14 Aug 2009 |
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Bakassi: One year later By Reuben Abati EXACTLY a year ago, a portion of Nigerian territory known as Bakassi was ceded to Cameroon. That event will for long be remembered as a veritable show of indecent haste and a violation of Nigeria's sovereignty and constitutional order by the same political leadership that had sworn to defend these same values. The government of President Umaru Yar'Adua, which played the role of the undertaker, had declared that "Nigeria had no choice." The country we were told was obliged to respect the 2002 judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which gave the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, and the Green Tree agreement of June 2006 under which Nigeria, led at the time by President Olusegun Obasanjo, pledged to give effect to the ICJ ruling. The Bakassi matter was poorly handled from the beginning. Nigeria didn't need to join Cameroon in court in 1994. The embarrassment could have been avoided. Even when Nigeria lost the case, it didn't have to rush to obey the ICJ, and President Obasanjo had no business signing the Green Tree Agreement which seemed to have tied Nigeria's hands. The Green Tree Treaty was not subjected to due process at home. It is a trite fact of international law that a treaty cannot be enforced unless it is ratified, or approved or passed into law. Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution on treaties is explicit. In an attempt to impress the international community, the Nigerian government clumsily threw away Bakassi, without first addressing basic issues including the process of the law and the plight and future of the affected people. Yes, a letter was originally written to the National Assembly by the Obasanjo administration. In November 2007, the Senate of the Federal Republic resolved that the cession of Bakassi was illegal. But later, on August 13 2008, the same Senate hurriedly returned from its recess and claimed to have approved the handover. This did not amount to a domestication of the treaty. Why did the Senators change their minds? Were they induced? The people of Bakassi whose lives, culture and sociology were at stake in the matter were also not consulted. Their protests were ignored. Nigeria's Constitution in Part 1 of the first Schedule lists a total of 768 local councils, including Bakassi plus six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory. It follows that without a proper amendment of the constitution, it would be improper to expunge a whole local government from it. One year later after the fact, a non-existent Bakassi local government is still listed in the Constitution. It will also be recalled that ahead of the handing over, the concerned people of Bakassi, who had been under much pressure, harassment and psychological torture for more than six years took their case to the Federal High Court in Abuja, to seek N356 billion as compensation for the cession of their territory to another country and another N100 billion for the violation of their right to dignity. The presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Umar gave a specific order that the status quo in the matter be maintained by the parties to the suit. The case was then adjourned for further hearing on October 20. The Yar'Adua government ignored this ruling which it could have used to buy time, to allow it address the affected people's grievances. It then hastily went ahead to handover Bakassi to Cameroon in August in flagrant disregard of due process and the same rule of law which at the time, it claimed to be protecting. Similar somersaults on the question of the rule of law subsequently became a defining feature of the administration. On the Bakassi question, Nigerians have since been confronted with a fait accompli, and so in retrospect, the arguments about the rightness or wrongness of procedure and event may now just be a matter of historical review. But there is a disturbing residue that lingers and it is the plight of the people of Bakassi who have been treated so badly and whose right to dignity continues to be violated. The Cross River state government and Abuja had made all kinds of promises about helping to relocate the people and provide for their needs. Senator Florence Ita Giwa, popularly known as Mama Bakassi, for her defence of the rights of the people in the public domain was also most vocal at the time. The Federal Government took the additional step of earmarking a sum of N3 billion to cover relocation and resettlement expenses, later a sum of N1 billion was allegedly provided for in the 2008 budget and there was information that a sum of N1 billion was given to the Cross River state government. The management of the Bakassi Fund, as it was called, is now one of the mysteries of the entire episode. Where is the money? How was it spent? Where is the evidence that the money was used for the assigned purpose? One year later, these questions need to be asked. There should be proper accounting by both the Cross River State Government and the National Boundary Commission, more so as it was once reported that the money had been declared missing. The people of Bakassi continue to be treated shabbily. They had three options: to retain their Nigerian citizenship by moving to a resettlement camp, or remain in Bakassi as immigrants or opt for Cameroonian citizenship, No serious effort has been made to re-integrate the over 300, 000 persons who chose to stay in Nigeria. They are not wanted by Cameroon; they are ignored by Nigeria. At the Mbo and Ikang Resettlement Centres, the people are having difficulties adjusting to a new environment and a new way of life. Essentially a riverine group, they are now compelled to learn a new mode of survival on land. Many of them who used to be landlords in their old homesteads are now refugees in their own country. They cannot be blamed for seeing themselves as "victims" of "dirty local and international politics". The Cross River state government has reportedly built a number of houses for the resettlement of the people, but a whole year later, those houses remain uncompleted and no allocations have been made. No one should be surprised if many of the returnees have found new occupation as Niger Delta militants or kidnappers! At the handing over ceremony in Calabar on August 14, 2008, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa promised as follows: "I want to assure the people of Bakassi that this administration is very much interested in their welfare, the president is concerned about the welfare of bonafide citizens of Nigeria who have found themselves in a territory legally now another country." This promise has not been kept. In 2006, at the ceremony marking the formal withdrawal of Nigerian Armed Forces from the Bakassi Peninsula, then President Olusegun Obasanjo had also told the people of Bakassi: "We most sincerely thank our citizens living in the Bakassi Peninsula for their patience and understanding. We beseech them not to see our actions as a denial of their ancestral and inalienable rights, rather as an indication of our civility, respect for international agreements, absolute belief in the rule of law and love for peace." In retrospect, these were just words, meant strictly for the occasion. It all follows a pattern. Nigeria does not care enough for its citizens. In 2008, a register of Bakassi returnees was prepared. Can that register still be traced? Not likely. All the governments involved in the matter: Cross River, Akwa Ibom and the Federal Government have moved on to other matters. Even the once vocal Mama Bakassi has also since moved on. The people of Bakassi have been left to their own devices, the sole beneficiaries of their plight being the managers of the N3 billion or N1 billion windfall that has not been accounted for. Most Nigerians have also forgotten Bakassi. It doesn't matter anymore that Nigeria's map has been redrawn even if many of the maps in Nigerian offices still indicate Bakassi as a Nigerian territory. The abandonment of the people of Bakassi, the refusal of the authorities to keep all the promises about their welfare and resettlement points ultimately to the general maltreatment of the average Nigerian citizen. Over 800 Nigerians reportedly died in the Boko Haram crisis, but two weeks later, Nigeria is moving on surely. And we will soon forget about it all. Today, President Yar'Adua will jet off to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment and lesser hajj, it is not likely he will ask the Saudi authorities any questions about the regular beheading of Nigerians in that country, even in the face of evidence that such persons, arrested for one crime or the other, are often denied the right to fair hearing. Nor is it likely that the endless foreign medical trips by the Nigerian elite: from President to civil servants would compel an overhaul of our problematic health system as promised. And of course, the Federal Government is not bothered at all that a large population of young Nigerians is idling away at home (for more than a month now) because university teachers are on strike and the Federal Government and state Governors say they are not ready to negotiate with ASUU. One year after the loss of Bakassi, the people of that area can only look back with anger and helplessness.
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