Daily Independent (Lagos)
Clifford Thomas
2 July 2009
analysis
Uyo — Daniel Effiong Okon, a fisherman living in Bakassi Peninsula is not happy at the moment. Daily, he mourns like hundreds of others doing their legitimate business in the once Nigerian territory. They live in fear, not knowing what the next moment holds for them. They face the worst of cruelty in the hands of Camerounian security officials who harass, intimidate, rape and sometimes kill them with one aim: to possibly annihilate them for ever.
The Nigerian Bakassi indigenes' story is one that can melt the hardest of hearts. It is also a story that speaks volume of neglect that has somewhat become the trademark of various Nigerian governments.
Okon, narrating the sorry tales of these once peaceful people of the oil rich island in tears, said, "the Camerounians in less than eight months after handing over of Bakassi to them have continued to suffer Nigerians doing legitimate business in the area. We are daily subjected to extreme torture.
They force us to pay taxes and levies that are strange and heavy. They insist that we must pay N250, 000 for custom duties. If you own a boat they estimate to have cost you N700, 000, you are required to pay N350, 000 before you are allowed to use it to catch fish or haul cargo.
From what we know, these activities violate the Green Tree Agreement that facilitated the handing over of Bakassi to Cameroun. Their atrocities are becoming unbearable; they even gang-raped somebody's wife. We tried alerting the whole World, but were cowed into submission. We were intimidated. As civilians, we couldn't have challenged the soldiers."
According to Okon, the officials returned shortly after Nigeria ceded the Peninsula to Cameroun with most unthinkable malice. "If you put any form of log in your house, they charge you N10, 000. If you go to the sea, they attack you with machete, cut your nets, destroy your fishing gears, and destroy boats. At times, after beating you, they direct you to report the incidence to President Umaru Yar'Adua, boasting that the territory has been sold to them and that nothing can happen. Everyday, this brutality goes on unabated," Okon sobbed.
He emphasised: "Anytime they deal mercilessly with our people, often killing them and hiding away the corpses, they boast that nothing will happen because we have been sold to them. We have made passionate appeals to Nigerian authorities to intervene by holding talks with Camerounian authorities to ensure that this brutality stops.
"I think that the Cameroun Consulate officials spoke to the security agencies about their cruelty, so they reduced attacking us in our homes on the island. They now increase their cruelty on the high sea; we are no longer save out there. We need help," he cried.
As the Nigerian Armed Forces prosecutes what is generally referred to as an oil war in the Niger Delta region of the country, Camerounian authorities, it appears, have taken a cue by also staging varying degrees of animosity, hostility and a possible pogrom against Nigerians. Those cut up with intimidation are the original owners of the now ceded oil rich Bakassi Peninsula.
On the archipelago of small islands reputed to be very rich in oil and gas, superficially "donated" to the Republic of Cameroun for reasons the owners still find difficult to understand, bands of Camerounians security personnel and officials of their government have not only molested and harassed Nigerians doing legitimate businesses on the island, but have allegedly instituted a strategy to annihilate these Nigerians from the island.
The Nigerian authorities, which conceded the territory to the Republic of Cameroun, have, however, failed to fulfill the legal duty of care owed Nigerians on the island. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is unambiguous as to the obligation of the government of Nigeria; to wit, that the welfare and security of Nigerians and residents thereof would be guaranteed and protected. The government has either failed or neglected to perform its duties in this regard, pretending not to know that Nigerians on the island are endangered species, critics have observed.
When on October 10, 2002, the Olusegun Obasanjo-led Federal Government surreptitiously surrendered Bakassi Peninsular to the Republic of Cameroun through the decision of the World Court sitting in The Hague, the hope of indigenous fishermen and traders who had for centuries done business on the island to continue their decent un-harassed lifestyle, was dashed. The innocence of the peace-loving Nigerian nationals was eternally shattered.
On June 12, 2006, in far away New York City, United States of America (USA), the Green Tree Agreement was signed, which signalled the finally ceding of the territory to Cameroun. And thus began the journey of death for Nigerians who reside or do business on the island. Countless orphans and widows have emerged, due to the wicked decimation of the Nigerian population on the island.
By virtue of this agreement, Nigeria relinquished sovereignty of the island to the Republic of Cameroun. But Article Three (One) of the Green Tree Agreement, states that; "Cameroun, after the transfer of authority to it by Nigeria guarantees to Nigerian nationals living in the Bakassi Peninsula the exercise of the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in international human rights law and in other relevant provisions of international law."
