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Tag: bakassi

  • Bakassi ‘ll hang on Obasanjo’s neck, says monarch

    Bakassi ‘ll hang on Obasanjo’s neck, says monarch

    The paramount ruler of Bakassi, Dr. Etim Okon Edet, has said the Bakassi issue will continue to hang on the neck of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo until the people are resettled.

    Edet, who described Obasanjo as a “main actor” in the ceding of the area to Cameroon, condemned the way the former president abandoned them after promises of resettlement in their area of choice.

    The monarch lamented that since the October 10, 2002 judgment that ceded the area, nothing had been done for the displaced people.

    He advocated resettlement for the people.

    “Obasanjo promised to resettle us. We thought he would be sincere. The way he met us several times at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, I was a regular visitor at the villa. The way he talked to us as the father of the nation. The way he spoke with me personally, I was sure the country would do something.

    “He promised us that we would go to our area of our choice with our institutions intact. We were never given that choice. He is still alive. He should say something whether it was good for him as president to have ceded the area and told us to vacate the place without providing anything. The Bakassi issue is hanging on his neck and I think he should get it off his neck before God calls him,” Edet said.

    He wondered why the report of the Presidential Committee on Proper Resettlement set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan had not been implemented.

    The paramount ruler said: “The committee submitted its report on May 23, 2013 to the Federal Government with a strong recommendation. Four years after the submission, nothing has been heard. What offence did we commit?

    “Our situation is pathetic. It is painful for one to forgo one’s ancestral home. We were hopeful the government would implement the recommendations of the committee.

    ”Before the ceding of Bakassi, there were four secondary schools (one of which was built by the Niger Delta Development Commission- NDDC- with staff quarters). They were equipped. There were over 42 primary schools,  a comprehensive health clinic, over 10 health centres and an ambulance boat. “What is the fate of these helpless youths, expectant mothers, elderly people and children who have been displaced, forgotten and denied access to quality education and health care?

  • Police arrests suspected killers of ‘Bakassi’ men – Commissioner

    Police arrests suspected killers of ‘Bakassi’ men – Commissioner

    The Commissioner of Police in Abia, Mr Leye Oyebade, says the command has arrested three kidnap suspects involved in the gruesome killing of four members of the state vigilante group known as Bakassi in Aba.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deceased were reportedly attacked by the assailants, who allegedly ambushed them on Aba-Owerri Road around 4 p.m. in February.

    The Bakassi men were said to be returning to their office in their operational van when the hoodlums reportedly opened fire on them, killing three of them on the spot, while the fourth person died later in the hospital.

    The vigilance group allegedly drew the ire of the hoodlums, after it reportedly foiled their attempt to kidnap a prominent businessman in the city.

    Oyebade told newsmen in his office in Umuahia, that two of the suspects — Chimezie Ezeigbo, alias ‘landlord’, and Emeka Ukaegbu, alias ‘smallpin’ — were arrested while guarding a kidnap victim, one Christopher Duru.

    Oyebade said Duru, a resident of World Bank Estate, Aba, was kidnapped on March 17 but rescued by operatives from Ndiegoro Divisional Police Station and the Aba Area Police Command.

    He said the suspects, which included one Julius Nnachi of Amaetiti Ekoli in Ebonyi, had confessed to the crime.

    The police commissioner said his men recovered one Pump Action Rifle, one English-made Pistol, seven live cartridges, one .9 mm live ammunition and five cellphones from the suspects.

    The command, he said, also arrested a Lagos-based shoe trader, Godswill Nwokoh, 51, for allegedly defiling a 12-year-old boy in a guest house in Aba.

    The boy, a Junior Secondary School 1 student, said that he was lured into the guest house by Nwokoh, who woke him up in the night and allegedly “used” him.

    He said that Nwokoh muffled his mouth with his hands and prevented him from screaming during the act.

    Nwokoh, however, denied the allegation in an interview with newsmen, saying he only allowed the boy to spend the night in his room, after he allegedly strayed from his parents”’ home in Aba.

    Nwokoh, who said he usually came to buy Aba-made shoes and belts, said he was in the room with the boy and his friend as well as his son, who accompanied him on the trip from Lagos.

    The police commissioner later gave a breakdown of arrests made by the command in the last eight months.

    According to him, 134 persons were arrested for different criminal offences, ranging from armed robbery to kidnapping, car-snatching, rape, murder, pipeline vandalism, cultism and child-trafficking, among others.

