Nigerians Icheoku says that certain Nigerians should be held responsible for the ignoble loss of a Nigerian territory of Bakassi to the Cameroons. It will be noted that the conflict which began in 1994 over the oil-rich 1000-square land called Bakassi was finally resolved in favor of Cameroon by ICJ headed by a Frenchman Justice Gilbert Guillanme, President of the International Court of Justice in Hague on the 10th of October 2002. (Why did Nigeria not object to a Frenchman as head of the panel on the ground of possible bias; afterall Cameroon was formerly a French colony) They should be regarded as denigrate Nigerians who worked against Nigeria security interest in exchange for the privileges of hob-nobbling with foreign dignitaries in various world capitals. Nigerians should therefore treat them as pariahs deserving of their odium and ridicule. These saboteurs are Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Yar"Adua.
Yakubu Gowon: It was Gowon while he was Head of state of Nigeria that pawned away
Bakassi in exchange for Cameroons assistance with blockading Biafra. It is called the The Maroua Declaration which was signed between Nigeria's Yakubu Gowon and Ahmadu Ahidjo of Cameroon. During the meeting held at Maroua from May 30 to June 1 1975, the Heads of State of CAMEROON and NIGERIA agreed to extend the delineation of the maritime boundary between the two Countries from Point 12 to Point G on the Admiralty Chart No. 3433 annexed to this Declaration. They further reaffirmed their commitment to freedom and security of navigation in the Calabar/Cross River channel of ships of the two countries as defined by International Treaties and ConventionsThis Maroua meetings led to conceding of the sovereignty of Bakassi to Cameroon by Yakubu Gowon done as a gesture of gratitude for the support which Cameroon gave to Nigeria during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. Cameroon did not allow war and relief materials to filtrate through Cameroon to Biafrans in Eastern Nigeria. Now the chicken of Gowon's youthful recklessness has come home to roost and Nigeria has lost a part of her territory, Bakassi. Icheoku therefore designates Yakubu Gowown a very denigrate person for waging a war of attrition against the peoples of Biafra and nearly starving them to death. It shall not be well with Yakubu Gowon! Even the late Murtala Mohammed denounced the Maroua Agreement and questioned its validity on the basis that it was not ratified by the then Supreme Military Council, (which stood in place of the Nigerian legislature) and which consent under the then existing constitution was necessary for a treaty or agreement of that nature between Nigeria and a foreign state to be valid. It was not ratified when it was made and the present Green tea Agreement was not ratified either before or after its signing by the National Assembly; which shows the manner of men who preside over Nigeria.
Olusegun Obasanjo - This medicine man of Otta, Babalawo Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo signed
the Green Tea Agreement in New York, USA which finally conceded Bakassi to Cameroon without any input from any of Nigeria's security agencies nor the people. If this is not dictatorial arrogance, then Icheoku says nothing else so qualifies. It will be recalled that the ICJ handed down their decision ceding Bakassi to Cameroon during the iron-clad regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, which case was taken to the ICJ by Cameroon during ABacha's regime; whom despite advise not to enter representation at the court, did it anyway! This shows the emptiness of the people who have ran Nigeria aground all these years - daft and nincompoops!Umaru Yar"Adua : this sick weakling from Katsina who was imposed on Nigeria as president
by Olusegun Obasanjo has shown the feebleness of his heart! He finally and formally handed over Bakassi to Cameroon on August 14th, 2008 in a secretive ceremony in Calabar. Nigerians have never been blessed with patriotic men of courage as their leaders. Were Bakassi to be a "little" town in Katsina State, will Umaru Yar"Adua give it away to Cameroon? Were Umaru Yar"Adua to come from Bakassi, will he throw it away in the Cameroon? It is pitiful as it is regrettable that this unpatriotic Fulani man had the temerity to just throw away what is rightfully Nigerian and yet he preaches rule of Law. Where was the required ratification by the National Assembly, Umaru Yar"Adua before your formal handover or is Bakassi matter not within your parochial definition of what rule of law covers? It shall not be well with you and being very sick does not help your case. Umaru Yar'Adua, you did this in a hurry in order to curry recognition of your moribund presidency which was stolen from the Nigerian people and handed over to you as a keepsake. However you can only hold what does not belong to you for so long before the rightful owner takes it over. Take a look at the drama of Pakistan and the "strongman" Musharraf.
