Most adults living in a democracy
place trust in the state of which they are a citizen. If this trust is
betrayed, the individual can suffer psychological betrayal trauma. The effect
of which is a feeling of abandonment and extreme anger. Fear and anger are the
two sides to the fight or flight response and as such are our strongest and most
basic psychological emotions. Do you
know the difference between a hero and a coward? Both are scared; neither wants
to do what needs to be done but in the end the hero does it anyway and the
coward turns away.
Bakassi people are mainly the
Calabar people, the people of Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria,
including the Efut, Efik, Ibibio, Annang, amongst others.
Nigeria and Cameroon have fought
over oil rich Bakassi for years. The situation though not geographical is
similar to the British/ Argentinian problem over the Falkland Islands or Las
Malvinas depending on which side you are on.
In 1981 and the early 90s the two
countries went to the brink of war over Bakassi and another area close to Lake
Chad, at the other end of the two countries common border. Cameroon then took
the matter to the International Court of Justice in 1994.
The court reviewed diplomatic
exchanges dating back 100 years. Nigeria relied on Anglo German correspondence
dating from 1885 as well as treaties between the colonial powers and the
indigenous rulers in the area, particularly the 1884 Treaty of Protection.
Cameroon pointed to the Anglo German treaty of 1913, which defined spheres of
control in the region, as well as two agreements signed in the 70s between Cameroon
and Nigeria. These were the Yaoundé II Declaration of 4 April 1971 and the
Maroua Declaration of 1 June 1975, which were devised to outline maritime
boundaries between the two countries following their independence. The line was
drawn through the Cross River estuary to the west of the peninsula, thereby
implying Cameroonian ownership over Bakassi. Nigeria never ratified this
agreement.
The ICJ delivered judgment on 10
October 2002, finding that sovereignty over Bakassi did indeed rest with
Cameroon.
The verdict caused consternation
in Nigeria. Chief Richard Akinjide, a former Nigerian Attorney General and
Minister of Justice, described the decision as “50% international law and 50%
international politics”, blatantly biased and unfair”, “a total disaster”, and
a “complete fraud”.
The outcome was refusal by
Nigeria to withdraw its troops and transfer sovereignty. The indigenes of this
land, colonial powers or not are Nigerians. At worst we should have called for
a referendum. Why should treaties of yester year to which we were not party
come into play.This is not Britain and China over Hong Kong. Nigerians and
Cameroonians were not party to those treaties and we did not ratify the modern
declarations, so they are not binding.
The ICJ judgment was backed up by
the United Nations, whose charter potentially allowed sanctions to enforce the
courts ruling. They stepped in as mediator. Inall this time, there was
opposition from the Bakassi inhabitants to being transferred to Cameroon. They
are Nigerians, whose ancestors have lived on that land since time immemorial.
Their claim to the land is as indigenes, not settlers as the case with the
Falkland Islands and yet the British protected their rights and have stated
that unless they agree in a referendum to be part of Argentina, their
sovereignty will always be protected.They went to war to protect the islanders
right to self-determination. We did not make a stand.We did not fight for our
people, for the indigenous people of Bakassi.
The Bakassi leaders in their
desperation threatened to seek independence if Nigeria DID NOT WANT THEM, WOULD
NOT PROTECT THEM and renounced sovereignty.
This secession was announced on 9
July 2006, as the “Democratic Republic of Bakassi”. However,on 13 June 2006,
President Olusegun Obasanjo and the president of Cameroon resolved the dispute
in talks led by the UN. Obasanjo agreed to withdraw Nigerian troops within 60
days and leave the territory completely in Cameroonian control within the next 2
years. We did not fight for our brothers. We are cowards. They were betrayed.
14 August 2007 marked the formal handing over.On
the 22 November 2007, the Nigerian senate passed a resolution declaring that
the withdrawal from Bakassi was illegal. The government of which they form a
part took no action. Shame.
Why did we turn a blind eye to
this injustice?Our representatives did nothing.
The plight of the people were cast aside and buried. Their cries drowned
in the noise that is the politics of oil and dirty money. How can this be? What
about the love of one’s people?
In October 2012, China Petroleum
& Chemical Corporation officially announced it had discovered new oil and
gas resources in the Bakassi region. Surprise surprise!
Even those of us who were not
there at the time of this travesty of justice are nevertheless inheritors of
this shame.We removed Nigerians from their ancestral land and handed the land
over to a stranger, not because the stranger has a love or history with the
land but purely to exploit it. This is a disgrace and as a Nigerian, I am
angry.
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