₦airaland Forum

Nigeria Senate urges appeal of Cameroon Bakassi award
Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:48am GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]
By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's Senate on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to appeal an international ruling which handed the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon a decade ago.

Nigeria relinquished control of Bakassi in 2008, six years after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled it belonged to Cameroon. The ruling followed years of political disputes, legal skirmishes and violence that killed dozens of people.

The senators argued that the judgement was "erroneously based on agreement between the British and Calabar Chiefs in 1884" and that "there has never been a precedent in history where any case of this nature was executed without a referendum as enshrined by the United Nations," the resolution said.

They also said that an agreement between the neighbours that Nigerian nationals have their rights protected was not being respected by Cameroon, but gave no further details.

The ICJ gave Bakassi to Cameroon in 2002, based on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.

The two African countries, which nearly went to war over Bakassi on several occasions, had agreed to work together to explore for oil in the region, which could help boost Cameroon's declining production of around 90,000 barrels per day.

Around 90 percent of the population of the Bakassi peninsula, estimated at 200,000 to 300,000, are Nigerian fishermen and their families who do not want to be Cameroonians.

A movement called the Bakassi Self-Determination Front last month declared independence from Nigeria or Cameroon, hoisting a flag and setting up an FM radio station. It is not clear how big the movement is or whether it poses a security threat.

"It is the wish of this Senate that Bakassi Island should not be ceded to Cameroon and that Nigeria should appeal the judgment of the International Court of Justice," Senate President David Mark said.

There was no immediate reaction from Cameroon.

Biggyd2: Our president has made his pronouncement on this issue abroad. When is he going to come back and hear what Nigerians are saying on the issue?

Bakassi Cession: Senators Urge Jonathan reopen case
Published on September 26, 2012 by
Desmond Utomwen/Abuja


Members of the upper chamber of National Assembly on Wednesday morning asked the Federal Government to urgently file an appeal against the judgment of the International Court of Justice, ICJ which ceded Bakassi peninsular to Cameroun.
President Goodluck Jonathan last Monday told the United Nations General Assembly that Nigeria will comply with all the rulings of ICJ, a statement which was interpreted to mean that Nigeria will not appeal the ruling of the court on Bakasi.

Mohammed Adoke, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation has also repeatedly said Nigeria is not interested in appealing the judgment of ICJ on Bakassi. Nigeria has barely two weeks to re-open its case under Article 61 in respect of the Bakasi Peninsula.


The ICJ judgment which ceded Bakassi to Cameroun was delivered on 10, October, 2002. But Nigerian Senators citing the non ratification of the Green Tree Agreement through which the territory was ceded to Cameroun and lack of consultation with people occupying the Bakassi, asked the Federal Government to take immediate action to appeal the judgment. The Senators also argued that the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun is a violation of Nigeria Constitution as nobody is empowered by the constitution to give any part of Nigeria away.


Most of the Senators who spoke on the issue asked the Federal Government to urgently file an appeal against the judgment before the opportunity to do so elapsed in about two weeks.
Some of the Senators, including Henekein Lokpobiri and Ben Ayaede even asked Nigeria to be ready to militarily occupy the Bakassi Peninsula, if the opportunity for appeal fails. But Senate President David Mark said in spite of what the President said at the UN, the best option for Nigeria is to appeal the judgment of ICJ.
while moving the motion on the issue, Senator Abdul Ningi, Deputy Majority Leader noted that Bakassi was easily given away because the territory was inhabited by minorities. He therefore asked the National Assembly to prevail on Federal Government to take invoke article 61 of the International Court of Justice which provided opportunity for appeal of the judgments of the court.


