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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? (34692 Views)
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Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by 1shortblackboy: 1:23pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
I don't know but Nigeria was foolish for submitting itself to the jurisdiction of the international court over that land 2 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by NtoAkwaIbom(m): 1:23pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
naaa... the period of appeal has lapsed, as one from the area we used to explore all legal angles of it.. and the only way to get it back is by conquest which is disavowed in international làw |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by APCNig: 1:23pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
No way. The people's general will not interfere in family affairs. It's a PDP extended family issue. Go and meet your PDP presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Goatluck Jonathan to help you resolve or retrieve it. Even the US combined with Russian and China cannot take a 10 metres square of Nigeria's land from Buhari without blood flowing on either side. The useless PDP presidents gave out Bakassi without shooting a bullet. 3 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by adoyi8: 1:23pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
I am not enthusiastic about retrieving lands and adding to the one the Fulanis are currently ruling. I dont think Bakassi have land for ruga or money to launch amotekun. |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Switinthemiddle(m): 1:24pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
can a. 69 year old grandma go back to being a virgin |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Switinthemiddle(m): 1:26pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
1shortblackboy:. what could they have done the world sided with Cameroon |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nobody: 1:26pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
Bakassi residents should stay with Cameroon for now for their own good (welfare). It is not sure Nigeria will remain a united nation. If Nigeria eventually breaks, they will regret ever leaving Cameroon. 2 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by NaijaOlosho(f): 1:26pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
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Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Openbusiness: 1:27pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
Yes! Through war ![]() 1 Like |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by adoyi8: 1:28pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
I am not enthusiastic about retrieving lands and adding to the one the Fulanis are currently ruling. I dont think Bakassi have land for ruga or money to launch amotekun. 1 Like |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by equalgarden(m): 1:29pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
What is bakasi in all problems facing black people all over the world ![]() |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Starhearts: 1:29pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
tsdarkside: Keep quiet ![]() U knw nothing, l swear 3 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nicklaus619(m): 1:29pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
earthgirl: Lols are you in my head, ? you literally took the words outa my mouth ![]() |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Toosure70: 1:30pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
Yes now, but expect all these world leaders country to test their missiles on Nigeria. Na international politics |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nobody: 1:30pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
tsdarkside: Oga tell us why nigeria gave away bakassi peninsula to Cameroon or shut up 2 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by frowland(m): 1:30pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
obowo69: I was nearly deceived with this war time stories until I emancipated myself. Goodluck with you and whoever will believe this hogwash. You mean a secret is somewhere in a drawer, waiting to be exposed? Haha! 1 Like |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by APCNig: 1:30pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
Pistotita: Definitely you do not have a common black and white television in your house, if you do, then you will know that Cameroon has already exploded but Paul Biya is just using blanket to cover the explosion. Let's see how long he can curtail the explosion. 3 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by kolaish(m): 1:31pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
LET THE SLEEPING DOG LIE, BAKASSI HAS NEVER BEEN ON THE MAP OF NIGERIA. IT DOES NOT BELONG TO NIGERIA. IF ANYBODY HAS ANY DOUBT ABOUT THIS, HE/SHE SHOULD FIRST OF ALL GO AND DO HIS RESEARCH BEFORE MAKING ANY COMMENT PLEASE. 4 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nobody: 1:31pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
