27 December 2008
Lagos — A Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed January 20, 2009 for ruling on whether to stay proceedings in the suit filed by eight Bakassi indigenes against the Federal Government and others.
In the suit filed by Chief Emmanuel Etene and seven others, the plaintiffs are asking the court to enforce the fundamental human rights of the Bakassi indigenes.
The defendants include the National Assembly and governors and governments of Rivers and Cross River States.
Other defendants are the Attorney General of Cross River State, the state House of Assembly and the State Independent National Electoral Commission (SINEC).
Earlier, the Judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, had granted an order that the parties should maintain the status quo, which the Federal Government challenged at the Court of Appeal.
At the resumed hearing of the suit on Thursday, the Federal Government's lawyer, Mr Joe Gazama (SAN), had told the court to proceed with the issue of stay of proceedings and not the application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
Gadzama told the court that there was a pending appeal challenging the earlier ruling of the court that status quo be maintained in the matter and that on account of that, the court could not proceed.
He said because of the urgency of the matter, the court ought to have heard the consolidated applications before August 14, when Bakassi was ceded to the Republic of Cameroon.On the other hand, counsel to all the applicants, Mr Kayode Fasetire, had disagreed with Gadzama, saying he could not be making two contradictory applications at the same time.Fasetire said since he was opposing the jurisdiction of the court, he could not at the same time ask the court to stay proceedings.
But Gadzama noted that the court had the discretion to grant his application and that he had chosen to argue his motion on stay of proceedings first before the motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
It would be recalled that the people of Bakassi had gone to court asking that the remaining part of Bakassi should not be handed over to Cameroon because the area housed their ancestral heritage and resources.
They also pointed out that they were not ready for resettlement area as claimed in some quarters.
In compliance with the 2006 Green Tree Agreement, the Federal Government had on August 14 handed over the Bakassi peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon.
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