Kingsley Nwezeh And
18 August 2008
Lagos Damilola Oyedele in Abuja — The Federal Government has maintained that Virgin Nigeria Airline does not have any valid legal claim to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal as argued by the airline.
The government has also shed more light on last Thursday's handover of the disputed Bakassi Peninsula by Nigeria to Cameroon , insisting that the Nigerian constitution was not breached by that action._In a chat with newsmen in Abuja at the weekend, presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, said Virgin Nigeria remains barred from operating domestic flights from the international terminal. According to government, the airline lacked a valid legal claim as the agreement contracted with the former Minister of Aviation, Mallam Isa Yuguda, on behalf of the Federal Government, does not include the use of the international terminal._Mr. Adeniyi advised the operators to "simply obey directives" and move to the MMA2 terminal where other airlines are operating instead of embarking on any "unnecessary propaganda".
Adeniyi added that letter written by the Executive Chairman, Sir Richard Branson, which was outside the memorandum of mutual undertaking on the establishment of a flag carrier between the Federal Government and Virgin Airline and endorsed by the former minister of aviation cannot be binding on the country.
"One of the undertakings signed by Virgin Airlines is that it would not do or permit to be done anything which would violate Nigerian laws and regulations, including laws and regulations relating to matters of strategic security and economic interest of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
"You now ask yourself, what then is the basis of all the noise the airline is making? One major challenge for this administration is the fact that over the years, public officials hardly bothered about the interest of our people when entering into contracts and agreements on behalf of the federal government.
"That is why our oil industry remains what it is today since most of the contracts were written by the multinational oil companies to the detriment of the nation and our officials merely signed. But with President Yar'Adua many things are going to change and he will use the law as his weapon. Because he is resolved that under his watch, while we want foreign investment and would respect the sanctity of legally-binding contracts, he will not allow a situation in which our country continues to be short changed in business dealings.
"The truth is that Virgin has no valid legal claim to operate from the international airport terminal and no amount of propaganda and campaign will work. The management of the airlines just have to obey the Federal Government's order by moving their operations to where others are operating from. It is as simple as that," he said.
On Bakassi, he said there was no breach of the 1999 Constitution in the handover of the peninsula to Cameroon.
He also said the notion held in some quarters that Bakassi Local Government no longer exists and that the country now has 773 local councils was wrong.
"There are some false assumptions on Bakassi. The first is that the local government no longer exists and that there are now 773 councils in Nigeria and on that I have read some commentaries suggesting that there is a breach of the Constitution. That is not true because only some territories were ceded to Cameroon so Bakassi Local Government still exists which means the Constitutional issue does not arise," he said.
The House of Represent-atives had said last Thursday that the Bakassi handover violated the 1999 Constitution.
Former Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee, Hon. Eziuche Ubani, who spoke on behalf of the House, said the Green Tree Agreement (GTA) signed between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Paul Biya of Cameroon , ceding the territory to Cameroon , was not ratified by the National Assembly as demanded by the constitution. Adeniyi also spoke about what he called the insinuation that the ceded territory was oil-rich, describing it as a great illusion, "which Cameroon itself is aware of as they did not get what they wanted with respect to the oil-rich off shore area.
"So economically, Nigeria lost pretty little but losing any piece of land is not always palatable so in that respect it is painful."
According to Adeniyi, "another assumption is that the Federal government ceded the territory to please some Western powers. Nothing could be more ridiculous. Many have chosen to conveniently forget that this is an issue that involved litigation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after which there were series of diplomatic engagements at the highest international level before an agreement was reached.
"The Green Tree Agre-ement (GTA), which President Olusegun Obasanjo signed and for which he should be commended actually gave more territories to Nigeria than we lost but of course the Bakassi issue tends to obscure all that. I have also read some commentators saying the deal was brokered so that France would not invade Nigeria. That must be a poor reading of the contemporary international politics where every country would consider its strategic interests in situations like this.
"The former President did not negotiate out of fear on the issue of Bakassi, it was out of responsible statesmanship having assured the whole world that our country would abide by the ICJ ruling. I am aware France has more interest in Nigeria than in Cameroon and as a student of international politics, I do not see them jeopardising that strategic partnership for some sentimental factor of colonial history. so there was no fear of France on the matter."
Adeniyi said what happened last Thursday in Bakassi was the conclusion of the exchange of territories across the country "in which we won more than we lost.
"But because Bakassi was the focal point, that has quite naturally become the only issue."
He said, however, that what President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua was concerned about was the welfare of the people of Bakassi, stating that the President would do everything possible to ensure the people were well taken care of.
Six years after the judgment of the ICJ ceding the disputed peninsula to Cameroon , Nigeria last Thursday formally handed over the area to the country.
The GTA which transferred the peninsula to Cameroon was signed between former President Obasanjo and President Biya in New York on June 12, 2006.
And like the Senate, the House had said the handover of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon by President Yar'Adua violated the 1999 Constitution.
Ubani, who spoke with journalists in Abuja on behalf of the House, warned that the good boy attitude which he claimed Nigeria displayed with the transfer does not pay in international politics.
He said: "In the international scene, the good boy attitude is never rewarded. So the decision of the Yar'Adua administration to cede and hand over Bakassi, to prove whatever is very annoying and so disappointing. So many Nigerians are saying so."
Ubani doubted if the government had taken proper stock of the strategic loss to the country from that action.
"Talk about military for instance, the military high command is against the handover of Bakassi and they are not coming out to say so. They are just being political and diplomatic about it. What they have said so far showed that they are not in support of the action and has far obvious implications. If the Chief of Defence Staff could come out to tell the Senate committee that they were never consulted, I mean that is something for the President to have listened to," he had said.
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