Sub-section Two of the Article also stated that, "In particular, Cameroun shall: (a) not force Nigerian nationals living in the Bakassi Peninsula to leave the zone or to change their nationality; (b) respect their culture, language and beliefs; (c) respect their rights to continue their agricultural and fishing activities; (d) protect their property and their customary land rights; (e) not levy in any discriminatory manner any taxes and other dues on Nigerian nationals living in the Zone; and, (f) take every necessary measure to protect Nigerian nationals living in the Zone from harassment or harm."
But, few months after, there seem to be a complete negation of the tenets of the agreement as scores of Nigerians have not only been molested, assaulted, harassed, brutalised, but have died in the hands of Cameroonian security officials. Officials and agents of the Camerounian authorities have also levied Nigerians exorbitantly, with a view to either putting them out of business, or forcing them to take up the citizenship of the Republic of Cameroun. There is evidence of tax receipts, levies and dues collected from Nigerians in this regard.
According to President of the Nigerian Development Union (NDU), Abana, in Bakassi Peninsula, Effiong Asuquo, Nigerians are not only groaning under the harsh actions of the Camerounian security personnel, but have had their economic activities grounded by virtue of the tax burden imposed on fishermen and businessmen in the area.
The letter the organisation wrote to President Umaru Yar'Adua, which was copied to several authorities including the Nigerian Senate, House of Representatives, Governors of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, United Nations (UN) office in Nigeria among others stated that: "in outright disregard to (the) June12, 2006 Green Tree Agreement, the Camerounian authorities now embark on illegal and obnoxious taxation of Nigerians.
"Our people are now heavily taxed and levied for crayfish, fish and the likes. These range from N500 and above. Registration of boat is N15, 000 and custom duties for boat and outboard engine are levied between N250, 000 and N350, 000, while each mechanic workshop is paying N40, 000 per annum, among others."
The above, according to the people, are direct violation of the agreement, and have raised questions as to whether the Nigerian government does not owe these law-abiding citizens the duty of protecting them in the face of the blatant abuse of these people, and contravention of international human rights instruments, which protect peoples' rights.
Recalling other bizarre incidents and the ordeals Nigerians suffer in the hands of Camerounian security personnel, Asuquo noted "sometime last year, they engaged in the raping of our women. We raised alarm, but (there was) no one around to make it louder to the world. Early January this year, they also crushed a fishing boat with their gunboat while innocent Nigerians were on their legitimate trade. In the process, about 11 people died without anybody to query them."
These atrocities became intense after the arrival of the District Officer (DO) posted to the island, Mayor Mosongo, who now resides in Abana. Aside threatening Nigerians not to leak the atrocities to the outside world, the inhuman treatment is growing on a daily basis.
Other officials who extort monies from Nigerians have had cause to advise Nigerians to "change their nationality and become Camerounians. This is the only way we can become safe on the island. We have refused to take up their nationality. We are happy to remain Nigerians. But our government has refused to even take up the matter with the Camerounian authorities. And they have also informed us that the island was sold to them; that we should vacate the place for them to bring Camerounians into the zone. What do we do?"
However, no authority within Nigeria has admitted getting letters of these oppressed Nigerians. One of them even stated that they will accept help from anywhere, even from the Nigerian militants. "If the militants come to our rescue, we would deeply appreciate it, since the Nigerian authorities have sold us out to Cameroun. Even the international community appears not to be interested in what the indigenous peoples of Bakassi are going through. So, if the militants become our freedom fighters to redeem us why shouldn't we be grateful to them?"
While calling on United Nations (UN) and other actors in the international community to intervene in the problem, Denis Ante, Secretary General of NDU explained that the Republic of Cameroun should be persuaded to respect in particular, Article Eight (Four) the Green Tree Agreement, which states that; the Republic of Cameroun shall (a) facilitate the exercise of the rights of Nigerian nationals living in the Zone and access by the Nigerian civil authorities to the Nigerian population living in the Zone."
Article Eight (Four) (b) states that Cameroun shall "not apply its customs or immigration laws to Nigerian nationals living in the Zone on their direct return from Nigeria for the purpose of exercising their activities," and (d) states that Republic of Cameroun shall "allow innocent passage in the territorial waters of the Zone to civilian ships sailing under the Nigerian flag, consistent with the provisions of this agreement, to the exclusion of Nigerian warships."
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