Bakassi people consider themselves Nigerians, would they be chased away from their lands or would the Cameroonian government relocate them?

Don't they have a say?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5082380.stm

This the most irresponsible government i have ever seen! People in an area say they want to remain in Nigeria, is it so hard to insist on a referendum to determine where the people want to go? Is democracy so selective that a people have no choice over which country to remain?
It is so sad that the best Obasanjo has offered is to "relocate" a people who have called Bakassi their ancestral home for centuries, why should people be plucked out of their lands unjustly over a treaty made by foreigners in 1913?
what kind of International court is this? Are these people considered humans or do they assume Bakassi is an uninhabited stretch of land? Would any European or American nation cede its land that contains people who insist on being a part of that nation simply based on a dubiuos court that bases its decisions on colonial treaties?

This is indeed a dance of the absurd. It is sad that the likes of Florence Ita Giwa no longer have a local government in Nigeria, or on what basis does she remain in the corridors of power if truly her area of birth now resides in Cameroun. We have indeed taken our big brother role a tard too far!

I'll agree that this was totally the wrong move to make. The next thing I expect to see is a new movement with an armed wing officially making statements on behalf of the residents of Bakassi. Peharps the makings of a new war in West Africa.

But there are STRONG hands preventing Nigeria from fighting for her people. Don't forget Cameroon sued Nigeria to the world court and Cameroon won.

I have a feeling Cameroon will want to relocate those people but because they feel more affiliated with Nigeria they would rather relocate to Nigeria. In the end, the local people would loose and so will Nigeria. The only gainers would be Cameroon and their supporters.(corrupt people calling us corrupt)

My opinion, the world has once again dealt us a blow.

WE NEED NEW FRIENDS!!!

@ food 4tot,

we do not need new friends! In the international community there are no friends but those with similar interests.
What we need is a radical over haul of our foreign policy, this stupid policy that puts Africa ahead of our national interests has more than hurt us. We have lost thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars in peace keeping missions all over Africa, what have we gotten in return?
We should never have gone to the world court in the first place, the global policeman, the USA do not even respect the court and thus no American anywhere in the world can be tried by that court for any crimes!

Obasanjo dragged us into this mess to please his international masters, we will be paying the price for centuries to come! Were are the residents going to be relocated to? Yobe state?

@ davidylan, I know.

I use "friend", you use "people with similar interest".

I chop off the chicken's HEAD but you cut its NECK.

Nigeria gave Bakassi away to Cameroon to prevent the Igbo to think a again before starting another Biafra war,,

Why are these people clamoring to be part of the "failed experiment" called Nigeria instead of declaring independence? I thought the people of the South-South were looking for self-determination? Ono, Owo, Afeni where are you?

Seun,

That is not the issue at hand. It is evident that giving up this region will haunt nigeria for centuries to come. cameroun can and will never treat the bakassi residents right. This is a grave mistake and prosterity will judge the fools tha have folded their arms to let this injustice prevail.

Those that want to remain Nigerians have been given the option to move into Nigerian territory. Special agreements have been made to protect the interests of the inhabitants during a five year warming up period. That is much better than a war, which would have turned this people into refugees.

President Obasanjo should be praised for mediating a peaceful solution to this Bakassi crisis. The Nigerians who are afraid of what would happen to them should sell their land and properties and come to lagos for opportunities. Those that choose to stay should warm themselves up to the new Camerounian government.

Why did we choose to 'abandon' Bakassi? An International court ruled in their favor. Should we have disobeyed?

I've got friends from Bakassi. One of them told me the fault is from ''our'' rulers. They don't give a hoot what happens to them in their lands. He said all these evils woudn't have befallen them if only the FG deemed it fit to develop their areas.

If the FG have indeed led a pool of serious minded lawyers and have taken the advice of the paramount ruler of Bakassi to the ICJ, and also if they have provided all the basic amenities to make life worth living in Bakassi, no foul mouth from Cameroon will think or say something about annexing Bakassi -  a Nigerian town, to their country.

