‘Bakassi remains our ancestral land’

Dr.Ambrose Akparika, politician and native of Bakassi

—Dr.Ambrose Akparika, politician and native of Bakassi, the area ceded to neighbouring Cameroun last month
By Lawson Heyford, Bakassi/Calabar
President Umaru Yar’Adua has successfully handed over Bakassi to Cameroun; can this decision be upturned in any way?
Or course, the only thing is that there has been fraud in the place. There is this suspicion about the manganese and the gruesome manner of asking the so-called Nigerian nationals to leave Bakassi without any plan or any protection. We are full of suspicions until these matters are cleared. Let the National Assembly unveil the oil interests in Bakassi. We need to see what Cameroun, France, the United Nations, and all of them are doing there. On that note, we will see other interests that are there.
What in your opinion is the implication of ceding the territory of Bakassi to Cameroun?
The problem lies between the Calabar channel and the estuary. The security implication to Nigeria is very grave. You need to see a copy of the Green Tree Agreement and you will see the time allocation from withdrawal to full handing over and then sovereignty. There was a period of joint administration and full administration by the Cameroun . In 1968, then Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who commanded the Biafran Army passed military hard wares in a ship through that channel. That provoked General Gowon to sign the Maroa Declaration with Cameroun to be at that gate. As soon the military hard wares passed through the corridor, the gate was closed. That is the same way Nigerian war ships will be barred from passing through there, except permission is obtained from the Camerounian authorities. It will be dangerous to allow Cameroun to be in charge of that place. This matter cannot be concluded with the Green Tree Agreement because this can cause war in the future. Today, it is possible for people to manouvre, but our youths may not tolerate this in the future. If you say Cameroun has sovereignty, then what happens to the channel? There was a time Cameroun was partitioned between the French, who as at then administered the Central African Republic and Britain that administered Nigeria. Cameroun was administered when Germany lost hold of its colonies. At about 1959, there was a plebiscite, before then South Western Cameroun was annexed into the then Eastern Nigeria . At independence, South Western Cameroun decided to join the other side of Cameroun . At that time, Bakassi people did not vote in the plebiscite. They were not known to be part of Cameroun . This is what clearly shows that Bakassi is in Nigeria. But if Nigeria has lost Bakassi, then it cannot afford to loose the channel. Where are the boundaries? Our suspicion up till now is not just the oil there. As far as 1994, I remember Admiral Mike Akhigbe, the then commander of Eastern naval command who lived in Calabar, took the Efik document to the federal government in preparation for the world court. He is aware of the fact, that Bakassi is full of manganese.
Manganese will be a more serious metal to think about than oil. So if the place contains manganese, it therefore explains why this action of moving people to leave the land for Cameroun . We understand that the territory is to be left for businessmen from Cameroun , from Nigeria , UN and other super powers who know that there are oil and manganese there. Bakassi has a confluence of warm and salt current that attract fishes from all over the Atlantic Ocean. They want to negotiate for themselves.
Are you satisfied with the role played by the Cross River State indigenes in the National Assembly in the course of the conflict over this oil-rich settlement?
I am sure Senator Florence Ita Giwa, our great lady has never told anybody that she is from Bakassi even though she is called Mma Bakassi. She would have told anybody that her father was from Atabong and that when he died he was buried in Atabong West, which is Akwa Ibom State presently. Atabong East is in Bakassi Peninsular . Florence represented Calabar South Senatorial district. So it is possible to represent the district on that basis. But if she claims Bakassi, then she is now a Camerounian and should hold the Camerounian passport. This menace we are seeing can set Nigeria at war with Cameroun. On a whole, I want to believe that the lawmakers might have tried their best, but it is rather unfortunate.
What will the Efiks do now that Bakassi which originally was administered by the Efik Kingdom has been ceded?
Yes, the Efiks will continue to fold their hands and watch. Already, we are divided by what has been a repressive government for a long time now. The military government has been one of repression and the civilian government has followed suit. The greatest instrument of this repression is hunger. Our people are hungry up to the palace of the Obong of Calabar. There is struggle going on there. Our people are divided and you know that government must always side one side. We knew the moment the federal government withdrew its troops from Bakassi that we were going to be abandoned and therefore have to take our faith in our hands. And we had once voiced that we will join our kith and kins in Bakassi to fight for self-determination. But we no more speak in one voice today because we are divided. We have no say over what has happened. This is rather very unfortunate. We must try to bear it.