meavox: Yea, that's why y have never built anything in ur life, u have only been destroying things |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Kirinwa: 1:32pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
obowo69: Of course genocide was committed no matter how hard it was covered: its like pregnancy. With probably the fact that North was from other countries like Niger, knowing how nomads do travel, its plausible. For that land to be released like that, it wasn't a bluff. 1 Like |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Patrioticman007(m): 1:33pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
Yes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Starhearts: 1:33pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
giftedben: U deserve a bottle of whiskey ![]() I love ur analysis ![]() IPOB pple over to u, argue with ur keypads 1 Like |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nobody: 1:33pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
kettykings:oil rich. Who is drilling oil or producing there as at now ![]()
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Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by equalgarden(m): 1:33pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
equalgarden:Nigeria is the mother and father of all black nations world wide, we need to start thinking how to unites black people in this world. If black people can see more than tribes, ethnics and religions ![]() 2 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by mamaafrik(m): 1:33pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
It cannot be gotten back on good face but if another problem like bokoharam emanates from that angle,they will sell it back. |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nobody: 1:33pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
tck2000: Tell us why it was given away 5 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Nobody: 1:34pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
obowo69: tribalmall: Armaggedon: N.B I am not here to argue for or against Biafra or to label Gowon a good or bad leader....just to correct some mistakes... Gowon and Bakassi By Dr. Nowa Omoigui To the Editor, Guardian Newspapers, Lagos, Nigeria Sir In a recent article titled "Gowon, the Queen and the stolen bronze", Reuben Abati raised interesting questions about the alleged expropriation of an original piece of Benin artwork from the National museum by General Gowon enroute to Britain in 1973 for a State trip. I understand the sentiment he projected and agree with the moral outrage over the museum matter. However, I was bothered by his attempt to link the issue of the Benin Bronze gift to the Bakassi question. A journalist of Abati's stature ought to be much more familiar with the truth about the Bakassi issue. The media should refrain from sensational publications which can smear people unnecessarily and/or push government into an untenable domestic political corner in dealing with complex external affairs issues. Again and again, over the years (since the July 1975 coup) this false story has been peddled around that Gowon gave away Bakassi to Cameroun as a gift. It is one of the bigger lies of the modern Nigerian generation - a lie which has affected Nigeria's approach over the years to the Bakassi dispute and has even unnecessarily cost the lives of Nigerian soldiers. Briefly, let me point out that: 1. Treaties between Britain and Germany dating back to 1913, official Nigerian regional border delineation (eg The Legal Notice No. 126 of 1954), as well as British-Nigerian and Nigerian-Cameroun exchange of diplomatic notes (1960-2) all clarified the matter LONG BEFORE Gowon ever came to power in 1966. 2. Administrative maps of Nigeria have continued to reflect these realities, showing Bakassi inside Cameroun, except the few that were reprinted in 1991 (during the Babangida/Aikhomu regime) to try to reinvent the wheel. A courtesy visit to most Government ministries in Nigeria, which often pin Nigerian maps up on walls, will confirm this observation. Pay particular attention to the South-east corner and notice where the maps claim Bakassi is. 3. During the Cameroon/Nigeria plebiscite of 1961, 21 polling stations were physically located in the Bakassi peninsula. UN records clearly show that approximately 73% of the people living there AT THAT TIME voted NOT to be administered under independent Nigeria. This is fairly easy to confirm either from the UN itself or Ambassador BA Clark who was Deputy Permanent Secretary External Affairs in 1970/71. The precise number of polling booths and their exact locations is a matter of public record. It is fair to assume that the vote was binding on future generations in the area. The question of whether it could have been different - as was the case with Northern Cameroons - is one of the more fascinating but unexamined aspects of Nigeria's history from that period. Whether the vote meant that the people of Southern Cameroons should form their own country or be fused with French Cameroun is another curious angle that has recently surfaced. 