Bakassi France would have levelled Nigeria- Duke

01 OCT, 2013

Former Cross River Governor, Donald Duke, yesterday disclosed that France threatened to level Nigeria if the country had gone to war with Cameroun over the Bakassi Peninsula.

Speaking at the 60th birthday lecture in honour of Justice Charles Archibong (rtd) held in Lagos, Duke said any attempt to ignore the International Court of Justice, ICJ, judgement would have been disastrous for Nigeria. He said: "France would have wiped us out. Cameroun is still a protectorate of France and has a defence pact with France. And France is duty bound to honour that pact, even though it has a lot of investments in Nigeria.

"The French President made it clear to us that it has put on alert its military and showed us the entire position of our military and exactly where we were and our daily movements.



"If we engaged Cameroun in war, France would have wiped us out. We tried to liaise with the Chinese and the Russians, but America made it point blank that where the British stands that is where they stand. We were ready to table it before the Security Council, but they were not ready to take it.''

The former governor said after the ICJ judgement, Obasanjo tried to remedy the situation by seeking protection from Britain and United States, but they were not ready to assist. Duke also said Camerounian President, Paul Biya, snubbed former President Olusegun Obasanjo when the latter visited him over the Bakassi issue.

The former governor said Obasanjo and his entourage were kept waiting for about three hours before they were grudgingly attended to by the Camerounian president. He said a lot of meetings were held behind the scene to resolve the issue, but the Camerounian leader refused to cooperate. Duke said it was later discovered that the reason Obasanjo was snubbed was due to an earlier confrontation between Biya and former Military Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha over the issue.

He said: "No one questions the ancestral ownership of Bakassi. Behind the scene there were lots of works, lots of meetings that went on. The problem of Bakassi did not start with the civilian administration; the case actually went to court in 1996, even before we were sworn in into office in 1999. "There was this famous world tour by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

One of the places we visited was Cameroun, we arrived at the airport, we met President Paul Biya who was seeing-off another leader, but he snubbed us. "He left us at the airport for over three hours. We were there and the embassy staff did not know what to do. Grudgingly, he met with us, and lectured us on Bakassi.

Later on, we found out that he was reacting to an earlier confrontation he had with late General Sani Abacha. "We thought we could settle the matter out of court, because we knew we should never have gone to court in the first place, we don't stand a chance. But, we thought we could settle it out of court, but Cameroon was adamant. "We took the matter to the African Union, AU, the union tried to facilitate peaceful resolution of the matter, but it couldn't work."

Source:http://radiobiafra.co/news/bakassi-france-would-have-levelled-nigeria-duke

So that's why Nigeria chickened out. Without UK,USA,China and many other nations backing them up, they can't get balls to fight France. LMFAO, the same nation that's always running their mouth on how it's "superior" military defeated Biafra even with France backing it up. Roflmao.

France dat is busy licking the bottom of the QUEEN OF ENGLAND

One_Naira: So that's why Nigeria chickened out. Without UK,USA,China and many other nations backing them up, they can't get balls to fight France. LMFAO, the same nation that's always running their mouth on how it's "superior" military defeated Biafra even with France backing it up. Roflmao.

If they couldn't fight Biafra without the help of Britain, Russia and Egypt, how did you expect them to fight France?

oily Yoruba: I had wish France had done this, so as to save mankind from the utter rubbish called nigeria

it won't cost you a thing, to think before you comment.

It's so shamefull that most of this francophone african countries are just independent in name only. They can't sneeze without the permission from paris. Yet the world and indeed anglophone countries keep berating britain from colonialism, they have washed their hands off your country. But france is still actively practising colonialism and no one is saying anything. It's just stupid.

One_Naira: So that's why Nigeria chickened out. Without UK,USA,China and many other nations backing them up, they can't get balls to fight France. LMFAO, the same nation that's always running their mouth on how it's "superior" military defeated Biafra even with France backing it up. Roflmao.

france is one of the world power and nigeria is not in the same level in terms of military strenght.u.s would have strike syria why where they waiting for russia to give thm green light to attack.its not a must to comment,by the why fight over what u have sold of to some one x its no longer your after u achived your perpose of given them or do u want to eat your cake and still have.

I question the ownership of bakassi. It is wrong to believe Nigeria own bakassi. Bakassi is own by cameroon.

