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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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�Bakassi people still have right to decide their country�JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU, Calabar DESPITE the preparation by the Nigeria/Cameroun mixed commission to implement the World Court judgment which had ceded the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun, the Bakassi apeople still have the right to determine which country they want to belong to Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba has said. Ndoma-Egba who represents Cross River Central Senatorial District said the Bakassi people had a right to self-determination and to decide where they should belong to in their circumstance without being compelled by any commission or agency to do so. His words: �One underlying issue in the UN conventions is the principle of the right to self-determination. So the judgment can only claim legal right over territory in fact, boundaries over territory. �It has not extinguished the right of the people to determine where they will rather belong to so, as far as I am concerned, that judgment has not extinguished the right of the people of Bakassi to their self determination,� he stated. The legal practitioner said the position of compromise might not be ruled out while trying to implement the judgment, stressing that it could still be possible to compromise the International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict. The senator who stated this at the weekend said to compromise the judgment, the Bakassi people could allow the Republic of Cameroun to manage the resources of the area while they (Bakassi indigenes) would stay as Nigerians. He posited that it was recognised that ICJ judgment existed on the disputed oil rich peninsula stressing that in law judgment could be compromised. �We recognised that there is judgment but we also recognise that in law, judgment can be compromised. For instance, I have a judgment against your chairman for N60 million and he values himself for N10 million. He tells me my brother as you see me, I am not worth more than N10 million, take this N10 million,� he submitted. Ndoma-Egba maintained that the Bakassi people can still maintain their territory through a procedural agitation and representation, to the United Nation (UN) General Assembly by insisting to be Nigerians and to remain Nigerians. Also speaking to journalists, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Bassey Ewa explained that the judgment did not make Bakassi people Comerounians. Ewa said �Bakassi is part of Nigeria if the Federal Government decides to relocate Bakassi to any Local Government in the state they are still a local government and Bakassi in Cross River Nigeria and an elected person from Bakassi is still an elected person.�
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 |
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