4. General Gowon was guided in his approach to the Nigeria-Cameroun border question by a formal legal opinion prepared in 1970 by the late Teslim Elias, Nigeria's former Attorney General and, incidentally, later a Judge of the ICJ. Elias prepared a well thought out formal brief for then Commissioner for External Affairs, Okoi Arikpo, (who was of South Eastern State origin), in which he clearly stated that Nigeria had no legal claim to the Bakassi peninsula. Elias also advised that given the legal and historical precedents, as well as the good relations between both countries, and the role Cameroun played during the civil war, it was not wise, fair nor right for Nigeria to press the issue. This document is available. 5. In 1969, even before the Elias opinion - and long before Gowon ever met with Ahidjo to discuss the border, the office of the Geographer, US State Department, came to the same conclusion about the Nigeria-Cameroun border. This document is also available. 6. Although some indigenes of the area, local politicians and misguided national commentators have raised dust over the years, the real dispute between Nigeria and Cameroun was not originally about the shrimp rich Bakassi peninsula per se. As a consequence of language in the original Anglo-German Treaty, the dispute was about the OFFSHORE border and precise delineation of the APPROACH CHANNEL to the Calabar Port. Why? Because the treaty stated that the NAVIGABLE portion of the channel was to lie wholly within Nigeria while the peninsula itself was to lie wholly within Cameroun - even if the Akpa Yafe river was to change its course and flow into the Rio del Rey. The issue, therefore, was to define the navigable channel. This became more sensitive when oil was discovered offshore. 7. General Gowon relied on experts from the Federal Survey Department in the Ministry of Works on what the offshore delineation of the approach channel to the Calabar Estuary should be - up to the 3-mile limit. The Nigerian civil servant (not Gowon) who actually decided the offshore eastern border of the navigable channel - which formed the basis of what became known as the Coker-Ngo line - was Chief R. Oluwole Coker, Director of Federal Surveys. Accompanied by a group of civil servants from then South Eastern (later Cross-River) State, including SJ King who had previously served as Consul General in the Nigerian mission at Buea, the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary for Justice of the South Eastern State (Mr. Ukot) at that time was party to it and cosigned the declaration. It is not, however, clear whether the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works, Gray Longe, or the Federal Commissioner, Femi Okunnu, were aware of the details. The Governor of the South Eastern State, Col. UJ Esuene was certainly in the delegation, as was Colonel Musa Usman of the North Eastern State. Mr. U Ekaette, now Secretary to the Obasanjo government, was also there as one of Gowon's key assistants. Surveyor Adeleye was in attendance. What Gowon and Ahidjo did was to sign on either side of the Coker-Ngo line. When Ahidjo asked Gowon to draw the line, Gowon in turn turned to Chief Coker and asked him to define it. Gowon did not order anyone to give anything away to Cameroun, nor did he do so himself. The specifics of this line were certainly previously fiercely debated internally within the Survey Department at a technical level, and there were some who felt it ought to have been further toward the Cameroun side, but it is wrong to suggest that General Yakubu Gowon "gave away Bakassi". The issue of Bakassi itself was sealed by the Ministry of Justice legal opinion, supported by Okoi Arikpo of External Affairs, based on decades of legal and political precedent. If the people of the Bakassi peninsula had either boycotted the Cameroon plebiscite altogether or had voted along with the rest of Southern Cameroons to stay in Nigeria, the matter would have been much less complicated - although it could still have been an internal border problem between states. To compound issues, the late Alhaji Malabu, one time Nigerian Ambassador to Cameroun used to say some people in the area often paid taxes to both countries. There are unconfirmed reports that some of the local residents also kept taking part in voter registration and elections in Nigeria AFTER voting overwelmingly to leave! 8. In reaching an agreement with Ahidjo about the Coker-Ngo "navigable channel" border, the question of whether Gowon had the authority to do so without subsequent ratification by the SMC was also the subject of another legal opinion by the Nigerian Ministry of Justice of that era. Gowon's authority (as confirmed by the Justice Ministry) derived from a decree originally promulgated by the Ironsi regime. It will be recalled that the Supreme Military Council - under this decree - was only an advisory body to the Head of State. Neither Ironsi nor Gowon after him required legal ratification for anything from the SMC. This is why, for example, Ironsi was able to promulgate the unification decree of 1966 without formal SMC approval. Gowon's powers after July 29, 1966, (in continuation of Ironsi's powers) were the subject of discussions at Aburi in January 