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Christy 'Apena' Essien-Igbokwe , the wife of Jegede Shokoya of the New Masquerade and Nigeria's lady of songs is dead; she was 51years old. Although her family claimed that "brief Illness" killed her like so many Nigerians; Icheoku retorts that it was most likely AKwa Ibom voodoo and remote control that was used to arrest her. It is on record that she had fallen out with the governor of her native Akwa Ibiom State and have been having a relentless war for political turf with the governor? So who knows whether she was sacrificed to Ekpe cult or even Alusi-Okija as an offal; afterall African science is still very much alive and portent. May her soul rest in peace.
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page 1| Delimitation Treaties Infobase | accessed on 13/03/2002
ReplyDeleteDOALOS/OLA - UNITED NATIONS
The Maroua Declaration (1 June 1975)
During the meeting held at MAROUA from May 30th to June 1st 1975, the two Heads of State of CAMEROON and
NIGERIA agreed to extend the delineation of the maritime boundary between the two Countries from Point 12 to Point G on the
Admiralty Chart No. 3433 annexed to this Declaration.
The delineated boundary adopted by the two Heads of State is defined as follows:
From Point 12 (Longitude 08° 24' 38" E and Latitude 04° 31' 26" N) situated at the end of the line of the maritime
boundary adopted by the two Heads of State on April 4, 1971, the boundary line runs due West along a line parallel to and three
miles from the straight line joining Tom Shot Point and Sandy Point up to a Point A Longitude 08° 24' 24" E and Latitude
04°31'30"N. Thence from Point A along a straight line to Point A1 Longitude 08° 24' 24" and Latitude 04° 31' 20" N which is
one kilometre East of Buoy No. 3. The maritime boundary then continues along the same straight line to a Point B Longitude 08°
26' 32" Latitude 04° 24' 10" N one kilometre East of Buoy No. 2. Then from Point B the maritime boundary continues due South
through Point C Longitude 08° 23' 42" E Latitude 04° 23' 28" N one kilometre East of Buoy No. 1 to a Point D Longitude 08° 22'
41" E Latitude 04°20' 00" N where it intersects Latitude 04° 20'.
From Point D the maritime boundary runs in a South-Westerly direction to a Point E Longitude 08° 22' 17" E Latitude
04° 19' 32" N which is 550 metres from the straight line joining the Fairway Buoy and Buoy No. 1. From Point E the maritime
boundary runs in a South-Easterly direction to a Point F Longitude 08° 22' 19" E Latitude 04° 18' 46" N one kilometre East of
Fairway Buoy.
Then from Point F Longitude 08° 22' 19" E Latitude 04° 18' 46" N the maritime boundary runs Southerly parallel to the
Meridian 08° 25' 00" to Point G Longitude 08° 22' 19" E Latitude 04° 17' 00" N as shown on the Admiralty Chart No. 3433.
The two Heads of State further reaffirmed their commitment to freedom and security of navigation in the Calabar/Cross
River channel of ships of the two countries as defined by International Treaties and Conventions.
ANNEXES
Mr. President and Dear Brother,
I have the honour of drawing your esteemed attention to an error which slipped in the definition of the co-ordinates of
point B on the line drawn with mutual agreement on chart 3433 and described in the Maroua Declaration.
In fact, the real co-ordinates of point B placed on the Maroua line are as follows:
B. Longitude: 8° 24' 10" E
Latitude: 4° 26' 32" N
and not 8° 26' 32" E and 4° 24, 10" N as mentioned in the Maroua Declaration.
The error results from the fact that at point B our experts inadvertently recorded the last 2 figures (minutes and
seconds) of the latitude for the longitude and vice versa.
On my part I believe that your reply, recognizing the existence of this error and confirming that the real co-ordinates of
point B are correct could be considered, on the same grounds as this letter, as valid annexes to the Maroua Declaration.
However, I am ready to examine any other suggestion which Your Excellency may advance with a view to correcting
this error.
STATE HOUSE
DODAN BARRACKS
LAGOS, NIGERIA
page 2| Delimitation Treaties Infobase | accessed on 13/03/2002
DOALOS/OLA - UNITED NATIONS
Bakassi: It's Not Over Yet Until It's Over
ReplyDeleteYunus A. Tijani
Nigerians have started reaping from the seeds of atrocities planted by Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Part of it was the ceding of Bakassi land to Cameroon.
