Indications emerged on Sunday that the Presidential Committee on Ogoni Reconciliation and the Rivers State Government might have disagreed with the Ogoni people over the return of Shell to the area.
The presidential committee headed by Rev. Father Matthew Kukah, met with the Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, and other top officials of the administration on Saturday and reeled out some measures aimed at appeasing the Ogoni.
Kukah disclosed that the committee was bringing in some experts from the United Nations Agency on Environment to clean up all oil-impacted sites in Ogoni.
The priest explained that Shell had accepted to foot the bill for the cleaning of the area and that the delay in completing the assignment was to get the best for the Ogoni people.
According to Kukah, the experts, who are being expected before the end of the month, would on arrival meet with stakeholders in Ogoni and visit all oil impacted sites to carry out their assignment.
Odili on his part announced that the state government had mapped out plans to send 200 natives overseas to pursue specialised courses in those countries.
He stated that he would always stand by the Ogoni and lauded them for their peaceful disposition, which had led to the resolution of their problem.
However, shortly after the meeting, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People opposed this stance saying that it was arranged by government and Shell apologists to quicken the return of the oil firm to the area.
MOSOP�s Information Officer, Mr. Baria-ara Kpalap, said in a telephone interview with our correspondent that it was wrong for the Kukah committee to claim to have held a meeting to resolve Ogoni crisis without inviting MOSOP and its leaders.
�As far as we are concerned, there was no meeting and if they are serious and sincere the meeting would have been taken to Ogoni land and not Government House, Port Harcourt.
�We are calling on Ogoni people to be vigilant and to resist attempt by any individual or group to bring back the oil company through any guise because the things are not genuine.
�We suspect that the state government and the presidential committee want to force Shell on Ogoni people and it will not work.�
The President of MOSOP, Mr. Ledum Mitee, is said to be out of the country.
The Chairman of the Ogoni Council of Traditional Rulers, King Godwin Gininwa, was the major Ogoni chieftain at the meeting.