No one gives a damn about what happens in the delta. All they are interested in is how to share oil blocks amongst themselves, and impoverish the people in their domains. Godforsaken thieves.

But on a second thought, I will advise the Bakassi folks to allow the Cameroonians govern them for a while and let them see the difference in governance. We all agree that Nigerian leaders are a bunch of useless never-do-well rogues, who do not care a dime about their citizens welfare. Let the  Bakassi folks see what Paul Biya has got to offer them. Hopefully, they will breathe a new lease of life, and will invite other Niger Deltans to join them in Cameroon.

Those folks who think breaking up will be laden with guns and other rubbish will learn from Cameroon how to even go beyond breaking up countries, to annexing towns and territories from them as part of their own, without any iota of violence. Easy does it.

LiquidMind:

Nigeria gave Bakassi away to Cameroon to prevent the Igbo to think a again before starting another Biafra war,,

PULEEZ, Nobody would cut off his feet because he stepped on bullshit. After the Biafra war please note that there was no genocide.I don't think this government is bent on making Igbos regret going to war.

ono:

Let the Bakassi folks see what Paul Biya has got to offer them. Hopefully, they will breathe a new lease of life, and will invite other Niger Deltans to join them in Cameroon.

Hopefully you will turn those words to actions, pack your bags, and move to Cameroon. HOPEFULLY!

this thing could not have happened in the time of Gen Sani Abacha; its unfortunate the way the average Nigeria suffers like an orphan in these times.

@Davidylan, i quite agree with all u said couldnt hav put it better myself!!!
However i heard that one of the elders or (king) said that his people are not going to move an inch from where they are, that, they are prepared to fight for their land against whoever tries to take it from them!!

Dear Nigerians,


"We the people of Bakassi come to you today with heavy hearts. Most importantly, hearts filled with determination and the Nigerian spirit. We come to you to show gratitude for the blood of your sons and daughters shed on our soil that Nigeria may remain one. To ensure that our people exercise their right of choosing where they want to belong."
"We come to you because for 90 and 46 years, we shared one destiny, one history and one national culture. We swore to the same oaths of allegiance and pledged to preserve the unity of Nigeria, and to protect and defend her constitution."
"We come to you, frail and uncertain, as the labour of all our heroes past now seems certain to be in vain, as we will in 60 days be abandoned to abject penury by the same country whose unity and constitution we swore to protect and preserve."
"We come to you at this final hour, still hoping that you, our fellow countrymen, no matter the price, legal or diplomatic, will not condemn the Bakassi people to a life of perpetual slavery, wanton exploitation of our human, natural resources, torture and certain death."
"We come to you to appeal to your good sense of judgement and resilience, that NOT IN YOUR NAME should the Bakassi people be made a sacrificial lamb in the quest for the resuscitation of our lost glory as a nation. We are all victims. We come to you, knowing that this betrayal has shaken our trust and confidence which we shared in a common destiny."


My note: Dear Nigerian (wherever you may be,) what d'you think about this? Personally, I think it's very saddening, hasty and cowardly for Obj to have given a part of Nigeria away without full consultations with the people involved. Would America or Britain for instance have obeyed the International court of justice ruling by giving away part(s) of their territories?! Never!
This is the time for you to lend your voice on this issue. I hope Nigerians will put 2007 presidential candidates to task on this particular issue. Any aspirant who isn't ready to jettison the stupid agreement Obj signed with Cameroun regarding Bakassi should not be given a chance (just my view.)
The Bakassi people insist they want to remain Nigerians. I wonder if Obj needs a prophet to explain what a nation's territorial integrity means to him. This would never have happened during Abacha or Buhari/Idiagbon's time (though they had their shortcomings.)
I can only imagine how these people feel now. God bless Nigeria

All this nationalist crap that is comming out of Bakassi is really starting to annoy me. Why anyone would want to be a part of this Hausa dominated abomination is beyond me.

The biggest blunder this administration has committed is the cedeing of Bakassi pennusilar to the Camerouns.
It is enough to make PDP loose 2007 elections

President obasanjos cedeing of Bakassi to Cameroun is his worst blunder.

