The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee set up to examine the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruling on the Nigeria-Cameroon border dispute, has summoned the Minister of Justice, Mr Akin Olujinmi, leader of the two-nation Mixed Commission, Prince Bola Ajibola, tradi-tional and political leaders of Bakassi, Cross River State, to give evidence before the panel ahead of the September 15 deadline for the final with-drawal of Nigerian troops from the disputed territory.
The minister, who is curr-ently on leave, is to be represented at the proceedings scheduled for today by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Professor Ignatius Ayua.
Others to appear before the lawmakers include the Bakassi paramount ruler, Etim Edet; Bakassi representative in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Joe Etene; chairman and sec-retary of the Bakassi local government area.
Today’s procedings is sequel to a resolution adopted by the House penultimate Thursday, urging the federal government to shelve its planned withdrawal from the disputed territories and the United Nation’s to organise a plebiscite for the inhabitants of the areas to determine where they want to belong. The House also set up the ad-hoc committee which is to critically examine the World Court judgment and present a report before September 15, the date scheduled for Nigeria’s withdrawal from Bakassi.
Briefing National Assembly correspondents at the weekend shortly after the first proceeding of the committee, its chairman, Mr Wunmi Bewaji, who discl-osed the summons, said today’s session will be held behind closed doors, as critical matters of national security are expected to come up.
Bewaji, flanked by Binta Garba, explained that Nigerian troops still in the disp-uted territories may run into danger if proceedings of the committee were opened to the public.
During the panel’s first outing last Friday, according to the chairman, six documents were admitted in evidence, including the World Court judgment; map of Lake Chad, Bakassi and appro-aches to Calabar; and the communiqué of the Mixed Commission.
The committee also met with the National Boundary Commission, where part of the commission’s submissions to the World Court was reviewed.
Bewaji, who is also the leader of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the House assured that the com-mittee will come up with a report by September 15. “We have the September 15 deadline in mind,” he said.
The World Court sitting at the Hague, Netherlands, on October 10, 2002, ceded the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula and some Lake Chad Basin areas in Borno State to Cameroon.
The House, through a motion moved by Mr Essien Ayi, sought to stop the handover “until all the cond-itions precedent provided in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all relevant laws, treaties and conventions are fulfilled,” arguing further that inhabitants of the disputed areas had a right to self-determination.
