[size=15pt]Nigerians Flee Bakassi, As Handover Date Approaches[/size]

As the August 14 hand over date of the Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroonian government approaches, many Nigerians are relocating to Calabar and Ikang area of Cross River State.
"If there were Nigerians still in the Peninsular, as at Friday August 1, they cannot be more than five," a boat operator in Ikang, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar.
The boat operator, Mr Ime Ekpo, said at the Ikang Jetty, in New Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State, the last set of Nigerians relocated from the disputed area during the week.
This is as Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday added its voice to the protest against planned handover of the Pennisula to Cameroon without plebiscite.
Also, Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Honourable Mohamed Ali Ndume, has warned the Presidency to handle the issue of the handing over of Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon with caution, insisting that the Green Tree Treaty must be ratified by the National Assembly.
Ekpo said "the pastor in our Church, who was among those who refused to leave the area, eventually came out early this week, leading all those who remained behind with him," he said.
He declined to ferry a NAN correspondent who insisted on going to Abana, former headquarters of Bakassi Council area, on the ground that he could not convey the journalist alone.
"There are no more people living in Abana, they have all come back to Ikang and Akpabuyo and even to Calabar, and no more business there. We do not usually have passengers going there anymore and I cannot carry you alone to the place,"he explained.
A statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, noted that "we predicate our submission on the fact that the Green Tree Agreement was a self-serving agreement, borne out of the desire of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo to gain international recognition in his bid for life presidency."
CNPP also said, "we are constrained to agree that President Umaru Yar'Adua as a beneficiary of the failure of third term, cannot consign this agreement to the dust bin of history and allow the people of Bakassi and other parts of Nigeria ceded, to benefit from the exit of Obasanjo and consequently the fall of third Term.
It said it views the argument of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, that Nigeria must obey the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as "paradoxical.
"Paradoxical in the sense that the same government is in league with those who support President Omar Bashir to disobey the order of the International Criminal Court, indicting Omar Bashir, on the Darfur crisis, despite the culpability of Bashir in the Darfur inferno that had consumed many Nigerian troops," CNPP stated.
Ndume who spoke against the background of the Presidency insisting that there is no going back on the August 14 handing over date, said even as the House passed a motion to the effect that the Treaty should be sent to the House for ratification a court of competent jurisdiction has equally ruled that the hand over should be suspended for now.

source:http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=118724