National Honours For Ogoni Four Defining Moment In Struggle For Ogoniland — Magnus Abe
He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for honouring the late Ogoni Four, describing the move as a unifying moment for the people of the state.Former governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Senator Magnus Abe, says the conferment of national honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) on the four Ogoni leaders is a defining moment for Ogoniland.
“What happened today is to finally recognise these four outstanding Ogoni leaders — late Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, Chief Theophilus Orage, and Mr. Albert Badey, the former Secretary to the Government of Rivers State.“It was a defining moment in that struggle, and we are all very grateful to President Tinubu for taking that historic step to bring our people together in order to finally put the demons of the past behind us.
We’re very grateful,” Abe said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday. Tinubu conferred national honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) posthumously on the former Ogoni leaders at the Presidential Villa on September 24, 2025. He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for honouring the late Ogoni Four, describing the move as a unifying moment for the people of the state. “We are all together now. We don’t want to have that division anymore.
With the steps the President has taken, we believe the ground is finally set for the takeoff of a new Ogoni.“Our effort and prayer is to bring Ogoni together and to enable us to begin to reap the fruits of what God has put in our land for the benefits of our people, which before now has only brought suffering, misery, pollution, and deaths,” the Rivers politician stated.
Reconciliation The President, while receiving the report of the Ogoni Consultations Committee, urged Ogoniland to embrace reconciliation and unity after decades of division.The recognition came 16 months after Tinubu pledged, in May 2024, to “pursue diligently and honourably” the Ogoni cleanup project and expand empowerment programmes to benefit more indigenes of the oil-rich community.
