We will not accept Cameroun as our own country – Bakassi indigenes

Aggrieved natives of Bakassi Peninsula on Tuesday stormed Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory in a bid to convince the Federal Government to take necessary steps to review the International Court of Justice ruling that ceded the oil-rich area to Cameroun 10 years ago.

But neither President Goodluck Jonathan nor the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, was in Abuja to listen to the embattled Bakassi indigenes, who claimed to have been armed with new incontrovertible facts to aid the government in pressing for the reversal of the ICJ judgement in Nigeria’s favour.
Both Mr Jonathan and the AGF are in New York for the first-ever High-Level Plenary Session of the United Nations on the Rule of Law, which opened on Monday.
The Bakassi indigenes pointed out that the information at their disposal was enough to swing the ICJ to reverse its October 10, 2002 ruling in favour of Nigeria and pleaded with President Jonathan not to listen to the enemies of Nigeria who claim that the issue had been laid to rest.
The Coordinator of the ‘Save Bakassi Group’ in the FCT,  Solomon Inameti, said that they were ready to assist the Federal Government with fresh evidence that was not available at the time of the judgment.
Mr Inameti said, “we have 100 new information and we are ready to give to the Nigerian Government to use and approach the ICJ and conveniently pursue this case to a logical conclusion.
“To the best of our knowledge, the evidence is concrete enough to secure us victory at the ICJ and the Federal Government can take us for our words.
“We went out of our way to secure this vital information that was not there before to assist the Federal Government because we believe that it is in our own interest to continue to remain in Nigeria.
“Let us make it categorically clear that no matter what happens we will not accept Cameroun as our own country. Subjugating us to Cameroun would not only be humiliating but dehumanizing to us and our generations yet unborn.
“Anyone who thinks that we the people of Bakassi can come under Cameroun is wasting time because that will not work. We are ready to go to the United Nations and seek a referendum on where we want to be and how we should be administered.
“If the Federal Government of Nigeria does not want us we will approach the UN at the end of October 10, 2012 to seek the way forward for ourselves and our respective communities in Bakassi,” Inameti said.