    Oyebade said the command recovered 32 arms, 188 ammunition, 40 vehicles, 15 motorcycles/tricycles and rescued 15 kidnap victims.

    The rescued victims included 90-year-old Pa Jeremaiah Adindu, the father of Mr Godwin Adindu, the former Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu.

    He said the suspects would be arraigned at the end of the investigations.

    Meanwhile, Oyebade said that the command would soon inaugurate a crack team known as Tactical Response Squad, currently undergoing special training in combating heinous crimes.

    He said the squad, to be deployed in Umuahia and Aba, would be unveiled at the end of the training and posted to areas notorious for heinous crimes, such as kidnapping and armed robbery.

    The police commissioner said that the governor had promised to support the command with the necessary logistics that would enable it to commence operations with ease.

    He appealed to members of the public to assist the police with useful information that would help them to discharge their mandate of protecting lives and property.

    Oyebade said the state government had announced a N1 million reward for any informant that assisted the police to arrest notorious criminal suspects in the state.

  • Ayade finalises Bakassi Deep Seaport construction

    Ayade finalises Bakassi Deep Seaport construction

    Work is due to resume at the Bakassi Deep Seaport following weekend’s meeting between Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade and some Chinese investors in Changsha and Hanan in Hunan Province.

    Ayade is in China with some of his commissioners and advisers, a trip he made a few hours after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on the project.

    After the meetings, Ayade said construction work on the seaport, billed to be the deepest in the country, would soon commence. The 260km superhighway also to be constructed will serve as the evacuation corridor for the seaport.

    The Federal Government had approved the proposal by the Cross River State government to procure a transaction adviser for the project, following the setting up of an advisory and implementation committee by the Federal Ministry of Transport.

    The deep seaport will boost the export of produce, such as rice and banana as well as solid minerals but it will not compete with the existing Calabar Port but will accommodate mother vessels, especially from the Far East.

    “Even in the face of several challenges and the fear that this project was impossible, the president has kept giving me proper encouragement and I am happy to acknowledge that,” Ayade had said while receiving top officials of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).

  • Troops foil suicide bomb attempt on IDPs camp

    Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole deployed behind Bakassi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, Damboa road, Maiduguri, on Sunday intercepted and killed a male suicide bomber.

    Col. Sani Usman, the army spokesman said in a statement that the troops, who were deployed on security duty, killed the bomber, who had attempted to sneak through their inner parapet towards the IDP camp.

    He said that the incident occured at about 9.00 a.m.

    It will be recalled that suicide bombers killed some nine people close to the camp on Saturday after detonating their explosives.

    “The vigilant sentry sighted the bomber and laid in wait until the suicide bomber came close.

    “The sniper instantly shot and killed the terrorists as he tried to force his way to the western flank of the IDP camp fence.

    “Unfortunately, the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) vest strapped on the bomber failed to detonate.

    “Consequently, a combined team of military and police Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) have been called to safely detonate the IED,” Usman said.

    He, however, said the situation at the camp and the general area was calm. (NAN)

  • Bakassi: 14 years after ICJ judgment, Cross River still counting losses

    Bakassi: 14 years after ICJ judgment, Cross River still counting losses

    Dr. Etim Okon Edet gets emotional once in a while. Each time he remembers the fate of the people who were displaced as a result of the ceding of Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, the paramount ruler of Bakassi finds himself raising posers which he has no answers to.

    The dispute over the ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula led to tension and several spats between Nigeria and Cameroon, which approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on  March 29, 1994.

    On October 10, 2002, the ICJ passed a judgment that Bakassi be handed over to Cameroon.  Before the judgment, the territory was a 10-ward local government area of Cross River State in Nigeria.

    This marked the beginning of a tortuous journey for the Bakassi people and Cross River State, whose end till date does not seem in sight.

    On June  12, 2006, President Olusegun Obasanjo and Cameroonian President Paul Biya, signed the Greentree Agreement in New York concerning the withdrawal of troops and transfer of authority in the Peninsula. A follow-up committee, composed of representatives from Cameroon, Nigeria, the UN, Germany, the USA, France and the UK, was created to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

    On November 22, 2007, the Senate rejected the transfer, since the Green Tree Agreement ceding the area to Cameroon was contrary to Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution. However, the Federal Government officially handed over the territory to Cameroon on 14 August 2008. The ceremony was to take place at Abana, the capital of the ceded Bakassi Peninsula, but had to be shifted to the Peregrino Hall of the Government House in Calabar for fear of attacks by militants in the region.

