by crossriverwatch admin
The Executive Chairman of Bakassi Local Government, Dr. Ekpo Ekpo Bassey has said that former Special Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa deceived the nation when she allegedly championed the report that 1800 Nigerians were evicted from their former settlement, manhandled and 11 others killed by Cameroon gendarmes last week.
According to him, Ita Giwa has been one of the major keys to the fraud that has cost Bakassi her ancestral and economic fortunes as a result of the International Court of Justice, ICJ judgement.
Dr. Ekpo Bassey told crossriverwatch that “It is completely untrue that Cameroon military authorities maimed, killed and evicted over 1000 Nigerians from their settlements a fortnight ago. It is all a fabrication by a Sen Florence
Ita Giwa who has been executing a selfish agenda to further her interest. It is unfortunate that she wants to bring the two countries to clash.
“When we got the report that there was that number of displaced Nigerians allegedly forced out from their ‘settlement’ near Cameroon and that they were brought to a primary school compound in Akpabuyo LGA, we naturally had to respond to receive and provide needed reliefs, including foodstuffs, mattresses, blankets, etc. But when we launched investigations few days later to properly ascertain facts about them we were most shocked to discover that nothing of such happened; that they were not even dislodged from Cameroon but hired by Sen Ita-Giwa and her collaborators from nearby villages in Akpabuyo and Bakassi.”
He said the number they found at the camp was not up to 30 and most of those in the camp were people living in the neighborhood who never wanted immediate relief assistance and would desert the camp back to their houses in the night but repopulate when they have information about government officials were coming.
“We have been to the Cameroon consular in Calabar who have vehemently denied that their military personnel neither killed any Nigerians nor ransacked any settlements. We have further made series of findings to ascertain if the settlement at Efut Obot Ikot which was not true”
he said.
Dr Bassey said that his council was never informed by Sen. Ita Giwa not even the management of SEMA neither did the paramount ruler of Bakassi, HRM Etim Edet Okon that they would be going to the camp to donate relief items to the ‘refugees’ until few minutes to the time.
He said when his council tried to visit the ‘refugees’ to properly settle them in a camp in Bakassi as against Akpabuyo LGA, they stoutly resisted, saying they could not take instruction from any other person than Sen. Ita-Giwa.
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