I am equally disenchanted with the likes of Ita Giwa, a former member of the Senate and all the indigene of Bakassi in both senate and National Assembly who cannot say no to Obasanjo's action at that time or write the International Court of Justice in Hague that they were not consulted. At least, they have the freedom to decide where they want to belong. They can tell the International Court of Justice boldly that they belong to Nigeria and that they are not going anywhere. Are those in International Court of Justice not human beings they can go there directly to press it upon them that they are not going any where and that they are Nigerians therefore should not be relocated. I don't know what the Nigerian and Cameroonian governments mean by resettlement or relocation. How can you relocate a whole community to another land away from their ancestral home? For God's sake, these people are mainly fishermen. Where they are being relocated to, do we equally have water there to meet their economic needs? How do you now subject them to learning another trade? Definitely, this will cause unnecessary hardship to these people.
In the olden days people leave one community for another as a result of war. Conflicts are common between one community and another. As a result of this, a community that is defeated may decide to relocate to a safer place. Is this a war situation in case of Bakassi? Though, it is good that it was not allowed to degenerate to war but that cannot be to our own lost.
Another factor that may necessitate relocation is lust for supremacy. A section of a people may feel cheated and oppressed by another group and may therefore decide to leave that environment.
Another factor is a search for fertile land. In those days, most of our ancient father's work is agrarian. They may decide to leave in search of fertile land. All these took place out of their own volition.
I do not blame Obasanjo nor the Cameroonian government. The people I blame were the Bakassi people themselves who are so unwise that they allowed themselves to be cheated. How I wish I am from Bakassi, I will never allow my people and me to be cheated in that way. It will be a "do or die" affair. I will lead my people to resist any attempt to dislodge us. The worst that can happen is that, if both country cannot settle their differences, we are going to form our own country, no matter how small we are. We have the freedom to decide our fate. But now, throughout the whole exercise, the people kept quiet as if they don't know what was going on until their destiny was changed. It is pathetic and painful.
It is not yet over. A proverb has it that the white man that produced pencil is the one that equally produced eraser. All the relocation and resettlement were done in paper. Let the people of Bakassi themselves rise up now and said NO to what has happened. Let them sue the Federal Government for selling them to Cameroon. Let them file the suit at the International Court of Justice that they want to go back to Nigeria. Let them begin the agitation again. Tell the International Court of Justice that, no referendum or plebiscite was conducted before the handover. There was never a time their opinion was sought nor contacted made before the whole process that led to the handover.
If the people of Bakassi know that they have enlightened citizens, let them begin this agitation now, if not I underrate all the dignitaries from that area as being unqualified to be a leader. If they cannot begin this agitation with immediate effect, senator Ita Giwa and the likes should simply find a place to hide.
Nigerians! Why do we always pay eye service? Who are those people accusing Obasanjo of taking unilateral decision on Bakassi issue? Don't we have representative in Senate at the time when Obasanjo was going to Hague about this matter? Even if Obasanjo did not tell them, didn't they hear it in the news about where he was going? As an ordinary Nigerian, I was following all the process in the news. Though I cannot say whether the Senate at that time was not consulted or not, but the issue remains: why did they keep quite? Can't they call him to order? If Obasanjo proved stubborn, why can't they impeach him? This is the only way through which they can check the excesses of a leader as legislators. More so this is an issue that touches the life of every Nigerian. It has to be taken seriously.
Why are the military complaining this time around too? Didn't we have the soldiers at the time for them to be telling us now that they were not consulted? I do not want to concur to that. People in high places are representing the masses. The ordinary citizens can do little or nothing.
The general public voted them to the place, to determine their fate to a large extent. If Obasanjo was acting outside the constitution, they had the right to impeach him. Obasanjo ended his first tenure successfully and he equally completed the second tenure successfully. They had the sword in their hand, why couldn't they use it on him. I do not blame Obasanjo for all the woes and atrocities he committed during his tenure, because the legislators were there with him. The people in high position should not toy with our life. They should be reminded that they will account for all their deeds to the Almighty Creator some day.
The enlightened citizens of Bakassi should rise to this challenge. All the agitation should be done peacefully as was done in the first instance. They should not allow themselves to be cheated just like that. They should have it in mind that if they die, their forefathers will ask them in heaven why they abandoned them in their graves and ran away. Likewise, their yet unborn generations will ask them what brought them to where they are currently staying. If they tell their forefathers that the agitation to go back to their ancestral home is still on course, they will not blame them much and likewise, if their yet unborn generation get to know that they are still willing to go back to their ancestral land. They will not blame them much. They should not be cowards. Did not a philosopher say: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at the time of joy and comfort but where he stands at the time of crisis and tribulations."