its surrender of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, aggrieved
indigenes of the former Bakassi have commenced a subtle rebellion
AFTER October 10, 2012 every issue concerning the once disputed
Bakassi Peninsula should technically come to a halt. That day would
mark the tenth anniversary of the judgment of the International Court
of Justice in the dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over ownership
of Bakassi.
The ICJ sitting in The Hague, Netherlands had on October 10, 2002
ruled in favour of Cameroon throwing out the claims of Nigeria at the
end of what many on the Nigeria saw as a not too diligent prosecution
of its claim of ownership by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
By October 10, 2012 the ten year window allowed for appeals to the
judgment of the ICJ would have expired. The Obasanjo administration
did not bother to exhaust that option as it proceeded four years later
to sign the Green Tree Agreement, GTA, with Cameroon transferring
ownership of the peninsula to Nigeria's eastern but historically not
too friendly francophone neighbour.
With weeks running out for an appeal, going by the provisions of
international law, stakeholders in the area are expressing some little
hope that the present administration could initiate moves to reverse
the handover.
Expectations of a reversal
Any appeal, however, is expected to get to the court six months before
deliberations. Expectations of a reversal are, however, laced with
doubts. The significance of Nigeria's assent to the Green Tree
Agreement is acceptance of the judgment of the ICJ.
It was expected that agreement would be ratified by the National
Assembly for it to be implemented in the country but that was not the
case as the Obasanjo administration used fiat to undermine the powers
and constitutional provisions.
The preceding administrations to Obasanjo were, however, not as
submissive. The General Sani Abacha regime in its time made sure that
no inch of the country was tampered with, especially by The Cameroons.
To strengthen the position of Bakassi within the Nigerian federation,
Abacha created a distinct local government area for the Bakassi
people.
Remarkably, even though the area has been physically ceded to
Cameroon, the local government is still listed in the Nigerian
constitution. The loss of Bakassi Peninsula has also led to bad
fortunes for Cross River State as it has led to the delisting of the
state from the league of oil producing states in the country.
With that loss is also the loss of the expected royalty and goodwill
from oil producing companies that would have accrued to the people of
the peninsula. Compounding the situation of Akwa Ibom State is the
recent judgment of the Supreme Court conferring ownership of the
disputed 76 oil wells between the state and Akwa Ibom State to the
later.
However, following the ICJ verdict, the Greentree Agreement between
the two countries was signed on June 12, 2006 in Greentree, New York,
United States under the watchful eyes of representatives of the United
Nations, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. The agreement
preceded the handover which was done two years later in a ceremony in
Archibong town in Bakassi, then in Cross River State.
Handover ceremony
While the ceremony took place in Bakassi, the actual handover of title
documents was done at the Pregrino, Governor's Lodge Calabar, amidst
water-tight security. Although a militant group, Bakassi Freedom
Fighters, had threatened to ensure that the exercise did not take
place, but the leader of the group, Tony Ene, died in a mysterious
motor accident few days to the handover.
Ene and his group had even hoisted the Bakassi flag, with the rising
sun as its symbol, in Abana, headquarters of Bakasssi before they were
dislodged by the Nigerian government.
Upon ceding of the oil-rich territory to Cameroon, the international
community and the Federal Government promised to ensure that the
displaced people were resettled and even assured them that they would
not lose the benefits accruing from the resources obtainable in the
peninsula.
That assurance was, however, soon undermined when the Revenue
Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC and the National
Boundary Commission, in a border demarcation exercise transferred 76
oil wells previously accredited to Cross River to the neighbouring
Akwa Ibom State.
Temporary triumph
The action led to the Cross River State Government mounting a
challenge at the Supreme Court which was recently decided in favour of
Akwa Ibom State.
Reacting to the judgment, Governor Liyel Imoke said: "As a wronged but
law-abiding people, we had hoped for justice. But that was not to be.
This judgment is merely a temporary triumph of falsehood. I have
confidence in the ultimate victory of 'good over evil' because as a
famous philosopher, William Cullen Bryant once said, truth crushed to
earth shall rise again."
Addressing journalists at the Council of Chiefs chambers, Calabar,
Paramount Ruler of Bakassi and Chairman State Council of Chiefs, His
Royal Majesty, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet alongside Chairman of Bakassi
Local Government Area, Dr. Ekpo Bassey, and leaders of thought from
the area in a text entitled, "Nigerians, be our witness" said that
they have decided to take their destiny in their hands.
He recalled that the ICJ gave its judgment without giving the people
the opportunity to participate in the events that led to that and that
on June 12, 2006, then President Olusegun Obasanjo signed the
Greentree Agreement which was watched by the UN and other super
powers, an action he said "trampled upon our collective right as a
people as expressly guaranteed by the UN charters on human rights."
According to the monarch such rights include nationality and
sovereignty, right to participate in the cultural life of community,
right to self-determination among others, adding, "as a peace loving
people and having been assured that our rights will not be infringed
and will not be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatments by our
beloved country, we accepted the movement from our ancestral home
which was supposed to be stressed free, but it was not and is still
not."
Greentree agreement
He alleged that the ICJ and Greentree Agreement entered into by the
two countries had been breached by the Cameroonian authority, saying
that the fishermen from the state were not being allowed access to the
peninsula for fishing as they were being harassed, molested and killed
by the Cameroonian gendarmes."
Etinyin Okon-Edet regretted that the Bakassi people have lost their
identity, face the problem of integration with the host communities,
lost valuable assets in form of houses, palaces, household property as
a result of the displacement without compensation.