1967, and led to the controversial Decree No. 8 of 1967. This decree was never, however, formally codified because Ojukwu rejected it in the run down to the outbreak of the civil war in July 1967. It will be recalled that in late May 1967 Gowon declared a State of Emergency and assumed full powers after the Ojukwu-appointed Eastern Regional Assembly mandated Ojukwu to declare secession. In 1969, after Colonel Obasanjo refused to cooperate with Colonel Muhammed to delay the end of the civil war in order to force Gowon to "share power" with other officers, there was no further opportunity (or interest) after the war to change the powers assumed in the original Ironsi decree. The decree and Gowon's "supreme commander" like legal status was thus in effect when the Nigerian-Cameroun Boundary commission was doing its work in the early seventies. 9. When Brigadier Muhammed came to power in July 1975 he initially wanted to retain this "sole power" arrangement but was overruled by the middle ranking officers (Yar'Adua, Garba, Abdul Mohammed, Taiwo etc) who carried out the coup. This is why he had to agree to share power with Brigadiers Obasanjo and Danjuma in a trioka. This is also why the new decree reconstituting the new SMC in 1975 (after Gowon was overthrown) enhanced the authority of the SMC and made it more than an advisory council. It was in the context of this newly enhanced power for the post-July 1975 SMC that questions were raised (retrospectively) about Gowon's authority to sign the Coker- Ngo line. However, AT THE TIME he did, Gowon was well within his legal powers no matter what we may feel today. However, whether the civil servants who advised him to accept the precise location of the Coker-Ngo line, advised appropriately, is a different issue. Whether ANY military government can sign ANY agreement whatsoever for the country is another. The latter is a fundamental point that affects many laws, agreements and treaties signed by Nigerian governments during the long period of military rule. 10. The sensitive question of arbitrary colonial borders in Africa affects many countries. There are Yoruba speaking communities which are split between Nigerian and Benin republic. There are Ewe speaking communities split between Ghana and Togo. The question of communities split between Nigeria and Cameroun is unfortunate but not unique. Nigeria, in ratifying instruments which established the OAU in 1963, agreed to respect the inviolability of colonial borders. This was reflected in the 1964 OAU Cairo Declaration on Border Disputes among African States. 11. Very interestingly, it came to light during the Buhari regime that several years AFTER Gowon left office the precise location of the Coker-Ngo line and the navigation beacons for approaching the Calabar Estuary were shifted even further westwards toward Nigeria making our case worse. This shift (which was done either during the Obasanjo or Shagari regimes) may have been done without authority or proper research by the Nigerian Ports Authority - another consequence of the frequent turn-overs of governments in Nigeria and lack of collaboration between various pre and post-coup regimes. Or perhaps it was done to create a reason to award a contract to dredge the area. Who knows? 12. I humbly advise Reuben Abati (and others) to review original documents or talk directly to those civil servants WHO WERE THERE AT THAT TIME before he (and others) write further on the Bakassi matter, confusing Nigerian policy makers and the public and potentially exposing our soldiers to unnecessary risk. Some of those in the know are dead but there are others who are not. 13. Like other Nigerians, I hope the judgement of the ICJ helps to settle this issue or create a framework for bilateral and trilateral discussions to resolve the dispute - for the sake of those who live there and for the sake of the rest of us. I am also eager to see how the ICJ reacts to the interesting arguments put forward by Chief Richard Akinjide and his legal team. 14. However, in the meantime, journalists should stop repeating the lie that Gowon gave away the Bakassi peninsula. He may have given away an original piece of Benin Bronze to the Queen of England. But he did not give away Bakassi to Cameroun. Nowa Omoigui Columbia, South Carolina The truth of the matter is, Bakassi never did belong to Nigeria, or Biafra, nor did Gowon give it away. Enough of partial truths. https://www.nairaland.com/161768/did-gowon-give-bakassi-cameroon To OP...we cannot get Bakassi back. It's gone. Except by war. 17 Likes 3 Shares |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by sulasa07(m): 1:34pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
kettykings:Dont worry,when I am the Supreme Leader of this country,,I will retrieve it. |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by Reference(m): 1:34pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
Next to impossible. Is has vast hydrocarbon deposits and rich fishing grounds. What will make any country give that up. 3 Likes |
Re: Can Bakassi Peninsula Be Retrieved From Cameroon? by foolbuster: 1:34pm On Jan 12, 2020 |
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