From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday set up a committee to consider at the options for a review of the judgement that ceeded the Bakassi Peninsula to the Camerouns and how to take care of the people there.
President Jonathan’s decision was coming few days to the expiration of the appeal period on the case following a long drawn out meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly over the matter in the presidential villa. Nigeria has until October 9 deadline to appeal the ICJ ruling which ceded the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to neighbouring Cameroon was delivered on Oct. 10, 2002.
The meeting which started at 9 p.m. Wednesday night did not end until 2 a.m. Thursday morning. In attendance were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, and other principal officers of the National Assembly. Also in attendance were Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio and his Cross River State counterpart, Liyal Imoke, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of Justice and AGF, Mohammed Adoke. Some leaders and representatives of selected groups from Bakassi, as well as presidential aides, were also in attendance.
Professor Bola Ajibola who spoke to newsmen after the meeting said that by the meeting the federal government has shown candid concerns for its people in Bakassi. Ajibola commended the move to follow the rule of law, dialogue, diplomacy in ensuring that the people are not wrongly dealt with. He expressed, optimism that the committee set up will handle it in a record time. Also speaking, the Cross River Governor Imoke, said that the President has shown great leadership quality by convening the meeting and standing firm on some of the decisions taken.
The Governor, who did not disclose the composition of the committee, said it would work within a specified time. He said Jonathan had shown great leadership quality by convening the meeting and standing firm on some of the decisions taken.
Also speaking, the Senate President, David Mark, said the executive arm of government and the lawmakers were now on the same page on the Bakassi issue. He said they would work together to achieve results. The Senate had last week unanimously passed a resolution mandating the Federal Government to appeal the ICJ judgement on Bakassi because of the new facts which had emerged over the matter.
The motion which gave rise to the resolution was sponsored by Sen. Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi Central). He had argued that it would be wrong for Nigeria not to appeal the judgment because there was still opportunity to do so before the statutory expiration time.
Nke bo eziokwu. http://www.radiobiafralondononline.com
I don’t think I like this fire brigade approach of ours. We had the whole ten years to ourselves to do all these we are trying to do now but nothing was done. Now we are behaving like we have all the time. I hope we are not hypnotize as a nation on this issue all the while. Can any intelligent decision come out this committee that has a short time to work?
Nine days to go, are you sure our people are serious, please try to achieve something there is no time, 9 days is like no time pls FG since you have woken up, our people say whenever you wake up is ur morning but pls do quick no time is left
Whatever, let them try than never. I wish them the best.
It is better for them to try then never try,but they should watch the judas that are among them.
God will bless Hon. Ningi million fold. That,s how a law maker should work in the interest of his nation.
Jonathan and committee… everyday one committte is set up
this people ar not serious, time is runing out and u ar talking about commity. the way ar seen things our president is not willing 2 apeal, is like he is on presure 2 apeal. anyway let see what history and reputation have 4 jonathan. becos hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Israeli prime minister said that there are two way to own a land, is either by conquest or by porches so either way, Nigeria must reclaim Bakassi back because it belongs to Naija, If Cameron wants war we take them to war.
It is not about appealing to court bt about the numbr of evidenc been put on ground before the court..
i feel excited about this move ,eventhough our leaders have exhausted abig deal of time,i believed its better off trying than never.but my questn is, can (ICC) in whatever regard ceded AMERICAN OR FRANCE TERITORY TO ANOTHER COUNTRY?.please let somebody answer me this questn or is NIGERIA a puppet to these international organisation?.
I am particularly happy with this decision of the Jonathan led government to seek for a way out of this issue that has continued to steer us in the face. The first action is a
step in the right direction. That is really what we need at this critical moment at least it will go a long way to dousing tensions
@Anuku, i think u are right my dear. we have ten years to have appealed. while is it now that we are waking up from slumber. I think Obasanjo is a man from west. Late Yardua is also from the north and they all joined hands with Yakubu and sold that land to Cameroon. But, by God’s grace Jonathan is from South and under old Eastern region so, he can still right the wrong did by these evil men.
They is no two ways about it, that pice of land belong to Nigeria. If president Goodluck can not asure Nigeria their right, than a day will come when the phero that know no Joseph will be our president.
Don’t set a committee. Appeal. period.
PRESS STATEMENT BY THE BAKASSI FORUM
THE ANTICS OF MOHAMED ADOKE, ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION IN RESPECT OF REVIEW OF THE BAKASSI CASE AT THE ICJ.
1. For many months now, the people of Cross Rivers in general and Bakassi in particular through their leaders have been seeking audience with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, SAN to discuss the Review of the ICJ judgment as it affects the Bakassi peninsula and present him with the new evidence required for the exercise but he has rebuffed them and refused to give them audience or even examine whatever evidence they have.
