"Lets wait and see, Bakassi for now belongs to Cameroon, sons and daughters of Biafra will in the very near future lay a legal claim to what is rightfully ours."
My question for you is how do you intend to make a legal claim on a peninsula that you seem intent to hand over to Cameroon. Go back to the ICJ or fight Cameroon?
That tells me know much you really know. I refer you back to the noble idea of self- determination. The residents of Bakassi are biafrans, they have the right to determine where, how they will live.
If your bone headed cousins had consulted with the inhabitants of that land in the first place, they may have stood a chance with the ICJ. But no, they had to use the poor people as a ploy to squander, pillage and steal money.
Has anyone ever asked how much money it cost your cousins to put up what was at best a lame claim/presentation to ICJ? No one is asking the heard questions. If your cousins really wanted to retain Bakassi, what happened to hiring the best lawyer money can buy?
My bro, Johnny Cochran would have done us proud again. If Mohammed Abacha saw it wise to seek Johnny's advice, why not your Arewa government? Oh, less I forget, they wanted to show the world how "smart" they are.
___________________ Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom Posts: 96 | From: USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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You have not really answered a simple question I posed to you. If you have forgotten that question is, how do you re-claim Bakassi after you have given it to Cameroon? Instead, you have contented yourself with insinuations about my "cousins", consulting the "Bakassi people" and "Johnnie Cohcran".
If you cannot respond to the simple question I asked I think it is better we move on to other things. Take care!
Don't even bother to ask. Ochiagha will reclaim Bakassi by hitting the keyboards from the basement of his home.
___________________ "We are where we are in large part at the moment, because our self-identified leaders of thought have put us there."----Ukpabi Asika Posts: 321 | From: Athens, Ohio USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Give it a rest, your BiafraNigeria government does not have a superior plan to whatever Ochiagha might be proposing on this Bakkassi issue. If they were that smart they would have done a better job at the ICJ. The Biafrans will recover Bakassi the same way Cameroun took it from BiafraNigeria, with better logic and superior organization.
In any case do you expect those same people the pot bellied tin god at Aso rock told to be gratefull they are still allowed to be breathing in BiafraNigeria to support his war mongering in their back yard ? Millitarily BiafraNigeria will not be able to over run Cameroun since they have neither the will nor the might and any millitary analyst worth his salt will tell you that.
It is becoming clear to Aremu that his days are numbered and what better thing to do than to invite the millitary back to power as a face saving grace for his exit. In any case let him send his Yoruba brothers if they have the courage to venture near the battle front because any Biafran who loses his life while trying to defend Bakassi for Aremu would probably not be mourned by seriouos people.
Posts: 1532 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Britain warns Nigeria to abide by ICJ Ruling.
quote:Bakassi: Nigeria Bound By ICJ's Ruling, Says Britain • Obasanjo, Biya's discussions based on trust – Lamido From Chikas Ohadoma in Abuja
Nigeria's expression of rejection of the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) yesterday met opposition from an unlikely quarters: Britain, the nation's former colonial master.
Speaking in Abuja, the British High Comissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Philip Thomas, said the verdict is binding on Nigeria since the country had pledged to honour the outcome of the court process before the ruling.
At another forum, however, the nation's foreign affairs minister, Alhaji Sule Lamido, said that President Olusegun Obasanjo never made any commitment, insisting that deliberations at the purported meeting were based on trust.
The ICJ had in a majority ruling on October 10 awarded the ownership of the disputed oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
In a formal reaction Wednesday, the Federal Government had described the verdict as unaceptable, citing bias on the part of the French president of the court, Mr. Gilbert Guillaume.
But fielding questions from reporters in Abuja, Thomas said Obasanjo had already committed the nation at a meeting he reportedly had with President Paul Biya of Cameroon and United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, in Paris.
Said the British convoy: "I had the chance to hear from the Nigerian Foreign Minister, Mr. Sule Lamido, this morning (Thursday) on the Nigerian government's view-point."