Ningi added that members of the National Assembly are ready to fund the legal cost of the appeal. Also contributing to the debate, Senator Ndoma Egba noted that Cross River State, the immediate victim of the loss of Bakassi peninsular is helpless, hapless and unprotected over the issue.
The Cross River State Senator said the way Nigeria complied with the ICJ judgement on Bakasi was the fastest compliance with court judgment in history. He pointed out that there are judgments of the Court delivered in the 1930s and 1940s that have not been complied with by the parties to the case. Ndoma-Egba also noted that the Green Tree agreement through which Bakasi was ceded to Cameroun by the Federal Government was never ratified by the National Assembly, thus the Peninsular remains part of Nigeria.


The lawmaker therefore said the Federal Government should take advantage of the window of opportunity available to appeal the judgment.
Senator Eta Enang said the government must take urgent steps to appeal the judgment in line with stipulations laid down by ICJ for appeal of its judgment. He also said the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan told the world at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly that Nigeria will abide by the rulings of ICJ should not stop the Federal Government from appealing the judgment. What the President said is that as the judgment stands, we will obey it, that does not mean that we cannot appeal the judgment. In his own contribution,Senator Bassey Otu said Nigeria has no business respecting the ICJ judgment on Bakassi and that Cross River did not at any time supported the ceding of Bakasi.

The Cross River State Senator said there are fresh facts on which the appeal of the judgement of the ICJ can be based and that it is better to appeal and lose, than not to appeal at all. Senator George Akume noted that the National Council of State never ratified the ceding of Bakasi to Cameroun when the matter was placed before the body, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo never respected the view of the body. He noted that other parts of Nigeria in Taraba, Benue and so on were also ceded to Cameroun without a plebiscite.

He asked the Federal Government to capitalize on gaps in the judgment of ICJ to appeal against it.

belovedaja: you have just displayed the attitude of a fool

Tagged: Cameroon, Central Africa, Land and Rural Issues, Legal Affairs, Nigeria, West Africa
BY OCHEREOME NNANNA, 24 SEPTEMBER 2012
Comment (1)
Fresh facts that will guarantee the restoration of Bakassi Peninsula to Nigeria have been abundantly established. Vanguard Newspapers has shouted itself hoarse over the past two weeks with these facts backed up with informed opinions from a variety of well-meaning Nigerians, calling upon the Federal Government of Nigeria to take action and reopen this case at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, before the 10-year window closes forever on October 10, 2012.

Let me sum up some of these fresh facts. It has been established that the so-called 1913 Anglo-German Agreement, based on which the ICJ gave its verdict against Nigeria, was invalid because it was not signed before Germany forfeited its colonial right to Cameroun in 1917.

General Yakubu Gowon unpatriotically, even treasonably, entered the Maroua Accord with Cameroun giving away the territory in exchange for our Eastern neighbour's cooperation in the blockade against Biafra during the war. The "Accord" was never sent to the Supreme Military Council for ratification.

Our lawyers were sent by the Olusegun Obasanjo regime of 1999 to 2007, to collude with their Camerounian counterparts to hinge their arguments on an invalid 1913 Treaty in order to sanctify the forfeiture of the Peninsula to a foreign country. The president signed a Green Tree Agreement with Cameroun, and it was never brought to the National Assembly for ratification. The Constitution of Nigeria has never been amended to certify that indeed Nigeria has given up Bakassi. Therefore, in the eyes of all the laws of Nigeria, Bakassi remains part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It has also been well illustrated that Bakassi was part of the territory that Britain handed over to Nigeria at Independence in 1960. The plebiscite which enabled Western Cameroun (Mamfe, Kumba, Bamenda and Victoria Provinces) and Adamawa Province in the North to decide whether they wanted to belong to Nigeria or Cameroun was never held in Bakassi. Cameroun never laid claim to Bakassi before the war.

All these facts were never tendered before the ICJ. Nigerian lawyers, paid with oil money from the Niger Delta, colluded with foreigners to give away a vital part of the same Niger Delta!

When Camerounian gendarmes attacked Nigerians on the Peninsula in 1994, General Sani Abacha sent Nigerian troops to repel the invaders. His government requested from Britain its stand on whether Bakassi Peninsula belonged to Nigeria or Cameroun. Britain confirmed it belonged to Nigeria. Based on this, Abacha defended the territory.

