Bakassi: Biya Sends Emissaries to Jonathan, Offers Olive Branch

• by: Martin Luther
• 12 years ago

A mission from the Southern Cameroons national Council was in Calabar last October 27-29, 2012 to abreast themselves with the recent political and deplomatic developments at the Bakassi end. The mission, composed of three eminent Southern Cameroons activists fighting for the restoration of the nation of British Southern Cameroons, now referred to as Ambazonia met and discussed with some leading figures of the Free Bakassi Self-Determination Front as well as visited the palace of the Obong of Calabar and his private compound in Calabar. Details of their mission were not revealed, but the copy of the message extended to the Bakassi people was procured.
Here is a copy:

SOUTHERN CAMEROONS NATIONAL COUNCIL (SCNC)

MOTTO: THE FORCE OF ARGUMENT, NOT THE ARGUMENT OF FORCE

NATIONAL CAPITAL: BUEA SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

P.O. BOX 429 BAMENDA Tel: (237) 75 42 94 09

E-mail: nnyamngaisc@gmail.com Tel: (237) 70 38 12 62

Website: http://www.scncforsoutherncameroons.net Tel: (237) 75 20 61 75

MESSAGE FROM THE SCNC ON NATIONAL LIBERATION AND RESTORATION TO THE COMPATIOTS OF BAKASSI PENINSULA

v Under the watchful eye and guiding hand of our Lord and Creator by whose infinite wisdom you are the indigenes and by natural and international law the rightful owners of Bakassi Peninsula which by international boundary treaties is an integral part of the former UN Trust territory of British Southern Cameroons;

I have the honour, on behalf of the SCNC and all your fellow compatriots of British Southern Cameroons, to address to you our patriotic affectionate words of fraternal greetings and encouragement.

The move you have taken to link up with your compatriots of the British Southern Cameroons mainland is God ordained. The SCNC, the vanguard liberation movement of British Southern Cameroons is determined to end the annexation and colonial occupation of our Fatherland sooner than later. This is a matter of the urgency of Now! Together we will win.

THE ORDAINED MISSION OF THE SCNC

Working relentlessly against all odds of the tyrannic repressive Yaounde regime, the new nationalism of British Southern Cameroons is ignited, guided and sustained by the slogan “ONE NATION, ONE PEOPLE, ONE DESTINY!”

This ONE NATION is the British Southern Cameroons which includes the Bakassi Peninsula as defined by inherited colonial boundaries, its territorial waters, and its natural resources above and below, which must be exploited by the people and for their welfare. This British Southern Cameroons nation existed effectively with a democratically elected government, a Prime Minister, a bicameral parliament, a well structured civil service, a democratic constitution through which free, fair and transparent elections were conducted. British Southern Cameroons was a shining example of parliamentary democracy in colonial Africa witnessing smooth and peaceful transfer of power from the political party in power to the opposition in 1959. Its two Prime Ministers participated and represented their nation and people at international fora. La Reupblique du Cameroun from 1958 to date has been ruled by two French installed dictators who entertain no freedom of opinion, it knows no democracy: the opposition is an enemy. It is a police state.

The ONE PEOPLE who by natural and international law have the inherent and unquestionable right to shape and be masters of their DESTINY whose inalienable rights the SCNC has been defending and fighting for include you the people of Bakassi Peninsula. You have not been left out and you could never have been left out. Our people hold as an article of faith that a “Family tree may bend but it must never be allowed to crack let alone allowed to break up”. We the British Southern Cameroonian people are victims of international colonial conspiracy. The ordained mission of the SCNC is to right the wrong of 1961 and restore us to our dignity and integrity within the comity of sovereign nations and free people of the world. To attain this legitimate and international personality we British Southern Cameroonians must be united under the SCNC and in solidarity speak and act as one man. We must liberate our country for the foreigners who control our land have imposed their laws. Having made us their servants, they plunder our natural resources for their common good while we live in abject misery and lead short and brutish life.

BAKASSI PENINSULA IS BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

The incontrovertible historical and legal instruments which place the Bakassi Peninsula within and as an integral territory of British Southern Cameroons are the following;

1)The Anglo-German boundary treaty of 1913. According to this treaty its Art XX states “Should the lower course of the Akwayafe so change its mouth as to transfer it to the Rio de Rey, it is agreed that the area now known as the Bakassi Peninsula shall still remain German territory.”

But we all know that German Kamerun ceased being after WWI and with the Versailles Peace Treaty German Kamerun was partitioned into British Cameroons, to the west bordering Nigeria and French Cameroun to the east adjacent to French Equatorial Africa.

