HRM Etinyin Etim Okon Edet is the Paramount Ruler of Bakassi. He is also the Chairman, Cross River state Council of Chiefs. In this interview with KINGSTON OBUNG, The monarch says the ceding of Bakassi peninsular, displacement of over 300,000 and the travail of Bakassi people would continue to hang on the neck of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for betraying them in international conspiracy. Excerpts
His Majesty Sir, how far has the Cross River State and federal government gone in ameliorating the suffering of displaced Bakassi people 16 years after the area was ceded?
I know that you are aware of series of dialogue, discussions, press conferences and meetings that had taken place over the fate of humans displaced following the October 10, 2002, International Court of Justice judgement on Bakassi. From 2002 till now, nothing has changed in respect of resettlement of the people affected. Like the ghost of Banquo, it will not go away just like that until justice is done.
In 2006, Resettlement Committee was set up by former Governor Donald Duke. His successor Senator Liyel Imoke, in 2008 did the same. There have been many other pseudo/devious committees yet, Bakassi people are still crying out for proper resettlement. The Cross River State Committees set up could not perform due to lack of financial capacity and so we advocated for the setting up of a Presidential Resettlement Committee. Former President Goodluck Jonathan constituted the committee on December 13, 2012, with 13 eminent Nigerians as members.
Did the Committee come up with any recommendation?
Yes it did. The Committee submitted its report on May 23, 2013, with strong recommendations one of which was that government should relocate the people to an environment where they could live comfortably and practice their fishing profession.
What is the level of implementation of those recommendations?
Almost five years after, nothing has been heard about it. Our present situation as a people is highly pathetic as it is very painful for one to forgo his ancestral home in such circumstances as we have found ourselves. We are still hopeful that the federal government would still implement the recommendations.
It should also be noted that the ICJ judgement affected the maritime boundary of Bakassi, as well as the land boundary of the Lake Chad region of Adamawa, Borno, Taraba, etc. In the land area, the federal government had resettled the people. Why is the Bakassi resettlement issue dragging? What offence did we commit?
Is it true that some Bakassi people actually declared sovereignty?
What happened was that in the beginning, after the ICJ judgement, our boys hoisted flag in Abana and declared Bakassi a Republic. Few days after that, we had to call them to order based on the promises former President Olusegun Obasanjo made to us.
We thought that he (Obasanjo) would be sincere in all his promises since he was in charge. He met with us severally at the Villa; I was a regular visitor to the Villa. With the way he talked to us, spoke with me personally, I was very sure and convinced that the Nigerian nation was going to do something and so we had to go back and call those boys to order and halted every action they had in mind. We never supported them in the first place.
Poor People
We look at ourselves as very poor people. How do we take up arms against an authority? The Bible says we should obey those in authority because authority is of God. Some of the boys resisted that move to withdraw and some left the place and that was how that matter collapsed. As we speak, the Green Tree Agreement, GTA, has not been domesticated. If those things are not done, Bakassi could become a stateless society, and at that time we will know what to do. We are citizens of the world and the world should protect us.
When you succeeded in calling the young men to order, what was the response of the then President?
The President himself was very happy about that action. If we had supported them it would have been something else by now. We never knew it was going to be this way because we are not God. Obasanjo promised us that we are going to be resettled in any place of our choice. This was recorded for the sake of posterity. We left Abana with all our institutions intact but we were not given that choice and up till now, we have not been given that choice and the former President is still alive. He was the main actor during the ceding. Maybe he had another intention which was ulterior which we did not know, that ‘look, if we give out Bakassi, this and that will happen,’ but none of those things happened to him. Since none of those things came by in his favour, maybe he decided to forever dump the issue of Bakassi.
Ulterior Motive
The harm has already been done, there was no going back. Maybe if he knew things would not happen to him the way he wanted, he would not have ceded Bakassi. I am sure he may now be regretting his actions. He should tell Nigerians whether it was proper for him to have ceded the area, he told us to vacate Bakassi without any form of compensation and no provision for those who were leaving their homes in Bakassi. The people left Bakassi as refugees and relocated to Ikang area. The Bakassi issue will be hanging on his neck and I pray he should let it off his neck before God calls him. I repeat, Bakassi issue is hanging on Obasanjo’s neck because he never fulfilled any of the things he promised us. He pressurised Florence Ita Giwa to follow him to New York to witness the signing of Green Tree Agreement with a promise that he was going to do something and he has not done it till today so the matter is hanging on his neck.
If the federal government continues to turn its back on you by refusing to implement the recommendations of the committee it set up, would you consider taking up arms as canvassed by a section of your people?
We are not going to war with anybody. The cry of the Bakassi people, which is just like a prayer, is going up to God on daily basis because of this indescribable injustice. Many of our young men, pregnant women and babies have been killed, some tortured and some taken to and dumped in Cameroonian prisons. God will fight this battle in His own way unless the Nigerian government goes back to do what they promised to do.
God will Fight this Battle
Maybe their thinking is that if by tomorrow some of us, including Florence Ita Giwa are no more, that would be the end of Bakassi, but I assure you that God will always fight every iota of injustice no matter how long. We are solidly Nigerians and not Cameroonians. There is no single Cameroon person in the whole of Bakassi.
With the way things are today, what are your worst fears?
What worries me is the fate of the helpless youths, pregnant women, elderly people and children who have been displaced, forgotten and denied access to sound education and healthcare through no fault of their own. Does the federal government think of the increased rate of militancy and sea piracy in the Bakassi area and by extension the Gulf of Guinea, in the near future? I respectfully call on President Muhammadu Buhari, National Assembly, Cross River State House of Assembly and indeed all Nigerians of goodwill to wade into this matter.
