As the possibility of amicable resolution of the dispute get dimmer by the day, many Nigerians had expected that by now the vexed issue of Bakassi Peninsula would have been easily resolved amongst the sister countries to pave way for a more beneficial bilateral international relations between both countries.
Thus, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) recently assembled notable Nigerians to a brainstorming session on the Bakassi Peninsula after, ten years of International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the subject. The task of the professors and erudite scholars was simple; to look at the way out of the imbroglio before the issue degenerates into crisis between both countries.
Dissecting the issue, former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, in a paper titled ‘Lead Us Not Into Temptation’ emphasized that, “I think that the brewing crisis over Bakassi Peninsula has all the potential of becoming ‘Nigeria-Cameroun Kashimir’ if care is not taken. Akinyemi said he was amazed at the memorandum written by Dr. T.O Elias that Bakassi did not belong to Nigeria and that it belongs to Cameroun.
He went on to say, “It is a matter of regret and should be considered a failure of a state policy that we entered appearance at the court in response to the suit filed by Cameroun.
“I also accept that the acceptance of judgment of the court and the handing over of the Bakassi Peninsula were not only acts of indecent haste, but the handing over without an act of the National Assembly was itself an act of illegality and unconstitutionality”.
Now that the chick has come to roost again Akinyemi without inhibition said members of the National Assembly who served under former President, Olusegun Obasanjo when he committed the illegality should be blamed for it.
He appealed to the National Assembly, the Presidency, media and foreign policy elite not to raise false hopes in order for the issue to be resolved.The foreign affairs expert advised that government should take urgent steps to engage the Bakassi Self Determination Front in a dialogue to dissuade its members from embarking on a confrontation with Cameroun.
For the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke, the call to seek review of the ICJ decision was not misplaced.
The legal guru said the review attained prominence in national discourse in view of the fact that Article 61 of the statute of the ICJ permits such a review where the application is based upon the discovery of a fact which is decisive and was unknown to the court and to the party claiming revision when the judgment was given.
Adoke said, “It may well be that there is increased agitation for this option now given that the statute provides that a review should be initiated before 10 years have elapsed from the date of the judgment that is before 10October 2012.”
Painting a critical picture of the scenario, the former president of West Africa Bar Association Mr. Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said country needs to move speedily to avert crisis. According to him, “The Federal Government does not appear ready to revisit the ruling of ICJ and we have a duty as a nation to take cognizance of the interests of displaced Bakassi people.
“They may out of frustration declare their own independent and they have the right to do it. It is a challenge to us as a nation to address the injustice done to the people before it is too late”.
With such impression created by the legal luminaries, the royal Highness of Bakassi, Etim Edet came out of his shell to say that they are being used to play politics, insisting that they don’t want to be with Cameroun.
According to him, “We came with a heavy heart and it seems the labour of our heroes past seems to be in vain. Bakassi should not be condemned to perpetual slavery because for several years we shared the same culture with Nigeria. We have lost our identity and as I am I don’t have a place to stay”.
His disposition on the issues is obviously at variance with the ICJ judgment which decided that the sovereignty over the disputed Bakassi Peninsula is with Cameroun as a result of delimitation between Great Britain and Germany under the Anglo-German Agreement of March 11, 1913.
Cameroun filed the case in 1994 concerning a dispute relating to the question of sovereignty over the Bakassi but also requested the determination of the maritime boundary between the two states.Pursuant to an additional application by Cameroon later that year, the subject of the dispute was extended to include a definite mutual land boundary from Lake Chad to the sea.
With the hand writing boldly written on the wall, most people familiar with Bakassi Peninsula are of the view that the trend would generate crisis now that the Bakassi stalemate is moving to October 10 which is the expiration of the ten-year window of grace allowed by the International Court of Justice for an appeal on the ill-fated judgment on Bakassi.
More so, that the Nigerian government is sitting on the fence not making any categorical statement on the volatile Bakassi issue. Some analysts who lampooned the present administration have also lauded the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for some of his achievements, especially now that Nigeria is experiencing the Boko-Haram insurgence.
Some opined that Obasanjo would never allow such to happen and would have taken a drastic action. But the agreement he signed on 13 June 2006 left the territory completely in Camerounian control within the next 2 years after he agreed to withdraw Nigerian troops within 60 days.
Nigeria began to withdraw its forces, comprising some 3,000 troops, beginning 1 August 2006, and a ceremony on 14 August marked the formal handover of the northern part of the peninsula.The remainder stayed under Nigerian civil authority for two more years. On 22 November 2007, the Nigerian Senate passed a resolution declaring that the withdrawal from the Bakassi Peninsula was illegal.
The government took no action, and handed the final parts of Bakassi over to Cameroun on 14 August 2008 as planned, but a Federal High Court had stated this should be delayed until all accommodations for resettled Bakassians had been concluded.
The government did not seem to plan to heed this court order and did set the necessary mechanisms into motion to override it.
Fishermen displaced from Bakassi had been settled in a landlocked area called New Bakassi which they claimed is already inhabited and not suitable for fishermen like them but only for farmers.
The House of Representatives has promised to re-visit the Green Tree Agreement (GTA) signed between Nigeria and Cameroon.The GTA was done at Greentree, New York, on June 12, 2006 following the ICJ ruling ceding Bakassi Peninsula to neigbhouring Cameroun in October 10, 210.
With the agreement, Nigeria recognizes the sovereignty of Cameroun over the Bakassi Peninsula in accordance with the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the matter of land and maritime boundary between Cameroun and Nigeria.But following agitations by the Bakassi natives and moves to reclaim their territory, the Lower House of the National Assembly said it has become imperative to take a second look at the controversial agreement.
The chairman, House Committee on Treaty and Agreement, Mr. Bush-Alebiosu, who dropped the hint while interacting with the Efik Elders and Leaders Forum in Calabar revealed that because of Nigeria’s leadership position in Africa, she is a signatory to more than 200 International treaties of bi-lateral and multi-lateral nature.
Alebiosu said: “We are here to look into things from Green Tree Agreement point of view to see whether they are in our favour or not and how it affects the people of Bakassi. The Committee had since visited the affected community and is expected to make recommendations to the House of Representatives.
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