    Speaking on the occasion, then Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aaondoaka, said though Nigeria country was saddled with the painful but “important task” of completing the implementation of the ICJ judgment by handing over Bakassi to the Cameroon, the country had a responsibility to keep her “commitment to the international community, promote international peace and cooperation and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighbourliness.”

    The Federal Government, he said, had embarked on “sincere arrangements” resettlement of the people who elect not to remaining Bakassi as citizens of Cameroon.

    The United Nation through its Special Representative West Africa and Chairman of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, Amb Said Djimmit, had also assured the Bakassi people that they shall not be left behind as the Green Tree Agreement guarantees the rights and protection of the people of Bakassi.

    However, several years down the line, the sincerity of the Federal Government and the International Community leaves much to be desired, as the Bakassi question is still yet to be answered.

    In 2008, the state government set up a resettlement committee. The State House of Assembly had gone ahead to enact a law to create carve out a New Bakassi Local Government area from an existing Akpabuyo Local Government Area.

    The then Cross River Governor, Liyel Imoke, completed a project began by his predecessor, Donald Duke, to construct housing units for the Bakassi returnees in the New Bakassi.

    In February 2009, the state government allotted 208 buildings units to some of the displaced Nigerians from Bakassi at an elaborate ceremony at the at the New Bakassi Local Government Area. The returnees were also to be taught various life skills.

    Though the gesture was intended to alleviate the problem of resettling Nigerians who lost their ancestral home to Cameroon, the essence of the housing scheme seemed to be defeated as none of the houses was ever occupied by the Bakassi returnees. The place had been overrun with weeds.

    There were issues with the original owners of the land in Akpabuyo who were not comfortable that their land was just taken from them to resettle the Bakassi people. They claimed they lost their houses and other property following their eviction from the land by the state government, without compensation.

    Members of the community had lamented being subjected to suffering following the alleged forceful acquisition of their land by the state government. They said they would never allow the Bakassi people to occupy the houses.

    Beyond this, the issue that the Bakassi people were predominantly fishermen who could not be in a landlocked area was another problem.

    A government official said: “It is just not about building houses for these people. These persons had a way of life before. The displaced persons are even more worried about how they would source for their means of livelihood than where they would lay their heads. Uprooting them from their natural habitat which is the river, where they earn their bread as fishermen, to dry land poses a new kind of problem on its own.

    ”Fishermen displaced from Bakassi and settled in a landlocked area called New Bakassi which they even claim is already inhabited and not suitable for fishermen like them but only for farmers is really a problem. Emphasis should be laid on properly resettling the people and how they could be given a means of livelihood rather than on how much has been spent on providing infrastructure.”

    Meanwhile Nigerians in Bakassi, who alleged constant harassment by the Cameroonian gendarmes, were pouring into the country, while proper relocation and resettlement continued to elude them. The people continued to lament that the Federal Government and the International Community.

    In 2012, ten years after the ICJ judgment, there were frantic calls from various quarters in the state for the Federal Government to file an appeal in the court for a review of the 2002 ICJ judgment.

    Those who made the call argued ICJ permits a review of its judgment within 10 years based on fresh facts, which the claimed abound. The FG then, had paid deaf ears to the calls and the 10-year window had elapsed on October 10, 2012.

    On March 7, 2013 more Nigerians in Efut Obot Ikot in the ceded peninsula claimed Cameroonian gendarmes invaded their community early in the morning, forcing them to leave their land. Houses were burnt, people were killed and loved ones went missing, they said.

    Those who survived the alleged onslaught, said arrived from Efut Obot Ikot by six hour canoe trip to Ifiang community in Akpabuyo from where they embarked on another two hour trek through the bushes to the St Marks Primary School, Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem in Akpabuyo local government area where they have been huddled till date.

    Visits to the camp revealed the squalid and unhygienic conditions they returnees are subjected to as they sleep in classrooms. It has been one agony or the other for the over 2000 people camped in the school. From natural disasters to outbreaks of diseases, especially among the children in the camp due to the poor sanitary conditions, the returnees feel they have had enough and the only prayer the people need answered now is proper resettlement in an environment that make them thrive in their business, which is fishing.

    A prominent Bakassi Leader, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, who on various occasions has visited the returnees to donate items and give them a sense of belonging, said solution to the problem was for government to resettle them in a virgin, riverine area. She advocated for Dayspring 1, Dayspring 2 and Kwa Islands as areas where the Bakassi people should be resettled. She said Bakassi people were fishermen not farmers. This would also eliminate problems of conflict with originals owners of any land they would be taken to, she argued.