2) The partition of German Kamerun placing Bakassi Peninsula in British Southern Cameroons was further reinforced by the following international legal instruments;

a) The Anglo-French boundary treaty of January 9, 1931, and,

b) The UN Trusteeship Agreement signed respectively by the U.K. and France with the UN in 1946.

3)The Nigeria Federation definition of Regional boundaries listed as the Northern Region, Western Region, and Eastern Region and the Southern Cameroons – Proclamation 1954, Law No 126 of 1954. Furthermore, in a well intended letter to the Federal Minister of External Affairs, Dr. T.O. Elias, the then Attorney General of the Federation of Nigeria in 1972 reaffirms that. “According to the information received from the Federal Directorate of Surveys, the Bakassi Peninsula has never been included as part of Nigeria …” It concludes that it is Southern Cameroons territory.

4) When British Southern Cameroons attained Self Government in 1954 the Bakassi Peninsula was administered from Buea as an integral part of the then Victoria Division. When the UN conducted the plebiscite of 11 February 1961, Bakassi Peninsula was part of the Plebiscite District of Victoria. Efik people and others from Bakassi participated in the plebiscite. They worked in the CDC and were employed in other sectors. They were at home with their compatriots throughout the trusteeship period.

5) When Nigeria attained independence on 1st October 1960, Bakassi Peninsula was not part of the Federation of Nigeria. Nigeria has never been in dispute with British Southern Cameroons over the sovereign ownership of Bakassi Peninsula. Conflict over Bakassi Peninsula was ignited by the repressive la Republique Gendarmes when Yaounde was determined to consolidate its annexation and colonial occupation of British Southern Cameroons.

6) The Abuja Federal High Court Ruling of March 5, 2002 recognised British Southern Cameroons (including Bakassi) as a distinct nation with full rights to self determination and called on the Nigerian Federal Government to prosecute the legitimate claim to independence of British Southern Cameroons at the International Court of Justice, the UN etc to a logical conclusion.

BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS AND NIGERIA

Close and trade relations between the peoples that make up present day Nigeria and British Southern Cameroons predate European colonial era. The UK for purposes of administrative convenience only reinforced and raised these cultural and historical ties when British Southern Cameroons and Nigeria came under one colonial administrative structure for more than four decades inheriting one common language, English; one culture, Anglo Saxon; one legal system, common law and liberal democracy deeply rooted on human equality, dignity, human freedom as their core values. On these core values is the notion of good governance and the rule of law, an enabling environment for freedom of movement, expression, assembly, and freedom of the press as the watch dog for public good.

This explains why for more than four decades Nigeria never attempted annexing and assimilating British Southern Cameroons and in the 1961 plebiscite Nigeria supported the right to self determination of the British Southern Cameroonian people. Isolated cases of human weaknesses notwithstanding, what is worthy of note is that the governmental system in Lagos was open and dynamic giving room for constitutional evolution and democracy which flourished in Nigeria had its positive effects in British Southern Cameroons. No one stood with a gun and a whip to impose on British Southern Cameroons, let alone deny the distinct identity of British Southern Cameroons, a UN trust with the full rights of self existence under international law. Its limited size and population, compared with each of the then three regions of Nigeria, was never put to question.

Consequently the artificial boundary which British Southern Cameroons, like all colonial Africa has come to inherit, was never an obstacle to the Efik people, for example, that are found both in Nigeria’s Cross River State and in Bakassi, British Southern Cameroons. They lived their normal life interacting with one another socially, culturally and economically across the international boundary. This will continue to be with an independent British Southern Cameroons.

That Nigeria has never tried to block British Southern Cameroons right to self determination is not an empty claim. As a democracy and nation committed to the rule of law and respecting international obligations it contributed in the promotion of the right to self determination of British Southern Cameroons for genuine democracy, international cooperation, peace and progress in Africa. Few laudable instances taken by Nigeria within the UN system prove this point:

1. While La Republique du Cameroun, France and all French-speaking Africa, except Mali, after failing to block the vote for British Southern Cameroons independence in the 4th Committee, UNGA, April 19, 1961, walked out, NIGERIA among 50 other nations- U.K., USA, USSR, Ghana, South Africa, Australia etc, overwhelmingly voted 50 “YES”, 2 “NO”, and 12 Abstentions for British Southern Cameroons Independence. This 4th Committee of UNGA declared 1st October 1961 British Southern Cameroons INDEPENDENCE DAY.

2. While La Republique du Cameroun, France and all French-speaking Africa except Mali voted against UNGA Resolution 1608 of April 21, 1961, NIGERIA with the rest of the democratic world voted for a federal union made up of two states (La Republique du Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons) of EQUAL STATUS. Unfortunately this Resolution was never implemented.