2. In view of the recalcitrance of the AGF, efforts were made to seek audience with the President of the country on the issue but the AGF got wind of that and employed the considerable powers of his office to block all access to the President.
3. Finally the attention of the President was brought to the issue and he fixed a meeting to discuss the matter on Wednesday the 3rd day of October 2012 by 9pm. The meeting lasted into the early hours of the next day. In attendance, among others, was the President, the Vice-President, the Senate President, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Judiciary, members of the National Assembly from Cross-Rivers States, the Governors of Cross-Rivers and Akwa Ibom States, resource persons and a few others.
4. At the meeting, the AGF and some people he brought to the meeting vigorously argued against seeking a review making all sorts of wild allegations. However, others argued that there was compelling new evidence not available to the ICJ at the time of the case and which meets the criteria of the ICJ; and that in any case there is an opportunity which should be seized and whether the application for review will eventually succeed or not is another matter entirely. Finally, good sense prevailed and the President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan ordered that Nigeria should apply for a review of the judgment before time expires on Tuesday the 9th day of October 2012. He set up an eight man committee from among those present at the meeting who should meet by 9am of Thursday the 4th day of October to set up a Legal team to prepare and file the processes involved. The President specifically instructed that due to the limited time and the huge amount of work to be done, the core of the Legal team should comprise of the legal and other experts who had been working and researching on behalf of the Bakassi people for several months now with a few others added to them in order that time will not expire before the necessary processes could be filed.
5. To the shock of all those present at the 9am meeting of Thursday the 4th October, the AGF appeared and denied that the President had given any instruction for the case to be revisited, notwithstanding that both he and the others at the meeting were all present when the President gave the directive. His attitude resulted in a shouting match and almost led to fisticuffs between the AGF and a few aggrieved members of the Committee. It was decided that the meeting be adjourned to 9pm same day so those present could go back and get clarification from the Country’s political leaders who were also present when the President gave the order, such as the Vice-President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, etc.
6. The meeting reconvened at 9 pm with the orders of the President that the Bakassi case be revisited at the ICJ confirmed, but the AGF never turned up as agreed. He switched off his phones and has since remained incommunicado.
7. Information obtained is that the AGF has since compromised himself with the Republic of Cameroon on this matter right from when the first agitation to revisit the matter started. He has often been heard to say that it is over his dead body that Nigeria will file an application to review the case.
8. The AGF has been boasting to his inner circle that the President is “weak” and that he and a few close Presidential aides have mastered the art of controlling him and having their way on any issue.
9. The information we have is that the AGF is buying time so that by the time the legal team will be constituted, it will be too late for them to prepare the voluminous processes required and to link up with other experts, including international experts needed for the exercise.
10. The additional information we have is that the AGF has on his own contracted a few of his friends and lackeys to form a legal team. In doing this he has totally ignored the eight-man committee set up by the President charged with constituting the legal team nor has he consulted with the legal team working for the Bakassi people for many months now and who discovered the facts to be presented to the ICJ.
11. The game plan of the AGF are as follows:
(a) Refuse to cooperate with the eight-man committee set up by the President until it is too late for any legal team set up by the committee to prepare and file the required processes within time; or
(b) Use the kangaroo legal team he is setting up all alone without the input of the Bakassi people to either delay until it is too late to file any process or prepare and file a frivolous process which will be struck out by the ICJ as incompetent.
Our Demands:
(i) Immediate dismissal of the AGF for sabotage against the Nigerian State;
(ii) His immediate arrest and investigation by the ICPC;
(iii) The Solicitor-General of the Federation should be directed by the President to immediately and urgently link up with the eight-man committee earlier set up by the President to set up a team to prosecute the application for a Review at the ICJ;
(iv) Every resource and assistance should be made available to the team set up to ensure they lack nothing required. The President should give a directive to all agencies of Government to assist. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is particularly important and should immediately start arranging required visas or diplomatic passports to the Legal Team.
We are for peaceful resolution of all disputes in Nigeria. We believe that the Federal Government already has its hands full with lots of problems including insurgency, terrorism and militancy in many parts of the country. It will be fool-hardy to let the Bakassi issue get out of control, which is sure to happen if the people of that zone are made to understand in no uncertain terms that their very existence is threatened by a country that will give and cede them away so carelessly to another and when an opportunity presents itself to remedy the situation by way of a review of the ICJ judgment (notwithstanding chances of success or failure), the country refuses to exercise such option.
We can only be pushed so far. We await the unfolding of developments on this issue with interest.
JOHN ANI, ESQ.,
CO-ORDINATOR.
bakassiforum@fastmail.fm
05-10-2-12