Bakassi: The Day After
The various governments in the South south states are obviously in pains concerning how to take care of the over 200,000 indigenes of the Bakassi Peninsular now scattered around the geo-political zone as refugees
By Lawson Heyford, Bakassi/Calabar
When the Court of Appeal in Calabar, Cross River State nullified the election of Governor Liyel Imoke and directed the speaker of the State House of Assembly, Francis Adah to take over as acting governor, little did Adah know that he was in for the unexpected: the Bakassi experience. For the brief period he held sway as acting governor, Adah and the various state governments in the South south were faced with the challenge of coping with the increasing influx of Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs), from Bakassi Peninsular, following the ceding of the oil-rich territory to the Republic of Cameroun.
There are an estimated 206,000 refugees from Bakassi according to two Former chairmen of Bakassi Local Government Area, Emmanuel Etene and Ani Esin. Out of the figure, Cross River State has 27,000 and Akwa Ibom 37,000 displaced persons. Bakassi LGA was created in 1997 as part of the present constitutionally- recognised 774 local government areas in Nigeria . While Bakassi natives from Cross River are in different camps in Akpabuyo, headquarters of Akpabuyo LGA, their counterparts from Akwa Ibom have flooded Oron and other surrounding communities.
The remaining 142,000 internally displaced persons from the other four States of Rivers, Delta, Edo and Bayelsa States are now camped at Ikang in Akpabuyo LGA and the new Bakassi LGA created early this year by the Cross River State Government. The various governments in the South south states have accordingly raised different committees to identify their displaced persons, with a view to rehabilitating them. The step was in furtherance of a letter from the zonal office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, directing the affected states to take urgent steps to visit the camps, and rehabilitate their IDPs. Already, some states including Cross River and Bayelsa have dispatched teams to the camps while Rivers State was expected to send its delegation last week.
Martins Osua, zonal co-ordinator of NEMA told The Source that the assessment of the IDPs from some other states including Akwa Ibom was yet to be carried out, although he confirmed that Akwa Ibom has the greatest number of IDPs. Governor Godswill Akpabio, alarmed at the influx of the IDPs to his state, has cried out to NEMA to urgently send relief materials to cater for indigenes of Akwa Ibom displaced from Northern Bakassi , ceded to Cameroun on August 14, 2008. The same was the situation with  the other five South south state governors.
In response to the out cry, NEMA through its zonal office in the Rivers State capital had dispatched what it calls “relief and income generating materials” to the different camps for the use of the displaced persons. The items were approved by the federal government as contained in a letter ref no. NEMA/RE/206/111/295 date June 2, 2008 and signed by the Director-General of the Agency, Air Vice Marshal Audu Bida (rtd) “as part of rehabilitation process for the IDPs.”
The items valued at over N100 million included 1,200 50kg bags of rice; 600 100kg bags of beans, 600 50kg garri, 200 cartons of Onions, 200 cartons of Milo, 200 bags of 50kg sugar, 100 bags of 25kg salt, 200 20 litres of salt; 200 20 liters of vegetable oil; 200 cartons of bath soap, 2,000 pieces of blankets, 2,000 pieces of wax print, 2,000 pieces of bath towels, 300 pieces of kerosene stove, 10 Almarine A19 utility  canoes powered by Yamaha 40 hp; 100 bundles of stroke 45 deep fishing nets,300 sewing machines and 25 stand cerrioiti equator (Italy) hair dryers.
Besides, the federal government through the Cross River state Government and the Federal Rehabilitation Committee headed by Senator Ita Giwa– herself an indigene of Bakassi– has established a resettlement village located in the New Bakassi LGA, where several buildings comprising units of  one, two and three -bedroom flats as well as school and police stations have been erected.
Osua, NEMA’s zonal co-ordinator, confirmed that the agency was fully involved in the rehabilitation of the displaced persons, but requires more funds to cope with the increasing challenges from the zone.
Although the displaced persons and the indigenes of Bakassi Peninsular still have the next five years to determine whether to transfer themselves to Cameroun or remain in Nigeria as contained in the handover agreement, the people and indeed Nigerians are still counting their loses following the ceding of the oil- rich territory on Thursday, August 14, 2008. Many regard the trading-off of the Island by  former President Olusegun Obasanjo as an act of selfish political interest. Besides using the Bakassi issue as a guinea pig to earn international support for his aborted third term agenda, Obasanjo, it was said, was to use the ceding of the area to buy world support for his ambition to occupy one of the two positions of permanent representative at the United Nations (U.N) Security Council.
The handover was executed under the dictates of the Green Tree Agreement (GTA) entered into by the two neighbouring countries of Nigeria and Cameroun and supervised by the UN. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), at the Hague , Netherlands , had on October 10,2002 ruled that Bakassi be ceded to Cameroun , an initial colony of France, home country of Justice Guitaume who read the lead judgment of the case which lasted several years.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, represented by the chairman, Nigeria/Cameroun Follow-up Commission, Kerian Prendergast, Michael Aondoakaa, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Maurice Kamto, Cameroun's Minister of Justice were among several other dignitaries who witnessed the ceremony which took place in Calabar, rather than Bakassi peninsular itself due to alleged security threat.
Senator Giwa, like several others, was pained by the ceding of Bakassi, and demanded additional five billion naira for the rehabilitation of the IDPs. Giwa’s committee had earlier demanded one billion naira for the same purpose. There is now clamour for the probe of the funding of the rehabilitation project for which Governor Imoke and Giwa are being accused of misappropriation.
The struggle for the ownership of Bakassi dates back to 1913 following the Anglo-German agreement which recognised the Island as part of Camerounian territory. During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970, the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, with the consent of the then Camerounian leader, Ahmadou Ahidjo blocked the Bakassi sea route which the then rebel leader, Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu used as a channel to bring in arms and ammunition to Biafra for the prosecution of the war. The agreement between Gowon and Ahidjo is now being referred to as the “Maroa Declaration”.
The Green Tree Agreement, upon which the Bakassi cessation was executed, had not been ratified by the Nigerian National Assembly which questioned the constitutionality or legality of the August 14, 2008 Calabar project.
Dr. Ambrose Akparika, an astute politician, has accordingly called for the proper investigation of the "business deals" in Calabar. He said instances abound where UN agreements on inter-nations peace had been reneged upon by the affected countries. Perhaps, this might have informed Justice Mohammed Umar of the Abuja High Court granting an injunction restraining the federal government from handing over the territory as planned. That historic judgement was delivered on July 31, 2008– 14 days to the trading -off of Bakassi Peninsular – yet, the exercise was carried out.