There is a tribe call Bakassa people inside cameroon. and there is a Bakassa mountain inside cameroon. The Bakassa people are the owners of bakassi. And they are inside cameroon.

So the world court was right in its decision. Even while this information was not available at that time. Satellite pictures shows it is not own by nigeria.

So france made such a threat against the federal republic of nigeria and "total" continued to drill our oil...how idiotic!! The nigerian government is amatuerish.

To the people bakkasi,you can fight for ur freedom!just believe!its better to die like a man than live like a coward!

musiwa1l: I question the ownership of bakassi. It is wrong to believe Nigeria own bakassi. Bakassi is own by cameroon.

There is a tribe call Bakassa people inside cameroon. and there is a Bakassa mountain inside cameroon. The Bakassa people are the owners of bakassi. And they are inside cameroon.

So the world court was right in its decision. Even while this information was not available at that time. Satellite pictures shows it is not own by nigeria.

Engineer,professor Musiwa is here! And as usual,brandishing his satellite images. Can somebody tell me who the hell is Musiwa


@topic,the fact is Cameroun alone is toothless without the backing of France. It's shows that France is still actively practising Neo-colonialism with it's elsewhile colonies.

I see no sense in this post. Some dumbass jst dont understand how international politics works. The worst france could have done was to back cameroon up with weapons and tactical advice like they did in libya. They wouldnt dare raised a single finger against Nigeria and well, that's not because they can not.

Licensed-2-Kill:
I see no sense in this post. Some dumbass jst dont understand how international politics works. The worst france could have done was to back cameroon up with weapons and tactical advice like they did in libya. They wouldnt dare raised a single finger against Nigeria and well, that's not because they can not.

they could, if nigeria attacks first.

touch4mony: france is one of the world power and nigeria is not in the same level in terms of military strenght.u.s would have strike syria why where they waiting for russia to give thm green light to attack.its not a must to comment,by the why fight over what u have sold of to some one x its no longer your after u achived your perpose of given them or do u want to eat your cake and still have.

What is this one saying? My whole comment illustrates the comedy witnessed on this forums a lot. Nigerians on this website yarn up and down how it's so called "superior" military defeated Biafra despite France supporting Biafra. in other words, saying how nigerian military defeated France. Now the same France threatened the country, what happened to the so called "superior" military? Oh yeah that's right Too afraid to do anything without asking for others to back it up. It's just pure comedy. Every war USA had it seeked approval, they thank and admit their allies helped them, they never boast it's their military that did it all nor do they disregard the massive help they received from others. Nigeria is the opposite hence my first illustration.

As for the ending of your comment, dude you have no ounce of empathy at all? Nigeria selling out a portion of it's region just because they desperately want to win a war and need more allies is nothing to you. The leader at that time disregarding the feelings of the indigenous of that region he sold out is nothing to you hence the comment "you want to eat your cake and still have it". The bakassi indigenous were and still are unhappy with the decision, they wanted the nation to fight for them or find another alternative to appease Cameroon but no, the government gave them away like modern day slaves. SMH

This is one reason we must get our Biafra back. Cameron and France will then know who owns Bakassi. Gowon may the sword never depart from your village,family and household

Symphony007: they could, if nigeria attacks first.

nope bruh. . .no country would do that in the international system. Any effort by other party has to be sanctioned by the U.N. the only thing that could be done is deployin some bunch of U.N. Soldiers to bakassi makin it a no go area for Nigerian troops. If france publicly back cameroon then Nigeria too is more likely to find some superpower too that would back her then a WW3 would be in the makin and the U.N would neva allow that

And countries with interests in Nigeria would just allow France level us.

Where were France when Abacha made our military to push the Cameroonian gorillas to Yaoundé within 2 weeks?

TribalEAST: France dat is busy licking the bottom of the QUEEN OF ENGLAND

That's how tinz work

Licensed-2-Kill:
I see no sense in this post. Some dumbass jst dont understand how international politics works. The worst france could have done was to back cameroon up with weapons and tactical advice like they did in libya. They wouldnt dare raised a single finger against Nigeria and well, that's not because they can not.

I think you are getting it wrong. France has a military pact with Cameroun, so they could have defended Cameroun if Naija attacked first. Same way US would defend Taiwan cos they have a military/defense pact.