    Governor Ben Ayade had promised to revisit the Bakassi matter, which he said had led to the dwindling of revenues accruing to the state from the federation account.

    Edet said: “After 14 years the situation has not changed. It is still very much the same.”

    He suggested to the state government, “I would like the state governor as he has showed interest in this Bakassi matter to convene a Bakassi roundtable to review the Bakassi matter from a long period of time to the period of ceding. Perhaps constitute appropriate subcommittees to articulate and tackle different aspects of the struggle and then the funding plans. There should also be a strong media team to highlight that the Federal Government and international community have not done much. There should assemble a strong lobbying team to lobby elites and traditional rulers in other geopolitical zone of the country to look into this matter because I have not heard everybody speaking with one voice throughout Nigeria on this Bakassi issue.

    ”They should also send a high powered delegation to meet with Mr President, the National Assembly, the military, the judiciary at the federal level to seek their understanding and cooperation to enable the Bakassi people and Cross River State get economic justice over the Bakassi matter.

    ”We must also assemble a strong team to seek the support of the Southsouth and even the Southeast regions of Nigeria to Federal Government’s compensation over the loss of Bakassi.

    ”The people have suffered. They are completely scattered. The few ones that are still remaining have no hope. There has never been a holistic approach to this Bakassi matter. The people in the primary school is one of the issues, I would want the state government to tackle holistically. If you come in as a governor and see something was done wrong, it is your duty to correct it. I would expect this government to correct what went wrong and why the people have not been resettled properly. They have been relocated but have they been resettled? Who are the people at the Primary School in Akpabuyo? That is very serious question that an answer should be given. Who are those people camped there for over two years or more? Nobody has asked that question. One person or the other or NGOs would just go there, bypassing the traditional institution. Wherever you come from, you should be recognised by your traditional institution. We know everybody, we know those from the area and those who are not from the area.

    ”In resettlement schemes, the people involved always partake in negotiations. It is usually participatory. The Federal Government has not been transparent on arrangements to resettle the people of Bakassi. The real concerns of the people have not been properly articulated. We need a participatory and properly negotiated Bakassi resettlement program, not all these that they are doing.”

    Fourteen years after the ICJ judgment, Bakassi indigenes and Cross River State have continued to deal with the pains of losing the oil rich peninsula to Cameroon. From issues of disenfranchisement during elections, to the state losing its status as an oil producing state, plunging it into further financial problems, more losses are still being counted.

    Several pleas from several quarters on the Federal Government and the International Community seem to be falling on deaf ears.

    Will the Bakassi question ever be answered? Will the displaced persons every find peace in proper relocation and resettlement by relevant authorities? These are among a myriad of questions still begging for answers.

  • Militants kill six soldiers in Bakassi

    Militants kill six soldiers in Bakassi

    •’Only one killed’ 

    Suspected militants led by the wanted kingpin, Benjamin Simplee (AKA G1), leader of the Bakassi Strike Force, reportedly killed six soldiers yesterday.

    It was gathered the attack was on the troops deployed at Efut Esighi waterfront in Bakassi LGA of Cross River State.

    Locals said the militants came in several speedboats to carry out the attack that also left two soldiers missing in action.

    But the Nigerian Army, in a swift reaction, said only one soldier was killed.

    A local source said: “Around 1am, the soldiers having their guards down, stormed where the soldiers were laying siege in his base in Isighi and shot five of them dead instantly.

    “The sixth one ran off with gunshot wounds but died later.”

    The development created panic in the area with residents expressing fears of reprisal attacks by the army.

    The attackers, it was also learnt, burnt a buffalo pickup vehicle.  Troops, however, killed two of the attackers while others escaped with gunshot wounds.  But the reinforcement sent found the missing soldiers, army authorities said.

    It was also gathered the troop’s location has been reinforced with more gunboats and air component.

    The clearance and pursuit operation is reportedly ongoing.

    Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman said: “We would like to assure the public that this singular act would not deter us from the discharge of our duties.

    “Therefore, the perpetrators of this dastardly act would be found and brought to justice.

    “The Nigerian Army wishes to send an unequivocal warning to all the criminal elements in the society that intent to attack any of its locations to have a rethink.”

