Should Nigeria hand over Bakassi?

So on August 14, 2008, the Federal government will be handing over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula  to Cameroun after all. The Attorney-General of the Federation is expected to formalise the hand-over process based on the March 19, 2004 ruling of the High Court delivered by Justice S.J Adah. 
A federal High Court had earlier issued a directive to forestall the government doing so, but government had consistently said it was helpless and that it had no option than to obey the International Court's directive. 
Last week, the Federal Government formally obtained the Certified True Copy of Justice Adah's ruling which stated in part:...........

"From the further affidavits of the plaintiffs, it is clear that there was a dispute over the boundaries between Nigeria and Cameroun and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered judgment dated 10th October 2002. The part of the territories these plaintiffs have brought before this court was involved in the area litigated upon at the ICJ. Since the issue had been determined at that level, the decision binds all sovereign states that are members of the United Nations and no forum domesticum of member states can assume jurisdiction to review what has been decided by the ICJ." .................
In an attempt to justify the decision to hand over Bakassi Peninsular, President Yar'Adua's defence is that the development was a commitment Nigeria had made to the international community, and the country had a responsibility to keep that commitment. He explained that the welfare of the people of Bakassi was paramount and that they remained bona fide citizens of Nigeria who have found themselves in a territory legally given to another country.
But all this may seem like cold comfort to the people who are directly affected. An estimated 37,000 Nigerians have been displaced from the disputed peninsula. They are currently being resettled at Ibaka in Akwa Ibom State. It is gathered that over N4 billion has been spent resettling them.  Many of them are suffering an identity crisis about where they really belong - Nigeria or Cameroun? 
But as much as there is confusion about where these people belong, their entitlement to good welfare should be the primary concern.
The Bakassi issue has raised a lot of dust ever since it first came to limelight and from all indications, it is unlikely that even with the proposed handing-over, Nigerians will ever come to terms with the situation. Only time will tell.  In effect, the question remains, should Nigeria hand over Bakassi? Is Yar'Adua doing the right thing? What's your take on the issue? What should be done instead? The debate continues.

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Posted: at 13-08-2008 11:42 AM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

yes, hand over

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Posted: at 25-08-2008 10:33 PM (15 years ago) | Hero

hey pals, i thought d land was handed to them

Posted: at 29-08-2008 11:16 PM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

Honestly in my opinion, handling over Bakassi to Cameroon because of the ICJ decision is like going back 200 hundred years in history. These same white people came and divided Africa among themselves, use us and abuse our resources, and when they were done they gave us "independence". Now they are coming back to decide which land belong to whom. Cant Africans settle land dispute among themselves as they did long before the coming of the pale skin white man?, is there nothing like e referendum, where you let the people who actually reside on that portion of land decide by themselves which country they will belong to?
I don't get it, should Africa always be the only place that the ICJ decisions will be enforced. Russia has just decided that a part of Georgia should become their territory and one reason they gave is because the people occupying there want to Russians, where is the ICJ? they are on vacation.
Whatever the President decide to do with Bakassi and whatever past Presidents have done, they should remember that generations to come will look back and say of a truth these presidents were not great

Posted: at 31-08-2008 06:41 PM (15 years ago) | Newbie

BAKASSI HAS BEEN HANDED OVER TO CAMEROON,,, CHIKENA!!!!
OLD TOPIC.WETIN UNA GO DO.? NOTHING

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Posted: at 4-09-2008 03:45 AM (15 years ago) | Hero