Nigeria’ll Not Appeal Bakassi Judgment – AGF

By crossriverwatch admin

In a move targeted at dousing the high expectations across the country ahead of the President’s live broadcast expected by 7am later in this morning, The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has said Nigeria will not apply for the review of the judgment of the International Court of Justice, ceding the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.

Adoke, in a statement on Monday, explained that the argument canvassed by the proponents of the review “is virtually bound to fail” as “a failed application will be diplomatically damaging to Nigeria”.

The window to ask for a review of the judgment delivered on October 10, 2012 ends today. By the court’s statute, a party can call for a review of its verdict within 10 years if there are fresh facts.

The government decision is certain to disappoint a section of Nigerians who had campaigned for a review of the ICJ judgment.

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It was learnt that the Bakassi issue would be addressed by President Goodluck Jonathan during a nationwide broadcast at 7am today.

Feelers late last night indicated that the President would use the broadcast to assuage the feelings of Nigerians on the Bakassi issue.

The AGF said the committee, set up by President Goodluck Jonathan had weighed the implications of a failed review, having noted the stringent condition attached to such review, and had advised Nigeria against appealing the judgment.

He said, “The committee proceeded to examine the case for revision against the requirements of Article 61 of the ICJ Statute and was constrained to observe from the oral presentations made to it by the proponents of the revision that the strict requirements of Article 61 could not be satisfied.

“This is because their presentation was unable to show that Nigeria had discovered a decisive fact that was unknown to her before”.

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