By FINTAN IBEGWAM
THE Federal government yesterday sealed
Nigeria’s hope of recovering the Bakassi
Peninsula, by saying that the government will
not appeal the International Court of Justice,
(ICJ) judgment of 2002 ceding the Peninsula to
Cameroon.
The Minister of Justice in a long statement
released last night said that after consultation
with experts, the government decided not to
pursue the review of the case stating that it will
be more damaging to the country diplomatically
if she failed in her quest.
Adoke’s release entitled, statement of Bakassi
stated that:
It will be recalled that on 10th October 2002, the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered
judgment in Land and Maritime Boundary
between Cameroon and Nigeria, which covers
about 2000 kilometres extending from Lake
Chad to the Sea.
It will also be recalled that before the judgment
was delivered, President Olusegun Obasanjo,
GCFR of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of the
Republic of Cameroon gave their respective
undertaking to the international community to
abide by the judgment of the Court.
The commitment and undertakings given by
both Heads of Government were confirmed by
the establishment of the Cameroon-Nigeria
Mixed Commission (CNMC) pursuant to the Joint
Communiqué adopted at a Summit Meeting on
15 November 2002 in Geneva. The CNMC is
composed of the representatives of Cameroon,
Nigeria and the United Nations and is chaired by
the Special Representative of the United Nations
Secretary General for West Africa.
The CNMC has held 29 Sessions since its
inception and has peacefully, amicably and
successfully:
(a) Brought Cameroon and Nigeria back to
negotiation table;
(b) Supervised the handing over of 33 ceded
villages to Cameroon and 1 to Nigeria in
December, 2003 and received 3 settlements and
territory in Adamawa and Borno States Sectors
from Cameroon in 2004;
(c) Initiated the Enugu-Abakiliki-Mamfe-
Mutengene Road project as part of the
confidence building measures between the two
countries;
(d) Supervised peaceful withdrawal of Civil
Administration, Military and Police Forces and
transfer of authority in the Bakassi Peninsula by
Nigeria to Cameroon in 2008 in line with the
modalities contained in the Greentree
Agreement signed by Cameroon and Nigeria in
2006 which the United Nations, Germany, USA,
France, UK and Northern Ireland witnessed; and
(e) Commenced the emplacement of boundary
beacons/pillars along the land boundary and
initiated final mapping of the whole stretch of
the boundary. It is instructive to note that about
1800 kilometres of the boundary have so far
been assessed for Pillar Emplacement leaving
only about 220 km to complete the assessment
of the entire boundary.
The Greentree Agreement was also signed by H.
E. Paul Biya, and President President Olusegun
Obasanjo GCFR, on 12 June, 2006, in Long
Island, Greentree, New York, USA; reaffirming
their willingness to peacefully implement the
judgment of the ICJ.
The Agreement contains the modalities for
withdrawal and transfer of authority in the
Bakassi Peninsula by Nigeria to Cameroon in
pursuance of the ICJ Judgment.
The Follow-Up Committee comprising
representatives of Nigeria and Cameroon was
established to monitor the implementation of
the Agreement and settle any dispute regarding
the interpretation and implementation of the
Agreement. Nigeria handed over the Bakassi
Peninsula to Cameroon in 2008.
The Statute of the International Court of Justice
provides that the Judgment of the Court is final
and without appeal. However, following the
Resolutions of both Houses of the National
Assembly calling on the Executive to take steps
to apply for a review of the judgment, His
Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,
GCFR called a Stakeholders meeting comprising
the leadership of the National Assembly, the
Governors of Akwa-Ibom and Cross River States,
the Members of the National Assembly from
both States, the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation, the Honourable Attorney General
of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the
Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Director General, National Boundary
Commission to review the situation.
The Stakeholders Meeting after due deliberations
constituted a Committee comprising of the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
the Attorney General of the Federation, the
Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Director
General, National Boundary Commission and
Members of the National Assembly namely:
Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, SAN, CON, Hon. Dr.
Ali Ahmed and Hon Nnena Ukaje to examine all
the issues in contention and available options for
Nigeria including, but not limited to the
application for review of the ICJ Judgment,
appropriate political and diplomatic solutions.
Although the judgment of the ICJ is final and not
subject to appeal, the ICJ Statute provides for
circumstances under which its judgment can be
reviewed. The relevant provisions are:
(a) Article 61 (1) which provides that the Court
can review its judgment upon the discovery of
some fact of such a nature as to be a decisive
factor, which fact was, when the judgment was
given, unknown to the court and also to the
party claiming revision, always provided that
such ignorance was due not to negligence;
(b) Article 61 (4) which stipulates that
application for revision must be made at least
within six months of the discovery of the new
fact, and
(c) Article 61(5), provides that no application for
revision may be made after the lapse of ten
years from the date of the judgment.
The implication of the above provisions of the
ICJ Statute is that a case for revision of the
judgment of the court can only be successful if:
(a) The application for revision is based on the
discovery of a new fact;
(b) The fact must have existed prior to the
delivery of the judgment;
(c) The newly discovered fact must be of a
decisive nature; and
(d) The party seeking revision (Nigeria) and the
Court, must not have known of the fact at the
time of the delivery of the judgment.
The Committee proceeded to examine the case
for revision against the requirements of Article
61 of the ICJ Statute and was constrained to
observe from the oral presentations made to it
by the proponents of the revision that the strict
requirements of Article 61 could not be satisfied.
This is because their presentation was unable to
show that Nigeria has discovered a decisive fact
that was unknown to her before the ICJ
judgment, which is capable of swaying the Court
to decide in its favour.
This is more so as most of the issues canvassed
in support of the case for a revision of the ICJ
judgment had been canvassed and pronounced
upon by the ICJ in its 2002 judgment.
The Federal Government also retained a firm of
international Legal Practitioners to advice on the
merits and demerits of the case for revision.
The firm after considering all the materials that
were placed at its disposal against the
requirements of Article 61 of the ICJ Statute
came to the reasoned conclusion that “an
application for a review is virtually bound to fail“
and that “a failed application will be
diplomatically damaging to Nigeria”.
In view of the foregoing, the Federal
Government is of the informed view that with
less than two days to the period when the
revision will be statute barred (9th October,
2012), it would be impossible for Nigeria to
satisfy the requirements of Articles 61(1) -(5) of
the ICJ Statute. Government has therefore
decided that it will not be in the national interest
to apply for revision of the 2002 ICJ Judgment in
respect of the Land and Maritime Boundary
between Cameroon and Nigeria.
Government is however concerned about the
plight of Nigerians living in the Bakassi Peninsula
and the allegations of human rights abuses
being perpetrated against Nigerians in the
Peninsula and is determined to engage
Cameroon within the framework of the existing
implementation mechanisms agreed to by
Nigeria and Cameroon in order to protect the
rights and livelihoods of Nigerians living in the
Peninsula.
Nigeria will also not relent in seeking appropriate
remedies provided by international law such as
the invocation of the compulsory jurisdiction of
the ICJ; Petitioning the United Nations Human
Rights Council and good offices of the United
Nations Secretary General which has played
pivotal role in ensuring the peaceful
demarcation and delimitation of the boundary
between the two countries and other confidence
building measures and calls on the United
Nations to continue to provide assistance to the
affected populations.
Finally the Federal Government wishes to assure
all Nigerians especially the people living in the
Bakassi Peninsula of its determination to explore
all avenues necessary to protect their interests
including but not limited to negotiations aimed
at buying back the territory, if feasible, the
convening of bilateral meeting of the Heads of
State and Government to ensure protection and
development of the affected population.
In the meantime, we call on all well meaning
Nigerians in the Bakassi peninsula to be law
abiding and to allow the various initiatives being
undertaken by the Federal Government to bear
fruitful result

