processions hold in Calabar, Abuja, Abeokuta, South Africa
by crossriverwatch admin
The Cross River State Police Command and the Sector Command of Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, on Saturday stopped members of the National Association of Seadogs from its planned advocacy rally over the federal government refusal to commence the process of appeal against the International Court of Justice, ICJ, judgment that ceded the oil-rich peninsula to Cameroon.
NAS had organized an advocacy rally in all states of the federation to compel the federal government to file an appeal against the October 2002 judgment as well as proper resettlement of the displaced people of Bakassi who have been turned refugees in their fatherland.
But the Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Osita Ezechukwu and the State Sector Commander of FRSC, Alhaji Yusuf Salami refused to grant the request for the rally in Calabar, the state capital, instead stationed policemen at sensitive locations to ensure that the rally never held.
The police had given the security challenges in the country as the reason for refusing granting the association the request for the rally, saying that though the association may conduct itself peacefully, hoodlums may cash in on the rally to cause crisis in the polity.
The association however, retreated to its anchor point for the rally with placards of different inscriptions calling on the federal government to rescind its decision of not appealing against the judgment, saying that the people have the right to decide whether to belong in Nigeria or Cameroon.
Chapter presidents of Jokaina and Fregate Decks Calabar, Dr. Ofem Enang and Mr. Oyo E. Oyo respectively in separate interviews told crossriverwatch that the people of Bakassi have the right of Self Determination which country to belong as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
Enang said, “It is unacceptable that the government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo had after the ICJ ruling willingly surrendered the sovereignty of the country to Cameroon and had entered into a Green Tree Agreement in June 12, 2006, to abide by the decision of the court.
“Jokaina also notes with dismay the neglect, abandonment and inexplicable maltreatment of the indigenous people of Bakassi on account of the formal transfer of sovereignty of the ceded territory to Cameroon on August 14, 2008.
“NAS is disappointed at the lethargy and limited attitude of the authorities concerned towards the full implementation of the Green Tree Agreement, concerning the provision of accommodation and allied needs to the displaced people of Bakassi.”
It called on the federal government apart from commencing the process of appealing against the judgment and full provision of accommodation to the displaced people of Bakassi in the new Bakassi settlement, the immediate resolution of all issues pertaining to compensation for the acquired land to the landlords.
crossriverwatch followed the seadogs processions which held across different state capitals in the country and the Republic of South Africa. A crossriverwatch reporter caught up with the procession in Abeokuta and also sent us photographs.
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