    Commander 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Calabar, Brigadier General Bulama Biu, in a statement, said: “In the early morning hours of today, troops were attacked at Efut Isighi in Bakassi LGA by militant groups led by the most wanted leader Benjamin Simply alias G1.

    “In the gun battle one soldier was killed and a pickup van burnt. Two militants were killed while others fled with gunshot wounds.

    “Troops have been fully mobilised and in pursuit of the militants.

    “We want to assure law-abiding citizens to be calm and avail the military and security agencies with useful informing to help track these criminals.

    “A coordinated joint military action is on going to hunt down these criminals no matter their hide outs.”

     

  • Bakassi: Panels’ reports not implemented, says Ita-Giwa

    Bakassi: Panels’ reports not implemented, says Ita-Giwa

    Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters and the political leader of Bakassi people in Cross River State, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has said the recommendations of two committees inaugurated for the resettlement of her people were not implemented.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos, Ita-Giwa she was the chairperson of the committee at the local level while Fidelis Ukpo, the then Secretary to the Cross River State Government (SSG) under former Governor Liyel Omole, was the alternate chairman.

    She hailed Governor Ben Ayade for visiting Bakassi indigenes in their refugee camp with his delegation.

    The senator noted that this enabled the governor to have first-hand information on their plight, which she said moved him to tears.

    According to her, the governor’s visit showed Nigerians and the international community the terrible conditions the Bakassi residents are facing.

    Ita-Giwa said the conditions of the Bakassi people were worse than those of internally displaced persons (DPs).

    The former presidential aide asked rhetorically that if N9 billion had been spent on their resettlement, would their condition have deteriorated to that level?

    She said structures in another resettlement camp were there before the committees were created adding that none of the state or presidential committees was able to implement or execute any of the recommendations.

    Ita-Giwa said: “So, up till now, the recommendations of the state-owned resettlement committee and the Effiong Cobham’s Presidential Committee under the supervision of the former Vice President Namadi Sambo too were not implemented.

    “So, I am calling on the Federal Government to implement the recommendations; if possible, come out with a White Paper. We don’t want any palliative anymore. What we want is a permanent solution to our permanent injury.”

    The statement added:” I want to use this medium again to thank Governor Ayade for visiting the Bakassi refugees with his delegation. His visit has enabled Nigerians to see and watch what my people are passing through. The suffering is too much.

    “May I also reiterate that the two resettlement committees’ recommendations were not implemented. That is why we are still in this sorry state.

    “I am, however, calling on the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the committees and resettle Bakassi people.”

  • Ita-Giwa: Bakassi residents are refugees, not IDPs

    Ita-Giwa: Bakassi residents are refugees, not IDPs

    Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to resettle Bakassi Peninsula residents.

    She said this was necessary so that the people do not resort to protesting naked and crying out to God.

    In a statement yesterday, she said her people were not cowards and that their silence should not be mistaken for weakness.

    Ita-Giwa said she had been pacifying them not to take the law into their hands because President Muhammadu Buhari is a man of the people and her own way of contributing to the nation’s unity.

    The former presidential aide noted that it was Bakassi land that was ceded and not the people.

    According to her, the residents of the peninsula made a choice to remain Nigerians but regretted that 11 years after, over 4,000 of them had become refugees, wallowing in poverty and suffering because the Federal Government has failed to resettle them in their choice location.

    Ita-Giwa said her people needed to be in a place where they registered and voted for their choice candidates during the previous elections.

    She added that Bakassi residents and other people in Cross River State were suffering since the loss of their oil wells and other benefits.

    The statement reads: “I am using this medium, again, to protest the insensitivity of the Federal Government to our collective plight as Bakassi people.

    “As far as I know, Bakassi Local Government Area is still in Cross River and it is constitutionally catered for like every other council area. But sadly, we have been neglected. Even the host community has suffered a lot of inconveniences and they are not being encouraged in any way with social facilities.

    “The Buhari administration is busy rebuilding the Northeast but feels so unconcerned about the Bakassi people, despite the fact that our situation existed before Boko Haram.

    “Did we commit a crime by choosing to remain in our fatherland? Why rebuild the Northeast and abandon Bakassi? My people are refugees and they should be rehabilitated.”

  • Bakassi Boys regroup to stop killer herdsmen

    Bakassi Boys regroup to stop killer herdsmen

    Bakassi Boys, the unorthodox security outfit that once held sway in the South-East, is regrouping in the aftermath of the Nimbo, Enugu State attack by suspected Fulani herdsmen in which more than 48 people were killed.