Do you see the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun as an act of conspiracy against the people of the Niger Delta region?
I will not say that this part of the country witnesses oppression. Perhaps, the minority of Nigeria witness this type of oppression whether they are in Nigeria or not. For instance, you find minority in the North, in the South-South and all that. They are mainly found in the Middle Belt and the South south where you have multiple ethnic groups that are seen as minority in terms of population. The truth about Bakassi is that the place has since been an Efik territory before Nigeria was ever conceived. Long in the 16th or 17th century there had been the history of the Efiks occupying Bakassi. Between the 18th and 19th century, however, there was a treaty at the time the British came in. Our people were organised enough to think that they will seek a protection treaty other than being colonised right away by war or deceit. We had that relationship with the British. Unfortunately, during the partition of Africa, as it were, the Germans occupied Cameroun while the British occupied Nigeria . As at that time, there was this Niger Coast Protectorate, the Oil Rivers Protectorate, which includes the Bakassi as a whole. The Efiks in 1884 signed a protection treaty with the British. It was the Oil Rivers Protectorate that transferred, by annexation of other areas, into what you called the Southern Protectorate of Nigeria . In that machination in about 1913, the British and the Germans entered into a treaty that ceded part of Bakassi to German Cameroun. This was a way of allowing the Germans have access into the South Western part of Cameroun . What we know in our own history is that the Rio de Jey was a non- navigable river which was the boundary of Efik-Bakassi with Cameroun in which time Nigeria was not yet a country. It was the treaty of the Efik kingdom which helped Bakassi to be administered by the British. It was in 1913 that the British allowed the Germans that occupied Cameroun entry into the hinterland South Western part of Cameroun . At that time, the more navigable river that gave them the entry was the Akpayafe River which shifted the boundary of Bakassi Cameroun northward, from the coast and therefore annexed the entire Bakassi. When I talk about Bakassi, I don’t say Bakassi peninsular because the two are different. Bakassi is a wider area than the peninsular that simply juts into the sea. The Akpayefa River is nearer to Akpabuyo than the Rio De Jey where if it were the boundary the entire Bakassi including the peninsular would be clearly part of Nigeria . At this time, about 1913, the drawing of the map between Cameroun and the Niger coast protectorate states – and by this time too, our people were not drawing maps, it was the colonial masters that drew maps. Our people had a traditional way of delineating through natural geographical features like rivers, mountains, trees etc. Those who drew the map crafted the map that brought the boundary of Bakassi and the Oil Rivers Protectorate to Akpayafe River. The Efiks knew their boundaries, so it was not a problem since our people were still living there. There was established government there. Social services were only established by traditional rulers. If you go to Bakassi, you will see that there is a strong similarity of culture there with that of the Efiks. The United Nations saw this. The Ekpe and insignias were there too. This explains why the federal government gave the place to Calabar when there was a conflict of true ownership between Akwa Ibom and Cross River States . Akwa Ibom had claims that could be understandable because it was easier to administer Bakassi from Oron (Akwa Ibom State ). Economic transactions were moving faster between Oron and Bakassi than Akpabuyo and Bakassi. It is like Ikot Offiong, the other side of Cross River was administered by the Development Administration Edict of 1971 by the Esuene administration. Ikot Offiong was administered from Itu (now in Akwa Ibom). But after the creation of Akwa Ibom state, Cross River State still insisted that Ikot Offiong belongs to them despite the river. But those of us who understand will ask why will the Efiks not be in Akwa Ibom State . As far as I understand there are Efiks speaking people of Akwa Ibom State . The District Officer that stationed in Oron administered Bakassi. Bakassi was created as a local government area in 1997 by late General Sani Abacha. It was aimed at covering a vast area including James Town, Tomshot Island ie Ibaka etc. The Efiks discovered James Town which is part of a family in Efik called Cobham. Tomshot Island was an Efik settlement. This process brought about what you now have as Bakassi mainland and the Bakassi peninsular.