Daily Independent Online.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2004.
Bakassi inhabitants become Camerounians from Sept 15
By Bassey Inyang,
Correspondent,
Calabar
The inhabitants of
Bakassi Peninsula estimated to be about 150,000 in population may have to
become citizens of Cameroun from September 15th, as the Cross River State Government which is presently
exercising jurisdiction over the territory say they are not planning to
relocate them.
If this becomes the
reality, the people will have the option of either relocating from the
territory on individual basis or remain there as Camerounians.
The Minister of
Defence, Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso had stated recently that the Nigerian government
would soon pull out its soldiers on assignment at the Pennisula preparatory to
the final handover to Cameroun.
The paramount ruler
of Bakassi, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet
who reacted to the statement credited to Kwankwaso vowed that the people will
rather remain there as Nigerian citizens or perish, if need be in the course of
expressing their universally acknowledged rights to self determination.
In an interactive
session with journalists in Calabar on Tuesday, the Cross River state governor,
Mr. Donald Duke gave a clear insight as to what would become the fate of the
Bakassi population who are mostly Nigerians to the effect that they would not
be relocated.
Duke opined that
the people would remain in the territory under the protection of any political arrangement that would be put
in place after the Nigerian government must have handed over the area to
Cameroun.
The governor did
not, however, state what the expected political arrangement would be, but going
by the stance of the United Nations sponsored Nigeria/Cameroun, the world court
judgment on the issue would be implemented to the letter.
According to the
state governor, relocating the people from the territory would adversely affect
them as their economy and life would have been dislocated.
To this end, the
governor said talks are still going on with stakeholders in the Bakassi
project, stressing that everything would be done appropriately to protect the
people from harassment.
Duke also noted
that the Bakassi issue had to be handled with caution due to its sensitive
nature of the ?/ of Biafra which he noted is one of Nigeria’s oil belts.
He opined that any
conflict in Bakassi would have adverse effect on the country and the people of
the state.
The International
Court of Justice (ICJ) had on October 10, 2002 handed over Bakassi to Cameroun
in a judgement which came up after a protracted legal battle.