GEJ and verdict of history

Now, the ball is in the court of President Goodluck Jonathan to reclaim Bakassi. He swore on the Constitution to defend the nation and its people. Bakassi people, in line with pervasive, united South-South solidarity, voted for him. GEJ owes it a duty because Bakassi is part of his home zone, the South-South portion of the Niger Delta. Gowon and Obasanjo sold out to Cameroun in their war against the former Eastern Region. They were determined to permanently cripple the area's capacity to stand up for their vital interests.

History will judge them, but in doing so, it will take judicial notice of the fact that being Northerners and Westerners, they felt no personal sense of loss of a vital part of the former Eastern Region. It is nothing to them that Calabar no longer has a seaport. My Great Uncle, Mma Agbagha, was a shipping magnate in Calabar and environs during the World War II. It takes something away from me that an area that helped prosper my family has been sold out to another country!

Surely, Jonathan should be perturbed that in his time as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a part of the South-South in the Niger Delta was lost forever to Cameroun when there were abundant facts and resources to help prevent this. If he does not do anything and October 10, 2012 passes, he will be furiously held to account by Nigerians, especially the people of South East and South-South whose primary mandate made it possible for him to win the 2011 presidential election.

Come to think of it! Where is "South-South Leader", Chief Edwin Clark in all this? For some curious reason, the usually outspoken, Ijaw National Leader has kept his peace over the Bakassi debacle. Or is it because Bakassi, not being an Ijaw territory, is not a part of his idea of "real" South-South? Are we seeing a repeat of the same attitude of selective pursuit of South-South interests, whereby only areas or people he favours in the zone will enjoy his energetic protection, while those not favoured will either be ignored or directly confronted?

I ask this question, bearing in mind that when Dr Peter Odili was running for President, Chief Clark called a summit of the non-Igbo speaking groups in Calabar (yes! Calabar, the owners of Bakassi Peninsula!). There, he declared that when the South-South agitated for the president of Nigeria they were not asking for an "Igbo Man" to be given the privilege. Odili, a self-described "Rivers Man" suddenly got called an "Igbo Man" because he seemed the front-runner for president then.

I was expecting Chief Clark, if he really is the South-South's National Leader, to call a summit of the zone and forcefully table before the Federal Government a demand for a return to the ICJ with the fresh facts that will return Bakassi Peninsula to the South-South and Nigeria. Perhaps, President Jonathan would listen to him even if he ignored the National Assembly, the media and Nigerians calling for positive action on Bakassi. Perhaps it is only when the North threatens GEJ's presidency that Clark suddenly remembers there is more to South-South than Ijaw and calls a summit. But when the spoils of South-South struggles come, they go to only one ethnic group.

If Clark won't speak up for Bakassi, younger, more patriotic and less myopic Ijaw leaders like Chief Asari Dokubo should come forward. We must make the President act. He has only two weeks to do so!

CAMEROONPRIDE: booooooooooooooooo meat is meat by the way my ethnicity doesn't eat that as an African u should be able to understand every African country is diverse ...naahhhhhh go cry your dead ..country of fools and psychopaths the only country in Africa where people bomb their countrymen because of foreign religions ..and you dare open your mouth when your country is a mess. with our viruses we remain sane and civilized ..we aare CAMEROONIANS..AND PRIDE

CAMEROONPRIDE: if you think so

The military authorities yesterday vowed to defeat [b]insurgents operating in the South eastern part [/b]of the country, warning that personsplotting aggression against Nigeria will not be spared by the armed forces. Speaking while commissioning the Nigerian Army Dog Centre in the Ipaja area of Lagos, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, Chief of Defence Staff, warned that the military will never allow insurgents to take over Nigeria, urging them to go through the normal route to assume power.

