Ernest Chinwo
22 June 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
Aqua also said SEMA has assessed the situation and informed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for intervention. Officials of the NEMA on Friday visited the camp, inspected facilities there and at the new Resettlement Village being built for the people before the August 18 handover date of the Southern axis of the Peninsula. The leader of the NEMA team and Zonal Coordinator, South-South of the agency, Mr. Martin Osuwah told THISDAY that the problem of the returnees from Bakassi was not new, but described the current situation as pathetic.
"It is a pathetic situation but we are still handling it. We thank the Local Government and SEMA that they did what was expected of them under the circumstance. By the time NEMA items arrive, we will complement what they have done," he said. He said the fate of the people is a national problem and that Federal Government is doing everything possible to alleviate the sufferings of the people.
He noted that accommodation was still a major problem and said he hoped that in future the country would have emergency camps around the country to handle such situations. A worried Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, Thursday paid an unscheduled visit to the camp and pledged the government's commitment to bring succour to the returnees. He called on the Federal Government through NEMA to assist the state in tackling the problems encountered by the people.
While commending the Bakassi Local Government Council for attending promptly to the refugees who have been camped there for the past four days following, the governor advised the council to liaise with the State Emergency management Agency (SEMA) to ensure effective distribution of relief materials. Imoke said there was need to relocate them to a more accommodating environment because where they are being quartered is a primary school and that school will resume on Monday when teachers call off their strike. He explained that a better and conducive environment was imperative because most of the women amongst them are nursing mothers while very few have put to bed since arrival.
He called on the Chairman of Bakassi Local Government Area, Mr. Saviour Nyong to get a data of all the refugees and their state of origin with the view of authenticating those amongst them that are refugees by status while assuring them of protection from outsiders. Also reacting to the situation, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, who represents the Southern Senatorial Zone of the State including Bakassi, described the situation as "extremely unfortunate."
"I have been trying to make the National Assembly, especially the Senate, to come and see things for themselves. Unless we are very careful, I think the Government of Nigeria is putting in place a recipe for crisis that will haunt us for years to come with the way we are handling the Bakassi problem," he said.
But while the Senate is yet to visit the area, the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, led by its acting Chairman, Hon. Nasiru Sule Garo on Friday visited the Camp. After inspecting the camp, Garo who represents Gwarzo/Kabo Federal Constituency of Kano state told THISDAY that the "situation is very touchy. However, the Government is doing all it can to reduce their suffering."
According to him, "the camp is not very conducive but we have seen a better place where the SEMA officials took us to. It is a better environment which they are clearing for them to be relocated to." He said his Committee was told that it would take about one week for the new camp to be ready, adding that he was satisfied with the map of the new site where the returnees will be moved to.
Asked about the reality of the August 18 pull-out date, Garo said "I think the Federal Government is doing all that is necessary to keep to the Green Tree Agreement. However, while the issue of returnee's rages there are increasing fears that the August 18 pull-out date may still have many hiccups as people in the southern axis to be handed over are poised not to let go of their land.
There are indications that the people of the Southern parts of Bakassi, especially Abana and Atabong are bent on resisting the ceding of their territory due to what they blamed on the inability of the Federal Government to properly relocate and resettle their kith and kins from the northern part.
Although the method they intend to adopt in their planned resistance are not yet known, THISDAY gathered that as at last Thursday, the people from the Southern axis had concluded plans to storm the northern axis to rescue those held captive by the security forces of Cameroon. Former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Bakassi Local Government Council, Mr. Effiong Edet Effiong disclosed the peoples grouse.
"You ceded people without making arrangements for them to be relocated and probably resettled. That is why the people from the Southern axis are on a daily basis saying that Abana and Atabong will not be ceded to anybody. On the strength of this, our people in the Southern axis are fully prepared. Even when the last United Nations Team visited last month on the 12th, our people had to chase them away. And they saw it," he said.
According to him, "You are talking of ceding but there is no adequate preparation for the people to be adequately relocated and resettled. This is why some of us even went to the Federal High Court in Abuja and Calabar. "On the strength of this the people of the southern axis where we have a population of about 100,000 said they will not go to anywhere and their land will not be ceded.
"They must give us a location of choice and we must be a local government of our own. We are not going to join with anybody. Give us our local government with our ten wards, with our 323 villages intact. We want to be alone. It is as simple as that.
"There is another dimension to this. Prince Bola Ajibola who is the head of the Nigerian team in the mixed commission went to the speaker of the House of Representatives and told him that Nigeria decided to cede because of the interest of the country put at $300 billion worth of oil. The papers published it and we have copies of the paper. So you are now ceding human beings because of oil." Effiong said.
With more returnees pouring into the camp and the casualties mounting, and given the underground opposition to the August 18 pull-out date, the stage may be set for another serious round of confrontation in the oil-rich Peninsula.
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