So many mixed reports on the people of
Bakassi. Since Bakassi has been ceded to
Cameroun, why are the people there being
moved to Nigeria? Is it s crime for Efiks (or
whatever they are) to be in Nigeria and
Cameroun? There are millions of Yoruba in
Benin and Togo, who are not Nigerians, and
there are millions of Hausas in Niger, Cameroun
and Chad who are not Nigerians. There are
Kanuris in Nigeria and Chad, and there are
Fulanis all over West Africa. So, why are the
people of Bakassi being removed to Nigeria?
This is the part of the agreement that puzzles
me. I think the Bakassi deal is not "ceding" but
"gift" of land. Nigerian government is 'dashing' Cameroun land
that has oil, and the people must be removed.
To me, this is the area that needs to be
addressed. What a blow,

THAT IS A REWARD FOR THE WICKEDNESS OF THE EFIKS, HAUSAS AND YORUBAS AGAINST THE IGBOS ON BIAFRA. CONGRATULATIONS TO CAMEROUN REPUBLIC

^
Guy cant u tink in another direction with ur brain

emmydeep: THAT IS A REWARD FOR THE WICKEDNESS OF THE EFIKS, HAUSAS AND YORUBAS AGAINST THE IGBOS ON BIAFRA. CONGRATULATIONS TO CAMEROUN REPUBLIC

I wonder how you really think in real life.
You comment made absolutely no sense.
If this is truly how most Ibo's think,,then I'm afraid for the future of Nigeria

If dis is gonna affect d price of GARRI.....they had better give us our land back oo