Cameroon Annexe Obudu Ranch Resort, 20 Cross River Villages in Boundary Demarcation

by crossriverwatch admin

Cameroon, Nigeria’s neighbor to the east along with officials from the United Nations is presently carrying out a demarcation of its border with Nigeria and has annexed the Obudu Ranch Resort along with over twenty other Cross River villages.

The team which is currently carrying out the demarcation exercise has no official from the Cross River State Government and has allegedly shifted some of the 1913 Anglo- German beacons and effectively included Obudu, Boki, Ikom and Obanlikwu, home of the famous Obudu Ranch Resort in Cameroon.

A petition by the village head of Danare, Chief K K Mbia and two other community leaders to the Cross River State governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, said the retracing of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon as contained in the Green Tree Agreement signed by Nigeria’s President at the time, General Obasanjo and Mr. Paul Biya of Cameroon is illegally being turned into boundary demarcation.

According to the Village Head, the surveyors who are carrying out the retracing of the boundary “Started the job in the axis of the boundary from pillar 113 which is some metres away from the primary school Danare 1 in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State and effort at locating pillar 113 A which distance is 6 miles has proved abortive”.

Chief Mbia and other community leaders said consequent upon the inability of the surveyors to locate 113 A beacon, the surveyors have taken the path of demarcation from pillar 113 upward “Contrary to retracing of boundary as specified in the Green Tree Agreement entered by Nigeria and Cameroon and by this they have strayed and are demarcating a new boundary contrary to what is specified in the Agreement”.

The chief told the governor that by demarcating the border from pillar 113, the surveyors are demarcating the border anew and consequent upon this, “Nigeria will suffer loss of not only thousands of kilometers of age long cash crop land but also more than twenty communities stretching through Obudu, Boki, Obanlikwu and Ikom”.

The community leaders called on the government to intervene immediately and stop the illegal demarcation exercise and the surveyors made to study the 1913 map that spelt out the Anglo- German Agreement.

A government official who still prefers anonymity told CrossRiverWatch that government is aware of what is going on “But we are surprised that the people are here now; actually we were expecting them in later in February”.

Another government source who also preferred to stay anonymous because he is not authorized to speak on the matter told our reporter that: “They people are actually not on site this week but the state government having got the report of what transpired is making effort to get them back to location to ensure the right thing is done.”

- by: Friday Aruku Odey
- 11 years ago
I am totally shocked and dismayed that boundary adjustment exercise is going on between two countries and Nigeria government is saying they are aware that adjustment was going to be carried out and yet Nigeria had no representative there. The Nigerians indigens had to alert the CRS government of what is being done by UN officials. How come Cameroon is aware that the UN officials are there. UN that have no clue where the point of adjustment will start from can not just walked into an area they are not familiar with and pick a point and start marking. Nigeria government must stop that exercise ASAP until we have our personnel on ground that are knowledgeable of the changes and paper work to show the agreed starting point. Is the government not aware that the UN can not just force existing citizens to join another country ? Why is it that Nigerian government can never get her priority straightened ? Have we not learn from the Bakasi problems ?
- - by: Daddy
  - 11 years ago
  This Team includes Nigerian Surveyors and the German Map does not lie
- by: Kwaz
- 11 years ago
Please nobody should trivialize this matter, for I know this area so well to tell u what is about to happen. Cameroon is one country that has taken advantage of nigeria for so much and too long. With their French collaborators, they are about to take further advantage of the laxity of leadership in Nigeria. Countries all over the world prefer to go to war over threat to the smallest of their territories. But not so with Nigeria of today, except maybe Aso Rock itelf is threatened! This is shameful. What Obj simply signed away as Bakasi Peninsula was what even Shagari, a complete civilan president deployed troops to protect in the 80’s. Now having won from the southeern flank, the Camerounians are moving north to where land bounddaries are even clearly defined.The calculation is that while the Fedderal government will be busy with politics at the centre, another chunk of the country’ll be annexed. Their target is ecomically viable territories – the oil-rich Bakassi, the International Tourism hub of Obudu and the National Park forest of Boki, the only remainder of it kind in West Africa which earns Carbon Credit. Mind you these areas are stretchedd hundreds of kilometers apart, they are not by means close to Bakasi which they have alreay been dashed. It is like having ceded a part of Lagos to Benin Republic, the Beninois now move up to claim Idiroko, parts of Ibadan, then up to Kainji to claim even the Dam! I call on all Nigerians to rise up to this new challenge facing our country under the present civilian dispensation. Obasanjo did what he did with Bakassi for no other reason than a selfish ambition to move up the scale on international politics. There was no pressure from any quarter to do it. Not even Israel left Gaza or the Golan Heights just like that when its interests were at stake, not withstanding UN verdict. At that time there were even local court judgemments which he (Obj) refused to obey.
At this point I think the Camerounians have crossed the red line. I trust that the Cross Riverians on this newly encroached territories have learnt their lessons from Bakassi. Very soon they will only need a back-up from Nigerian Troops (if Army will), for sure they will defend themselves, where government has failed. When that happens, I call on other Nigerians to give them all their support. If we have a serious government, by now I expect to see Nigerian Combat planes making manoevres over that area as they used to do to sound a warning to Cameroun. Enough is enough!!
- by: Daddy
- 11 years ago
This Team includes Nigerian Officials, and the German Map does not lie
- by: Viktor
- 11 years ago
They got Bakassi cheap, so …..
- by: Ev
- 11 years ago
Sometimes, i wonder what exactly is wrong with this State of ours. Nothing seems to be working these days. I’m shocked to find out that the Calabar-Itu highway is still in bad shape. It’s a big shame that such an important road that leads into the State and into Calabar has been left unattended to for years now. I wonder if members of the State Executive Council do not travel through that route and so cannot inform the Governor of the deplorable state of the road if he supposedly has no knowledge of it. Back to the matter on Cameroon, it’s such a shame that we allow people, indeed outsiders, to steal things that rightfully belong to us and all we do is sit down and watch them. The oil wells went away, so did Bakassi, and now Local Government Areas. In fact, the leadership of this State has to be called to order. If we lose everything to outsiders, what then will we have as ours again? I have noticed with dismay the recent trend…nothing really attracts people to Calabar again except the Carnival. Nothing really attracts people to Cross River State again like before. What has gone wrong? It appears Cross River is slowly losing it’s place in the national and international scene. Other States are making waves and we are just watching…doing nothing. The wonderful infrastructural development we used to have during Donald Duke’s tenure is no more. What then do we have? Something needs to be done fast.
- by: Harry Jones
- 11 years ago
Guys don’t get carried away by your ignorance. The UN does not favor A or B. The UN workers are just doing their job and don’t consult individuals or LGAs.