    The Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is also reaching out to other groups across the five states in the geo-political zone to form a united front against further onslaughts by killer herdsmen, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    The various state governments in the zone have similarly been mapping out their own plans to avoid a re-enactment of the Enugu State massacre.

    The Nation gathered in Awka that leaders of the Bakassi Boys have been meeting in Abia, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi on how to defend the states from further attacks by killer herdsmen.

    A top member of the group who did not want his name mentioned, said never again would anyone or group be allowed to terrorize the zone ‘for no just cause’.

    Speaking in the same vein, a MASSOB leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu, said the movement was reaching out to other Igbo groups on the matter.

    “There is need for Ndigbo to form a synergy on this issue,” he said.

    “We have started making consultations. This is not an issue MASSOB and other positive groups in Igboland will leave for the governors and policemen to decide.

    “The groups we are talking about are not ones that find favour on the pages of newspapers, but groups that have the interests of our people at heart like MASSOB,” Madu said.

    Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State met on Thursday night with traditional rulers in the state on how to forestall a repeat of the Enugu mayhem in Anambra.

    The governor told the gathering that government was already monitoring closely suspicious movements in some parts of the state.

    He said government was working in concert with the security agencies in this regard and assured residents of safety of their lives and property.

    He said that where the options available to government fail, the state is ready to defend the people, but he was quick to add that “we do not want it to get to that point.”

    He said: “We do not want anything to destroy the beautiful relationship that has existed between Igbo and Fulani and other Nigerians. We want Anambra to be a shining example and that is why we are the light of the nation.

    “What we intend to do is to send the Fulani that are living with us here to go and meet with the Fulani in that area with a view to finding out whether they are coming in peace or otherwise.

     ”We agreed at the Security Council Meeting that we will not allow herdsmen to carry arms.

    “That is a clear directive from Abuja. Herdsmen are not supposed to bear arms. Please, if you see any herdsmen with AK47, report them early to the police so that they can be picked up.”

    The chairman of the South East zone of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Siddiki Gidado, commended the governor for convening the meeting and stressed the need to entrench in the psyche of the herdsmen and their host communities the code of healthy engagement.

    His words: “I must confess that life out there in the jungle where our people breed their cattle is rough and this is often compounded by either some acts of carelessness by some herdsmen or sheer acts of suspicion from natives who might not be hospitable to the herdsmen traversing their physical space.

    “Neither of the issues can be adjudged insurmountable. It only demands constructive commitment from the governments and other concerned groups who would deconstruct the underlying hate mind-set and create a healthy room for mutual trust amidst diverse business interests”

    “The code of healthy engagements must be entrenched in the psyche of the herdsmen and their landlords wherever they are found.”

  • Nigeria will abide with ICJ’s decision on Bakassi – Buhari

    Nigeria will abide with ICJ’s decision on Bakassi – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday assured his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya and his people to put their mind at rest on the allegation that Nigeria was still accessing hydrocarbon from the oil rich Bakkassi Penunsula despite the judgment of the International Court of Justice, (ICJ) that ceded the region to the Central African nation.

    Buhari gave the assurance at a joint press briefing which followed the signing of bilateral agreements between the two countries.

    According to him, a committee has been set up with members from both countries to deliberate on the matter.

    While the report of the committee was being awaited, President Buhari said Cameroun needed not to worry as Nigeria would not go contrary to the ICJ decision.

    He said: “On this issue, I will like the government and people of Cameroun to keep their minds at peace. Nigeria, we are an internationally respectful and abiding nation. Somehow there was a crisis between the two nations on Bakassi Penisula over the hydrocarbon exploitation. This issue is being dealt with by the International Court of Justice.

    “The technical part of the extent of international interest forms the second part of your question. On maritime resources, there is a committee of experts comprising Cameroun and Nigeria sides. I cannot fully answer that question until after the report of this committee gets to us and when they submit the report, I expect that with a few of us that are still around, we shall sit together and see what is the best way for the two countries. So, feel secured and be at peace.”

    Reacting to a question on why Cameroun was allegedly harbouring suspected terrorists who ran to the country for safety, Biya denied the allegation and said it was unfounded.

    According to him, Cameroun was committed to ending insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin.

    He said: “Yes I have had of this information. I heard it in New York during conferences that Cameroon serves as basis for Boko Haram but what can Cameroun benefit from that? Is it the ideologies? Are we going to benefit from finances? No. It was just bad press. Cameroon remains focused and committed to the fight against Boko Haram.”