The indigenous people of Bakassi have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in their 17-year resettlement crisis after their land was given to Cameroon by the Olusegin Obasanjo led administration.
Appeals of the people before the President is to lobby the national lawmakers to pass a resolution to resettle the displaced people of Bakassi in the unceded parts of the peninsula.
At a meeting held in Calabar yesterday, leaders of the displaced Bakassi communities presented documents showing the government’s promises to resettle them, including a letter from the then Vice President, Mohammed Sambo.
The Bakassi indigenes also lamented the loss of their ancestral homeland, cultural heritage, and means of livelihood.
They claimed that the Nigerian government’s failure to resettle them has led to poverty, hunger, and desperation among their people.
Addressing pressmen on behalf of the group, Iyadim Iyadim, expressed disappointment over the government’s failure to provide them with a permanent place of abode.
He said ” Bakassi has come to stay and no individual or group can remove it from books without going through a rigorous constitutional process. I know my left from right having gone through a lot processes, I can make bold to say that I am a thorough bred.
“I know we are in the end times and people can rise and raise an accusation on somebody without fear of God or consequences. A group of charlatans and political greenhorns who do not have any sense of history about Bakassi nor have in their lifetime been part of Bakassi struggle from the Creation, to Ceding, to the Resettlement after 17 years of ICJ Judgement.
“However, I am happy for few of their positions and that our group which are not different especially as it concerns the Coastal reclamation of Dayspring 1,2 and Qua Island which remains the unceded part of the old peninsula in order to restore our dignity and give us that political and traditional identity.
“Let us put here and now that we are not in anyway antagonizing the administration of Hon. Effiong Okon as Chairman of Bakassi Local Government as widely speculated nor that of His Excellency the Governor of Cross River State Apostle Prince Bassey Edet Otu by our detractors but merely deploying constitutionally recognized approach to drive home the point of Proper Resettlement of Displaced People of Bakassi as promised by the Federal government 17 years ago, hence a Save A Soul letter to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.
“A burden to resettle the displaced people of Bakassi is too much for the State to shoulder at this time. It is also proof able, that we are all registered members of the ruling APC and had worked tirelessly to elect His Excellency as well other standard bearers of the Party in the last general election, as men and women of conscience, we cannot for whatever reason or gain destroy that which we invested time, energy and resources to build.
“Therefore, we can succinctly put forward to the entire world that we have not been given fair treatment as a people, when our God’s given land was ceded to the Republic of Cameroon without our consent well over 17 years after several Technical and Implementation Committees were set up to handle our peculiar problem.
“It is true that the ICJ in 2002 Ceded Bakassi to the Republic of Cameroon.
“It is true that the Federal Government, during Obasanjo Era promised to execute a painless relocation, Resettlement and Compensation in perpetuity for losing our territory.
“It is true that the three political wards if Ikang North, Ikang South and Ikang Central are still valid political wards of Akpabuyo Local Government. Attached are the political wards of Akpabuyo as Annexure “P”
“It is true that INEC has conducted General election at Dayspring 1,2 and Qua Island since 2011.
‘It is true that 17 years after Relocation we have not settled in any soil in Ikang rather we are carrying our wards, villages and Clans on our heads.
“It is true that Other State towns and villages from Chad Basin, Borno and Adamawa States were all Resettled by the Presidential Committee on the Resettlement of all those that were affected by the ICJ in 2002 except Bakassi Local Government which leaves much to be desired.
“It is true that Bakassi remains the Pride of Cross River State with our naturally endowed Ecosystem”.
The leaders of the displaced Bakassi communities appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in their matter and ensure that they are resettled without further delay.
“We are not asking for too much, we only want a place to call our own, where we can live in peace and dignity.”
“We hereby call on the Federal Government and Mr President, His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. who promised us during his town hall meeting with stakeholders in Cross River State, during the campaigns that he will look into the Bakassi crisis”.
The Bakassi dispute dates back to 2002 when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. The Nigerian government subsequently relocated the displaced Bakassi indigenes to temporary shelters in Cross River State, with promises to resettle them permanently.
However, 17 years after, the promises remain unfulfilled, leaving the displaced Bakassi indigenes to suffer in temporary shelters without basic amenities.
In a recent interview on Arise TV, A former Lawmaker Senator Florence Ita Giwa, and the Suspended Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla, under president Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration, had called for the delisting of Bakassi from Nigeria’s 774 LGAs.
