THE Senate, yesterday, declared total
rejection of the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon following the
judgment of the International Court of Justice, ICJ, and directed
President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently appeal the judgment.
The ICJ in its ruling in 2002 ceded
Bakassi Peninsula, located in Cross River State of Nigeria to Cameroon,
with a 10-year window gap for appeal which expires on October 9, 2012.
Also, the Paramount ruler of Bakassi,
Dr. Edet Okon Etim, said in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan that
the most significant issue for the people of Bakassi was the right to
self determination, which is enshrined in the UN Charter on Human
Rights.
Bakassi protesters Photo by Johnbosco Agbakwuru
Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Minister,
Mr. Olugbenga Ashiru, has been criticized by lawyers for his comments
that members of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, that gave the Federal
Government seven-day ultimatum to approach the ICJ to review the
Bakassi case were doing so for pecuniary interest.
The position of the Senate came at a
time China and Japan are flexing muscles over the uninhabited Daiyou
Islands in the South Pacific Island and Nigeria has 12 days to make a
fresh case to ICJ on new facts supporting its claims to Bakassi
peninsula.
While considering a motion on Bakassi
sponsored by Senator Abdul Ningi and 17 others, the upper legislative
chamber faulted the ICJ judgment, declaring it as null and void.
The Senate held that the Vienna
Convention on treaties that required domestication of the ICJ judgment
by a national parliament was not done by the National Assembly before
Bakassi was handed over by fiat to Cameroon by the Federal Government.
Bakassi could not be ceded to Cameroon —Senators
Senators during an emotion-laden debate
expressed shock at the approach applied by the Federal Government in the
handing over of Bakassi to Cameroon without referendum by the people of
Bakassi as stipulated by the United Nations, UN.
Senate President, David Mark, who
presided over the motion, maintained that Bakassi could not be ceded to
Cameroon, adding that he would write to President Jonathan to
immediately begin the appeal process which expires in nine days time.
According to him, “the resolution that
we need to make is that Bakassi should not be ceded to Cameroon. I think
that is the final objective of our decision.
“If we do not go to an appeal at all
while we have subjected ourselves to the international court, I think
that will be a grievous mistake. There is room for us to appeal. Going
on an appeal is a line of action that we should not reject. If that is
what is available through the court, we should utilise it. I think that
is the most appropriate thing to do now. The most we should do now is to
quickly rush an appeal in spite of what the President said at the UN.
“We have obeyed the international court
to this point, but we still do not accept it. It is not that we accept
it, we have simply obeyed their decision. We have not accepted it. There
is a lot of pressure at home here and I think it is the belief of every
Nigerian that we should not cede Bakassi, not the way it has happened. I
think that is really where the problem is.”
Mark assures
Mark assured that the Senate would go
ahead with all legislative processes to ensure that the judgment is over
turned in favour of Nigeria.
He said: “There is a host of other
things, letters written to National Assembly are actually here and we on
our part have not done anything. We have neither rejected it nor said
anything. They just came and went like that.
“We will revisit the letters and whilst
we are urging the Federal Government to go on an appeal, we on our part
will revisit the letters and see what we can do from our own side, may
be to quickly again come up with a debate and then reject it and forward
it to buttress our points and to buttress our resolutions arrived at
today (yesterday),” he added.
Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi,
leading debate on the motion urged Nigeria to appeal the judgment,
stating that the whole process that led to ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon
was full of irregularities. He argued that both Cameroon and Nigeria
had not fully complied with details of the judgment, adding that new
facts have emerged to show that the peninsula belongs to Nigeria, in
accordance with article 61 of the ICJ.
He said: “The dateline of the judgment
of the ICJ on the International Boundaries between Nigeria and Cameroon
including Bakassi that cedes Bakassi Island from the Federal Republic of
Nigeria to the Republic of Cameroon would expire by October 9, 2012.
Judgment erroneously based on agreement
“The judgment was erroneously based on
agreement between the British and Calabar Chiefs in 1884. There has
never been a precedent in history where any case of this nature was
executed without a referendum as enshrined by the United Nations.
“There is lack of faithful
implementation of articles 3 (1) and 2 (a) of the ‘Green Tree Agreement’
signed by both the Cameroon and Nigeria, thereby violating the basis of
the implementation of the court of judgment.”
Senators to fund appeal process
Ningi added that the action of
government was a conspiracy of silence against the minorities in Nigeria
and that Senators had agreed to fund the appeal process.
“Let government appeal, we are ready to fund the processes if the problem of government is money,” he stated.
Senators unanimously backed the call for
an appeal, as some of them who spoke, yesterday, urged government to
physically reclaim the Island from Cameroon.
They said it was very shocking for
government to hand over Bakassi without even a fight, pointing out
several instances where there have been long drawn battles over lands
between countries, without the ICJ settling the disputes.
Those that spoke include Senators Victor
Ndoma-Egba, Bassey Otu, Heineken Lokpobiri, Haidi Abubakar, Enyinnaya
Abaribe, Ita Enang and George Akume.
FG must protect us —Ndoma-Egba
Ndoma-Egba, PDP, Cross River Central,
said the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon was in complete violation of the
fundamental human rights of the people of Cross River State.
He said: “Bakassi was ceded by Federal
Government in spite of protest by Bakassi people, because they are
minority of minorities. Bakassi was ceded in spite of the Senate not
rectifying the treaty. The least Federal Government can do is to protect
us.
“Federal Government must pay Cross River
compensation. It is their land, their heritage, their history, their
ancestors were buried there and Nigerian government keeps quiet about
compensation. The government must protect us.”
Enyinnaya Abaribe in his contribution
said the action of the Federal Government in hastily handing over
Bakassi to Cameroon depicts that of a coward.
He said: “In which country in the world
can a country willingly give away its property? It is a father that is
weak that would be quick to admit that his child is at fault when there
is a dispute. Nigeria is not a weak father so we must appeal.”
Senators want physical reclaimation
Senators Lokpobiri, PDP, Bayelsa West
and Atiku Bagudu urged the Federal Government to use its physical might
to quickly reclaim the Island while pursing the appeal.
According to Lokpobiri, “two options are
available to Nigeria: the first option is to appeal. Second option is
to go back to Bakassi and reclaim it. It is very unfortunate that in the
21st century, we could just hand over part of the country just like
that. We should physically go and repossess the land. Since we have a
bigger military might, we should go to Bakassi and repossess it.”
Also kicking against the ceding of
Bakassi, Senator Haidi Abubakar, CPC Katsina Central said government had
no choice but to appeal since no referendum was conducted. His words:
“The issue of referendum has not been done. We must force the Federal
Government to appeal.
But the former Attorney General of Cross
River State, Mrs. Nella Rabana (SAN) who was at The Hague said those
who were advising the Federal Government against approaching the ICJ to
revisit the Bakassi issue should examine their position because “Nigeria
has all along complied with the ruling of ICJ. So, asking that we
invoke article 61 of ICJ statue is in fact, part of this compliance
process and not a violation.”
Senator Ewah Bassey Henshaw, who
represented Cross River South from 2007-2011, told us that the Obong of
Calabar and the Efik Kingdom have resolved that they would not concede
their territory on the basis of wartime contrivance between two leaders
who did not have the consent of Bakassi people.
He said: “There is every reason for
Nigeria to exercise its right of appeal which is also part of the
compliance rather than shirking its responsibility.”
Vanguard
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