Saka Ibrahim
7 August 2008
Birnin Kebbi — Nigeria's former Representative to the United Nations, Alhaji Aminu Wali has faulted the Federal Government over the controversial ceding of the Bakassi peninsular to the Republic of Cameroun, admitting that there was some blunder committed in the process.
But Director General of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), Alhaji Sadiq Marafa Diggi, yesterday defended the ceding of Bakassi Pennisula to Cameroon and confirmed that the Federal Government will hand over the peninsula to Cameroon on August 14.
He said the handing over of Bakassi will however not affect the map of Nigeria ,stressing that the oil rich peninsula was never part of Nigeria based on available legal and historical facts which were made available to the Federal Government.
Ambassador Aminu Wali, who was Nigeria's Representative in the UN when the controversial decision via the ruling of the ICJ in The Hague was taken and told THISDAY in Kano during an interview that some of the actions of the government in the Bakassi case did not reflect the feeling of Nigerians, noting that the national and state assemblies, which ought to have played prominent role in the issue, were left out in the negotiation and decision on Bakassi.
The NBC boss said the handing over of Bakassi will however not affect the map of Nigeria ,stressing that the oil rich peninsula was never part of Nigeria based on available legal and historical facts which were made available to the Federal Government.
Diggi who was speaking at the Annual Conference of Surveyors at the Presidential Lodge , Birnin Kebbi Tuesday disclosed that Nigeria only included Bakassi Peninsula on its map in 1991.
According to him, the World Court gave out the territory based on previous treaties signed by those at the echelon of power in Nigeria .
These, he said, included the treaty of 1913, the 1964 Cairo declaration by Heads of State of African Countries, the opinion of the legal team set up by the Federal Government and the testimony of former World Court Judge, a Nigerian, Chief Justice Teslim Elias at a public lecture that Bakassi Peninsula actually belongs to Cameroon.
He said the creation of Bakassi Local Government by the Federal Government in 1996 further confirmed that the Bakassi Peninsula was never part of Nigeria .
Said Diggi :"I want to seize this opportunity to talk on Bakassi Peninsula and that the Federal Government will be handing it over to Cameroon on August 14, this year. I want to inform this gathering that Bakassi was never part of Nigeria and it was only included in our map in 1991. Other treaties signed by the Federal Government also proved that the place actually belongs to Cameroon ."
But Wali said "We submitted ourselves to the jurisdiction of the court by assuring that whatever decision reached, we would abide by it. But when the decision finally came we lost, Bakassi, simply because we have oil in Bakassi, that was why Bakassi became an issue and since we are talking about the rule of law and the international law, we simply submitted ourselves that we will accept the verdict and therefore, I do not think there is much we can do to salvage the situation because we have to be honorable in our own action".
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I can see you’re interested in this Bakassi issue but if there is any one to fear about war, that will be you and other Cameroonians, pray that Nigeria FG plan no pretence over this issue, so you can only face the Bakassians and not Nigerian earthquake b/c weightier good or bad, there is war in front.
Get your father (Biya Paul) informed.
Aminu Wali should keep quiet. He is one of the persons that have kept Nigeria and Nigerians backward until today. If Bakasi were a part of any of the northern states of Nigeria that a southerner gave off for whatever reason, he and all his ilks in the North will not be speaking the way they are doing, but killing innocent people and setting their properties ablaze. I met a young man from Niger who told me how the northern part of Nigeria is still rewarding them (Niger citizens) for the help they rendered to help defeat Biafra during… [Read Full Text]
It's high time we stop behaving like bunch of idiots and think [positively. Believe me he who's mentioning of war can't even attempt to bear the consequences of war. So if your agenda is war bear with me that your evil and idle intentions will be reflected only to your own shadows. Whynot admit the truth and think whether the displaced would be taking greater care of , or if it means creating charity means then fine. We should not confuse the idea of being patrotic with lunatic ideologies that will benefit only a devilish intended one… [Read Full Text]
One wonders why a person like Alhaji Aminu Wali would argue blindly without availing himself with the facts as contained in the records known to all reasonable individuals. Is Alhaji Aminu Wali pretending not to, at his level, know the details about Bakassi or is he trying to push the country delibately into war with the Cameroons? One will expect Alhaji Aminu Wali, as a former representative of the country to the UN, to have all the parameters of the country without doubt and as such it is expected that his patriotism should not be doubted. With… [Read Full Text]