Licensed-2-Kill:

nope bruh. . .no country would do that in the international system. Any effort by other party has to be sanctioned by the U.N. the only thing that could be done is deployin some bunch of U.N. Soldiers to bakassi makin it a no go area for Nigerian troops. If france publicly back cameroon then Nigeria too is more likely to find some superpower too that would back her then a WW3 would be in the makin and the U.N would neva allow that

my dear, for the fact that france and cameroon have a defence pact, france has the right to fight with camerron against any aggresor. It's like nato, they all have a defence pact. If you attack one country, the rest can attack you. When the u.k attacked argentina over the falkland, the u.s sent aircraft carriers and intelligence to the u.k, france gave britain all the blueprints for the weapons they have sold to argentina. But at last, what france said was just a threat because there was no way nigeria would attack cameroon.

adconline:
I think you are getting it wrong. France has a military pact with Cameroun, so they could have defended Cameroun if Naija attacked first. Same way US would defend Taiwan cos they have a military/defense pact.

exactly, just as the u.s will bombard north korea if they step an inch beyond the DMZ, talk less of attacking south korea.

I once asked the question of whether the same people who once boasted of how the would spill the last drop of their hypocritical blood to defend the unity of nigeria were so reluctant to spare a drop of sweat to defend the only oil rich island Nigeria has apart from bonny.
Knowing fully well how Nigeria does not keep to agreement particularly international agreements decided to abide 100% by the ICJ ruling which most other African countries like Sudan, Kenya, Zimbabwe call bluff.

The generals who often boasted of their exploits during the uncivil war fought to keep Nigeria one but kept mute like dumb asses when bakassi was mentioned.
Hypocrites like Gowon, danjuma, Obasanjo, domkat bali, Useni, babangida and the most recent clown Alabi Isama and his storytelling partners (Adekunle and Akirinade)
Should please stop their tales by moonlight and a complete waste of newspaper pages which could have generated money for the newspaper houses through adverts and
Kept their funny ponytail lies to their gullible wives and girl friends.
Nigerians are tired of the fake and blatantly falsified war bravery stories of these Overnight generals.
Any fake or falsified war stories by any overnight war generals would lead to a court case

The threat was real, that's why the Federal Government jettisoned Peugeot Series for Toyota Brands.

The boycott is still affecting France economy till thisday.

Symphony007: So france made such a threat against the federal republic of nigeria and "total" continued to drill our oil...how idiotic!! The nigerian government is amatuerish.

adconline:
I think you are getting it wrong. France has a military pact with Cameroun, so they could have defended Cameroun if Naija attacked first. Same way US would defend Taiwan cos they have a military/defense pact.

Symphony007: my dear, for the fact that france and cameroon have a defence pact, france has the right to fight with camerron against any aggresor. It's like nato, they all have a defence pact. If you attack one country, the rest can attack you. When the u.k attacked argentina over the falkland, the u.s sent aircraft carriers and intelligence to the u.k, france gave britain all the blueprints for the weapons they have sold to argentina. But at last, what france said was just a threat because there was no way nigeria would attack cameroon.

idk the details of the pact signed but do u think france would blindly attack any aggressor of cameroon. What if it was to be U.S. All i'm sayin is that they may back cameroon with some financial power or weapons and Nigeria too would definitely get her own sympathizer. The oil would defo attract some. And mind you, the france would neva blink unless the security council of the U.N says so.

Ngwakwe: The threat was real, that's why the Federal Government jettisoned Peugeot Series for Toyota Brands.

The boycott is still affecting France economy till thisday.

maybe the federal government did. But i remember very well that state governments like rivers, continued to patronize peugeot for the 409 executive car.

[quote
author=chidindufrank]This is one reason we must get our Biafra back.
Cameron and France will then know who owns Bakassi. Gowon may the sword
never depart from your village,family and household[/quote];


Fulani herdsmen are showing them the true meaning of One Nigeria.......

It was wrong of Nigeria to have released Bakasi to Cameroon,France would not have done anything,how many wars has France won in thier history,the French people are cowards.

Its very unfortunate that our leaders he could have stood their grounds gave in to the judgment, it is gone now and what are we doing to ensure that we have a strong military to protect this country.

would they hv made that treat if it were Abacha? guys go and read ur history, france is a world power bt hw many wars have they won in History? They are onu good in starting wars and pullin out wen it gets hot. e.g vitnem