by crossriverwatch admin
The blatant ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon and the display of insensitivity and refusal to right the wrong done to the people has been described as a time bomb that is ticking away, awaiting a generation that may get back their right by non peaceful means.
Chairman, Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw made this known in a an address he presented at the occasion of the 2nd Year Anniversary of CrossRiverWatch which held at the Transcorp Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar, Wednesday.
Senator Henshaw who was the chairman of the occasion said that the theme of the anniversary lecture was apt because Cross River and the people of Bakassi in particular have continued to suffer socially, economically and politically as a result of the blatant ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon, maintaining that, like a sore thumb, Bakassi continues to stick out in the conscience of Nigerians hence it is not too late to redress the wrong, as agitation for the righting of such wrong remains undying.
“I am passionate about challenging the act of impunity visited on the people of that peninsula. I remained implacably opposed to the ceding of the territory because of the complete lack of consideration for the democratic rights of the people and the deceitful and unjust manner in which the ceding was carried out.”
Senator Henshaw, who was represented by Prof. Eyo Etim Nyong, stated that those members of the International Community who assisted and orchestrated the ceding of Bakassi are today dropping bombs in some regions of the world in defense of democracy, while our own democracy denies its own people their fundamental right of self-determination, right to choice where one will want to belong in violation of United Nations Conventions.
Here we are in a democracy where individuals donning the cloak of government can act in total disregard for the Constitution of our Federal Republic. “many of the displaced people from Bakassi remain refugees, and if they must fish they must do so with the consent of Cameroon with the dehumanizing controls from the Cameroonian government” adding that Bakassi remains part of Nigeria constitutionally while Cameroon remains in violation of Articles 3 of the Green Tree Agreement with no mechanism for enforcing the rights of the affected people.