Representatives and dwellers of oil-rich Bakassi peninsula on Tuesday met President Olusegun Obasanjo, expressing support for Nigeria’s rejection of a World Court ruling ceding their territory to Cameroon.
Nigeria last week defied international pressure to accept the October 10 judgement ordering it to cede the disputed peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon.
A group which calls itself ”The Bakassi People’s Self-determination Front” on Tuesday met Obasanjo and lauded his government’s rejection of the ruling.
”We, the people of Bakassi, Nigerian citizens, have lived in our homeland, Bakassi, for many centuries. We do not have any other place to go,” they said in a formal statement they presented to Obasanjo at a closed door meeting.
”We do not share any social, cultural, political, linguistic and economic affinity with the Cameroonians. Neither are we a product of war or conquest by any nation. Bakassi is our God-given land with all its natural resources and will remain so till eternity,” the group added.
”We are part of this indivisible country called Nigeria… the entire people and bona-fide owners of Bakassi peninsula are not bound by the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” they added.
The group, which claims to represent more than 500 000 people on the Bakassi peninsula, described the ICJ ruling as ”an international conspiracy against the people of Bakassi and Nigeria.”
The delegation to Obasanjo included the senator representing Bakassi district, Florence Ita-Giwa, who is also the president of the Front, and two other legislators.
Foreign Minister Sule Lamido met diplomats on Thursday to defend Obasanjo’s decision to reject the World Court verdict, a contravention of the United Nations charter.
”The foreign minister said that endorsing the judgement would mean uprooting an entire race, a culture and a generation which no nation could ever contemplate,” a government statement said.
The 1 000-square-kilometre stretch of swamp, which is home to a Nigerian fishing community guarded by a large military presence, is thought to have significant oil and gas reserves. – Sapa-AFP