THE REIGN OF EVIL

British Southern Cameroons was a democracy where individual freedoms, cultural rights of its peoples were respected, protected and promoted for the governmental system was committed to building a dynamic and strong democratic nation through unity in diversity.

But la Republique du Cameroun nurtured in assimilation is strongly opposed to unity in diversity. It believes in rigid centralisation where the ruler rules and reigns as the imperial monarch. As the incarnation of the state he is intolerant of free speech and dissent. The system imposes uniformity and conformity, policy sustained and implemented by its gun totting gendarmes and multiple spy-network.

With determination to consolidate annexation and colonial occupation of British Southern Cameroons, the people of Bakassi Peninsula who had been far removed from the Yaounde reign of terror by the gendarmes came to taste the bitter truth of the consequences of annexation under Napoleonic constitutionalism in the 1980s. This gave birth to bloody clashes between the occupation forces of La Republique and Nigerian forces. In this Bakassi Peninsula and British Southern Cameroons were victims of circumstances. The Yaounde regime is pushing into Bakassi Peninsula for its abundant natural resources. It is not interested in the wellbeing and prosperity of the people. It will not promote the development of Bakassi Peninsula. Like a vampire, Yaounde is determined, within the shortest possible time, to suck away the huge gas reserves down to Kribi. This explains the huge investments in the construction of the refinery and a modern seaport plus many other huge investments in La Republique du Cameroun. It should be recalled that development of the Victoria natural deep seaport has been abandoned to concentrate on the development of his country with wealth from British Southern Cameroons. This intensification is based on the understanding that the restoration of the statehood of British Southern Cameroons is eminent so they want to plunder as much as possible before it is too late. Needless reminding you of the fact that Victoria town that hosts SONARA (French acronym) is as wretched and abandoned as any other town in British Southern Cameroons. With old dilapidated houses and no tarred streets, it has nothing to pride itself as an oil city. Management of SONARA is in the hands of francaphones. Mundemba, the capital town of Ndian (Division) County, the source of petrol Yaounde exports, does not even have a petrol station. The entire division remains inaccessible, lacking even seasonal earth roads let alone an inch of tarred road. Royalty for petrol which should go either to Victoria City Council or Ndian Councils is paid but to Douala City Council in La Republique du Cameroun. The building of the Gas Refinary plant in Kribi, Republique du Cameroun is an eloquent pointer that Bakassi Peninsula will remain a farm for the Kleptomaniac regime in Yaounde at the detriment of the enslaved people of Bakassi and British Southern Cameroons in general if we do not end annexation and colonial occupation now.

THE SOLUTION

The struggle for British Southern Cameroons freedom and independence is legitimate and it is anchored on international law. It is for the dignity, freedom and progress of the Bakassi people who must be masters of their own destiny. The SCNC struggle is part of the human struggle for a better world in peace based on justice. This message to you is a WAKE UP CLARION CALL for the Bakassi people to join forces with all other British Southern Cameroonians under the banner of the SCNC to end the shackles of annexation, colonial occupation, foreign domination and alien rule and assume their rightful place within the sovereign nations and free peoples of the world. Under a sovereign British Southern Cameroons, indeed the New British Southern Cameroons restored, the Bakassi people will be their own masters. The wealth of Bakassi rather than being plundered for the development of another country (La Republique du Cameroun) and its people, will be used for the equitable development of the people and for their wellbeing while investing adequately for the prosperity of the future generation. We are determined to build a strong, democratic and prosperous nation of equal opportunities for all its citizens.

Once more, we salute the rising nationalistic spirit of the Bakassi people for the independence of their Fatherland, British Southern Cameroons. Together in patriotism and solidarity we will MAKE and not mar.

Long Live the people of Bakassi Peninsula!

Long Live the Right to Self Determination of all oppressed peoples!

Long Live the Solidarity of the British Southern Cameroons people in their struggle for Freedom and Independence!

God bless you and endow you with Solomonic wisdom for our Freedom.

Done in Buea, this 24th Day of October, 2012

For the British Southern Cameroonian People.

NFOR, NGALA NFOR

Acting National Chairman

• by: No fear No favor
• 12 years ago

I want to thank the Nigeria country as hole in fact they have been witness our nations problem from birth til now.
If l look behind before Jonathan came into power, I will say that God arranged for him and the President Jonathan him self could feel this.
Whatever Paul Biya pushing the President of Nigeria to do is working for our good as SCNC because Nigeria government stand as an exhibit a to prove beyond doubt La Republic du Cameroon is truly annexation government.
If only the government of Nigeria can fear God then they will speak the true on our behalf.
One good thing we must know is. any tree that the root is rotting will surely fall down no matter how long the tree pretend to stand.
Love live SCNC
Long live Nigeria
Long live our leaders