Activist Seeks Jonathan’s Impeachment for Alleged Treason

FOR insisting that the federal government will not appeal against the International Court of Justice, ICJ, judgment of October 10, 2002 that ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, a human right activist, Barrister Ofem Obono-Obla has called on the National assembly to commence impeachment process on President Goodluck Jonathan for alleged treason. Obono-Obla in an interview in Calabar, the Cross River state capital Thursday said it was an infringement on the right of self determination of the displaced Bakassi indigenes to be forced by the Nigerian government to join Cameroon when they are not willing to do so.

He said, “It is wrong for the president to say it is not going back to appeal against the ICJ judgment. That amounts an infringement of the constitution, the constitution says that every international treaty entered into by Nigeria must be ratified by the senate. That so-called Green Tree Agreement has not been ratified. “If the president says it is not going back, it has committed an impeachable offence, it is treason. For him to give away a section of the federal republic of Nigeria under the pretence that there is a green tree agreement that has not been ratified by the senate.
“The National Assembly should compel him to go to the ICJ and seek for a revisit of that judgment or impeach him. He cannot give away Nigerian territory like that despite the outcry, it is treason,” he said. The radical lawyer who expressed disappointment over the position of the presidency towards the Bakassi issue said, “It is a huge disappointment. I am feeling very despondent, I am feeling very sad that the president who had taken the vote of office to defend the territorial integrity of this country has given up on an area that constitute the federal republic of Nigeria.”

According to him the area was given away without recourse to the Nigeria constitution, the international law and due process and most importantly without taking into consideration the feelings, the hopes, agitations and aspiration of the people of Bakassi, stressing that the action remained an infringement on international law and the right of self determination.

“If the judgment of the international court of Justice deviated from the content of self determination, that judgment has to be reviewed or revisited. I do not see why the Nigerian government is reluctant. This is the first country that has rushed to implement the judgment of the ICJ,” he said. The Cross River state Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, Hon. Cletus Obun described the action of the president as a clear indication of the constitution of the country, adding that the Nigeria nation has made the state a land of suffering and torture.
Obun said the careless giving away of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon and the lukewarm attitude of government on issues that concern the state indicated that there was a subtle design to excise the state from the map of the country. He said, “We find it completely unacceptable and we feel that Nigeria must take a decision on whether Cross River State is still part of its national territory and deserves under Section 14 of the Constitution to be protected and the welfare of its people taken care of. “This is clearly a violation of the Constitution, a careless non attendant and a negligence that can result to no other thing than secession. We demand secession through a referendum and Nigeria must do that so that we peacefully find our way into self determination.

“We have that under the International Treaty including the African Charter on people human right. We have the right to decide the country we belong to. Nigeria must quickly take that decision because it is becoming apparent that Nigeria no longer takes Cross Riverian as part of the national territory,” Obun stated.

Abducted Cameroonian prince freed in Bakassi
Published on September 20, 2012 by · No Comments
A Cameroonian traditional prince and his companion kidnapped last month on the country’s volatile Bakassi peninsula have been freed, security and regional administration sources said Thursday.
Kidnappings by pirates and attacks on government authorities are rife in Bakassi, where the state struggles to maintain law and order.
“The two hostages were freed separately a few days ago,” a source close to the security services told AFP. “The families (of the hostages) had to pay a ransom of 15 million CFA francs (23,000 euros, 30,000 dollars).”
An administrative official in Bakassi, who requested anonymity, confirmed the liberation of the two men but declined to comment on whether a ransom had been paid.
The security source also said 40 people were arrested during a raid on Friday and Saturday of the village of Dibanyanga where the abduction took place.
“These people are being questioned” to determine whether they have links to pirates responsible for the kidnapping or have any information about them, the source added.
The Bakassi peninsula has been the subject of a territorial dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria.
In 1993, Nigeria invaded and occupied it, handing it back to Cameroon only in 2008, after a 15-year dispute that dragged on even after a ruling in Cameroon’s favour by the International Court of Justice in 2002.
The swampy region, considered potentially rich in oil and gas but still under-explored, is home to several armed groups.