Leadership Crisis Hits MOSOP As Three Presidents Emerge

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.