within this period, two British journalists were arrested and detained for daring to enter Ogoni to take pictures of oil spillages. The government claimed that the pictures were taken with a view to embarrassing Shell and the Federal government.

The incidence of the commission of extrajudicial killings and summary executions is a national pastime by members of the state security forces. The situation in Ogoni and other Delta communities is the worst. In 2000 and 2001,two Ogoni youths, Mr.Barinaadaa Gbaraka and Mr.Friday Nwido were summarily executed by the Nigeria Police for being part of the opposition to Shell Projects in their respective communities in Ogoni.

Following request from the oil companies led by Shell, who has blackmailed the Federal government into submission that continuing demand for social justice in the Delta region will hinder oil production and decrease national income, there is now a militarization of creeks and some communities in the Delta by the government which has resulted in a climate of fear and deaths. The Security agents continue to arrest, detain, torture and summarily execute members of these oil-bearing communities. The recent incidence of February 2005 when government security forces invaded the Niger Delta Community of Odioma and embarked on wanton destruction of lives and properties is an eloquent testimony of the extent that the Nigeria government can go against its own citizens for the sake of oil.

The situation with the right to freedom of expression and association continue to deteriorate in the Delta with criticisms of oil operations being viewed as a threat to National Security.

In another development, the highest point of the violation of the civil and political rights of the Ogoni people was during the 2003 and 2004 elections when the voting rights of the Ogoni people was blatantly derogated by the government and its electoral umpire through massive electoral fraud never before witnessed in Nigeria’s political history, general voter intimidation and inadequate electoral procedural safeguards. This much was acknowledged by most of the international observers that monitored the elections. For an emerging democracy like Nigeria, the importance of the gurantee for voting rights to the consolidation of democracy cannot be overemphasied.

The violations of the human rights of the Ogoni people and other groups in the Niger Delta hold serious consequences for the stability of the oil rich Niger Delta region and Nigeria as a whole.

Mr.Chairperson, distinguished members of this commission, it is in this light that we are appealing to you to redirect your searchlight on Nigeria and monitor the evolving deterioration in the human rights situation in the country especially in areas where vulnerable groups like the Ogoni people co-exist with oil multinationals.

Thank you.

Legborsi Saro Pyagbara