It is a terrible move. If anything, He should have given out the rights to drill oil in Bakassi to the Cameroonians, but reserved the territory as official Nigerian land.

I urge you all to go and re-research your geography and stop putting foward subjective arguments. Bakassi territorially BELONGS within the Cameroonian geographical boundaries. It has always been. The maps have been changed and reshaped since WW1, preindepence and indepence of the west african countries. Am I joking? Picture-Google some west africa maps pre-WW2 and you'll be surprised! Only a geographically limited person will be blind enough not to see that.

@davidylan - you seemto be the only one in this thread with some sense of maturity in this issue. Democracy still seems to be a 'written' concept to most african governments. Whereever the people want to be should be settled in a referandum. If they prefer Nigeria then so be it, their choice is premium.

Cameroon had the same before it's independence in 1960 when a referendum asking if the people of southern cameroons wanted to join Nigeria or unite with west Cameroon. Back then, they made their choice - almost 50 years later, noone has complained of being badly treated by western cameroonians.

Who says Cameroon has nothing to offer the Bakassi indegenes? How many 'casualties of war'/'famine refugees' of other countries have been made welcome and offered more than most in Cameroon in recent years? History is perhaps failing some of us - or perhaps we are failing it. Or just perhaps we (young people) who sit back and call our leaders corrupt/greedy/inefficient and the rest, should take a rain check. From all I read here, if some of us were today given the baton of leadership, we surely will annihilate the world with our hunger and quest for untold power!

Personally I think the Bakassi issue is the worst thing that happened to Cameroon and Nigeria, don't know how two close Africans can get to kill each other for a resource and land that will be there when we are all gone and no more to be remembered! let me tell you this, before the Europeans expedition to Africa, was there ever A Cameroon or anything like a Nigeria? I guess we all have to go back beyond WW1 and realize that the so called westerners that divided our lands in order to control our forebearers are all united and building metrocultural nations without any known boundary.

Oh and they're the same ones who've built thier EU, now turning thier travel boundaries into a virtual escapade! An causing us same africans to fight tooth and nail for their passports so we can have immigration fascilities! we africans - always ready to destroy our own. Deplorable

Give me a break!

Madam Mizkay,

Well, ain't our leaders some greedy, lousy and stinking lot? I know I will do better than all of them put together if I'm given the chance. But that's a different matter from this one.

So, what's your MAIN point? I see so many of them, but I can't seem to figure out what all these has got to do with the fact that Bakassi people are Nigerians and want to remain so and that the Cameroonians wants their lands only for the resource it has got to offer them - oil. This oil will one day grind everyone to a halt. As per the Europeans taking the blames for all our woes, I think it's high time we left them. We are wise enough, as black Africans, to know what we want for ourselves.

What's on ground now is that the Bakassi people have to make a choice. A choice between (a) to remain in the present Bakassi and ''turn'' Cameroonians, OR (b) relocate to another virgin land somewhere - in Nigeria, and call the place New Bakassi or something else for all I care. That will keep them as Nigerians.

If they take option (a) I think they've got nothing to loose. They will be called a ''new'' citizens of a well known country. They should study the Cameroonian constitution - I believe they have one, and see how they can settle in quickly and move on with their lives without any problems. It's just a matter of time. There's no point crying over split milk. The ICJ has given it's verdict. There's no appeal, so no need to cry but face reality.


On the other hand, if they want to remain in a country with Godforsaken numskulls and a bunch of maggots rulers like Nigeria, they will be relocated to somewhere they can continue with their lives, somewhere close to Calabar or another place like that.

Personally, I like adventure and moving on to something new and exciting. I expected the Bakassi folks would be looking forward with much enthusiasm to joining Cameroon and leaving behind this backward ''union'' called Nigeria. I will move over to Cameroon anyday. I heard there are some 4 million Nigerians currently residing in Cameroon. So, what the hell is wrong with becoming a part of them?

The choice is theirs. They have to face reality and move on.