Chukwudi Akasike, Port Harcourt
There is currently a
leadership crisis in the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
as three persons are laying claim to the presidency of the prime Ogoni
group.
While the former publicity secretaries, Bara-ara Kpalap
and Fegalo Nsuke, are insisting that they emerged the president of MOSOP
from different election venues, the incumbent President, Legborsi
Pyagbara, dismissed their claims.
Pyagbara, who spoke in an
interview with Southern City News on Thursday, explained that though the
MOSOP Election Committee had been put in place, the poll would hold in
six months’ time
He called on those laying claim to the position
of the MOSOP president not to be in a hurry, adding that it was wrong
for anyone to say they emerged through any election.
Pyagbara
described such elections as illegal, recalling that the police had
dispersed the gathering where an illegal election was to be conducted.
He
stated, “For now, we have only one MOSOP president and I am the one.
Which election did those claiming to be president of MOSOP hold? Where
did such election hold?
“People gathered to hold an election and
they were dispersed by the police. The police asked them to leave,
because it was illegal for them to hold MOSOP election. Nsuke is not the
MOSOP president.
We have said that if you want to be the MOSOP
president, don’t worry. We have an electoral committee and election will
be in six months’ time.”
On why his former publicity secretary,
Kpalap, was laying claim to the position of the president of MOSOP,
Pyagbara said, “We fell apart since September 2017, and he is no longer
working with me. He also cannot claim to be the MOSOP president.”
When
contacted, Kpalap told our correspondent that he remained the only
MOSOP president, adding that he emerged the winner in an election held
on December 21, 2018.
“The term of Pyagbara expired on December
31, 2018, and we conducted an election on December 21, 2018, where I
emerged the MOSOP president,” he said.
On his part, Nsuke told
our correspondent that he emerged the president of MOSOP after the
former deputy president of the group, Fortune Chijor, constituted a
valid steering and electoral committee that conducted elections for the
apex Ogoni body.
Nsuke said, “We conducted the MOSOP election in
Ogoni villages. We moved from Ogoni villages, Ogoni kingdoms and to the
national affiliates of MOSOP, where I emerged the president.
“Pyagbara’s
tenure has passed. He has served his two terms and the constitution
does not allow him to go beyond that. There was a valid
steering/election committee that conducted the election and I emerged
the president of MOSOP.
Source:- Punchng
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