Senate Rejects Transfer Of Bakassi To Cameroun

I have just read up on some background (http://www.omoigui.com/files/the_bakassi_story.pd)  to the disputed territory and it seems to me that this is another case of high politics and international affairs arrogantly riding roughshod over the sentiments of the people involved.

The people in Bakassi clearly self-identify as Nigerians and have been under Nigerian administration for many decades.  They should have held a plebiscite there to give the people a chance to express their opinions.  Such was the case in the 60s when many lands swapped sides, some going to Nigeria, some to Cameroon.

In my opinion, this decision is triumph of arrogant and high-handed international politics over the desires of the local people. It is decisions of these nature that lay the ground for future resentments and unrests such as we are seeing in Georgia over Ossetia.

The Nigeria government should be commended for exercising such restraints and being reasonable with the negotiations.  If Bakassi is to remain a Cameroonian territory, I wonder whether the Bakassians will soon forget that there were once administered from Nigeria, much like the other Nigerians who once belonged to the German administered Kamerun are living peacefully in Nigeria.