Port Harcourt – The Ogoni Dialogue Committee (ODC) has refuted the allegation of corruption against its leadership, describing it as “false and misleading”.
The committee’s Chairman, Prof. Don Baridam, made the rebuttal at a news conference on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the ODC in January 2025 to negotiate the resumption of oil exploration and production in Ogoniland, Rivers, after over 30 years of halted operations.
However, the apex socio-cultural and regional organisations in Ogoniland, including KAGOTE (Khana, Gokana, Tai, and Eleme) and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People have accused the leadership of ODC of corrupt practices.
The groups alleged that secret oil-related and drilling operations have begun in areas like Ban-Ogoi and Alesa-Eleme while formal dialogue with the Federal Government was still ongoing.
They also alleged that certain key figures and “bigwigs” within the ODC have been financially compromised or influenced by private interests to permit back-door re-entry of oil operations.
The groups equally criticised the handling of a 40-slot employment package provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) as a confidence-building measure, with reports that the selection list lacks transparency and contains non-indigenes.
Responding, Baridam described statements attributed to Kagote and other groups accusing the committee of corruption as false, baseless and misleading.
He denied influencing the selection of 40 Ogoni beneficiaries for employment opportunities at the NNPCL and also denied allegations that the committee awarded contracts or received funds from the Federal Government (FG).
According to him, the employment opportunities were among confidence-building measures proposed by the Ogoni delegation during engagements with FG.
“When the issue of employment was raised, NNPCL made it clear that it would not compromise its established professional recruitment standards.
“So, the Ogoni Dialogue Committee neither selected nor recruited the beneficiaries,” he clarified.
Baridam, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, said NNPCL selected the successful candidates from a pool of qualified Ogoni applicants already contained in its recruitment database.
He explained that the applicants had previously applied, undergone the company’s recruitment processes, and performed well.
The ODC chairman acknowledged that some committee members submitted names for consideration but noted that the nominations did not determine the final outcome.
“The recruitment and selection process did not pass through the ODC, nor did the ODC determine who was employed,” he said.
He dismissed claims that the committee or its facilitators distributed the jobs as patronage, describing such allegations as baseless.
On contracts, Baridam said the award or allocation of government and NNPCL contracts fell entirely outside the committee’s mandate.
“At no time did the ODC award, allocate, distribute, or otherwise become involved in contracts,” he said.
He also denied receiving any budget, grant, or other funding from the government, describing the committee’s participation in the dialogue process as a sacrifice and service to the Ogoni people.
On reports of renewed oil activities in Ogoniland, the chairman said the committee had no information confirming the resumption of oil and gas production under the Ogoni re-entry programme.
He added that NNPCL stated it was unaware of alleged oil-rig operations reported in Alesa-Eleme, although investigations were ongoing.
On the proposed creation of Bori State, Baridam said state creation remained a key demand presented to FG by the committee.
“ODC has established a tactical subcommittee to develop modalities for pursuing the demand in line with constitutional procedures,” he said.
Baridam disclosed that the dialogue process had progressed to efforts aimed at harmonising outstanding issues from the ODC Report, the Federal Government’s response, and a technical committee report.
He said a Joint Harmonisation Committee comprising representatives of the Federal Government and Ogoni stakeholders was being considered to develop an interim memorandum of understanding on areas of agreement.
The ODC chairman appealed to KAGOTE and other Ogoni stakeholders to use available channels for constructive engagement, adding that the committee remained open to contributions to strengthen the dialogue process.