As a sound of warning to the federal government, he said: "This is to
inform all Nigerians that the youths of the area are already restive
and I as the paramount ruler cannot stop them from resisting now what
they consider an unfair treatment by the ICJ, the UN and Nigeria which
ignored the human cost of their action.
"With total abandonment by Nigeria, the youths threaten to go back to
the creeks to render the entire Gulf of Guinea inaccessible to oil and
marine exploration activities in collaboration with their Niger Delta
compatriots and their Northern sympathizers.
"They have threatened that before October 10, 2012, they will take
back their Bakassi in whatever means possible if urgent steps are not
taken by federal government to redress the above. Nigerians should
bear me witness that I have tried my best over the period from the day
of ICJ judgment till today to maintain peace and order. This battle is
going to be worldwide. God has told us clearly that he is going to
intervene in this matter."
The Cross River State Community, University of Calabar through their
chairman, Dr. Patrick Egaga, described the ICJ judgment as "colonial,
biased and harmful to the international image and security of Nigeria,
more so when the so called judgment did not take into consideration
the rights of the people of Bakassi to self-determination."
He also condemned the Supreme Court judgment that decided ownership of
76 oil wells between the state and Akwa Ibom in favour of the latter
saying that it was a travesty of justice and called for immediate
reversal in the interest of peace.
Also speaking in an interview in Calabar, the State Security Adviser,
Mr. Rekpene Bassey, said the security of the country's territorial
waters was a source of worry since it was bare at the moment as a
result of the ICJ judgment.
Bassey wondered why the Nigeria Government that fought civil war for
three years to retain the country's unity against the Biafra Republic
declared by the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, could
swiftly hand over part of the same territory to another country within
hours in what was referred to as Green Tree Agreement.
He said: "I am worried that the flank in the Gulf of Guinea makes us
vulnerable to external attacks. The security of the territorial waters
in the whole of that flank is open.
Anybody would be right to express unhappiness over the fact that for
three years we fought a civil war because one part of the country had
decided to secede from Nigeria and in that war about one million were
reported to have lost their lives.
"Is it not ironical that we could fight for years to keep the country
together and for one moment a territory in that area where the war was
fought will be given away in such a Greentree Agreement? Worst still,
it was the same leader who fought the war as a commander, latter
commander-in-chief of the country that still handed a territory of the
country to another?"
However, last week, a group, the Bakassi Self Determination Front
hoisted its Blue-White-Red liberation flag dotted with stars at
Dayspring which was supposed to be the resettlement camp for the
displaced and also set up a radio station.
The station which allegedly started test-run transmission, Monday,
August 6, 2012, at 12 noon and operates on 4.2 MHz and 5.2MHz Short
Wave band disseminated information on activities on goings-on at the
ceded Peninsula.
Disseminating information
The group before then had issued a two week ultimatum to its people
living within the ceded territory to vacate or be crushed even as it
had warned against movement on the sea on Saturday August 11 and
Sunday 12, 2012.
It was alleged that the group had in a text message to the member
representing Bakassi/Calabar South/Akpabuyo constituency in House of
Representatives, Hon. Essien Ayi, told him:
"This is your constituency, there shall be no movement of boats from
Ikang beach or Marina beach to Cameroon on Saturday, August 11 and
Sunday, August 12, 2012. Announce to your constituents, major takeover
events will occur that will take the world, for those who dance for
the society must learn to know when the drumming demands a new dance.
"Those who used to come from Usakedet by bush track to Akwa and
Archibong town must not move on those days please. God will definitely
be on the throne anytime on these days. We hope you will save your
people."
The group claimed that a Cameroon radio monitored in Yaounde said the
military high command of the country was watching the unfolding events
in Bakassi and will respond to it appropriately.
It also claimed that the Cameroon government had replied to the arrest
and subsequent release of three of their soldiers as well as its plan
to take back its ancestral land through a website in French that they
were ready for Nigeria.
Maiden broadcast
Meanwhile in a maiden broadcast, the Commander-General, Ekpe Ekpenyong
Oku, said: "Please for the umpteenth time, we plead with our people to
leave Abana now. The fight is going to be thickest and fiercest now
that our brothers from the North and East have fully arrived. Bakassi
we hail thee."
He added: "No sea movement so that you don't have cause to regret.
There shall be no movement of boats from Ikang or Marina beach to
Cameroon on these two days. Be warned."
Oku called "on men of goodwill, individual, human rights organizations
and the indigenous people of Bakassi to join hands in resisting and
fighting the present international conspiracy."
Earlier in a statement made available to newsmen in Calabar, Oku had
revealed that arrangements have been concluded with some international
liberation groups to assist the Bakassi natives in the battle ahead.
He said: "Ours will be a classical story of the elephant and the ant.
The elephant will soon be driven frantic with ants all over its
enormous bulk. The elephant will be so harassed and will find no
respite and will dash itself against a tree trunk.
"Throughout history, injured people have had to resort to arms in
their self-defence where peaceful negotiations fail. Bakassi people
are no exception. Our right to self-determination is imminent; some
will die, but some will leave to reap from our labours," he stated.
Though tempers are high, but what will happen to the Bakassi people
who have lost their ancestral land including deity now wandering in
the wilderness after ten years of the ICJ judgment, will the
international community fulfill the promise as they made or will the
people decide to shape their destiny? Time will tell.
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