"If you read carefully the Nigerian government issued yesterday (Wednesday), at least from our own point of view, the starting point is President Obasanjo's commitment when he met President Paul Biya of Cameroon in the good office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan in Paris on September 5, and said that Nigeria will implement the ruling of the International Court of Justice."
Acknowledging that the dispute on Bakassi has a long history, Thomas, however, stated that: "The basic starting point is to adhere to the ruling, accept those ruling, those ruling are binding."
The High Commissioner advised that "Nigeria should continue to discuss co-operatively and peacefully for the implementation of the ruling in accordance with President Obasanjo's published statement this week that Nigeria will certainly not go to war over this issue",
He said that his government had confidence in Obasanjo's extraordinary international connections and his commitment to the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU).
"Obasanjo will ensure that the long term stability of the region, and cooperation with his Cameroonian counterpart is assured," Thomas said.
Meeting with officials of the European Union and European Ambassadors in Abuja yesterday, Lamido informed that Obasanjo never made any commitment to obey the then impending verdict at the reported Paris meeting with Biya.
Said he: "The discussions and assurances in Paris were based on trust and we cannot be taken captives of such a staement by an official in the office of the United Nations Secretary-General."
Lamido's comment was in response to a question raised by the British High Commissioner for a clarification of the "agreement" Obasanjo signed in Paris.
Explaining Nigeira's position, Lamido said that endorsing the judgement would mean uprooting an entire race, a culture and a generation which no nation could ever contemplate.
Lamido revealed several efforts of Obasanjo ever since he came to power to have a meeting with Biya, all of which were, according to him, fruitless.
"Two of them had at one time stayed in the same hotel but could not meet and even when Biya was one of the very first President Obasanjo met immediately he was elected and embarked on a world tour.
"You can see how our president has bent over backwards to ensure that a boundary that was imposed on us many years back did not become a source of friction between two brother African countries," said Lamido.
The minister equally said it was wrong to interpret Nigeria's reaction to the verdict as impugning the integrity of the judges at The Hague because "what we are saying is that the verdict ignored some very, very essential historical backgrounds.
"We are not saying that because the backgrounds were ignored, the judges have no integrity. We are saying that because they were ignored, we are protesting."
Nigeria's understanding of the dispute over Bakassi, said Lamido, had been that unlike boundaries in Europe and North America, the demarcations in Africa were done "at a time when we had no voice, at a time when we had no status, at a time when we couldn't react, at a time when our dignity didn't matter to those who sat over us at Berlin or London. It is the failure of the court to take on board all the facts of the matter in respect of African history that has elicited the anger and disgust of Nigerians which we cannot ignore."
Meanwhile, the Cross River State government has applauded the decision of the Federal Government to ignore the ICJ's verdict on Bakassi.
A statement signed yesterday by Mr. Dominic Kidzu, Special Assistant on Media Relations to Governor Donald Duke, expressed the gratitude of the state government and people of the state "to the Federal Executive Council for rejecting the verdict of the World Court on the over 100 year old dispute.
While hailing the Federal Government's position on the issue, the Cross River State Government also called the Federal Government to investigate the activities of a major oil company Total-Fina-Elf and its role in the Bakassi affair, advising that if found guilty, the company should be nationalized.
The seven paragraph statement said the decision to reject the ICJ verdit "accords with our own conviction that as people of common heritage and destiny, our brothers and sisters in Bakassi Local Government Area, their land and all appurtenances thereto, cannot be parcelled out to a foreign government and country."
The statement said further that: "For us in Cross River State the momentous decision of the Federal Executive Council is a reassurance of the protection of our lives and property by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to whom we have never withheld our unalloyed duty and allegiance."-- THIS DAY
posted
Benbella, i presume Mr. Thomas has provided some insight to the question i posed earlier:what was the commitment made in France? You might be the only one on the patriotric train here, please consider earlier statements credited to Musa and the atorney general after the ICJ ruling on Bakasi. My take on these mourners is pretty simple, start a crusade abroad when everything goes bad or better still imagine the cost of a bodybag if a raincoat costs more than three thousand dollars.
Posts: 26 | From: usa | Registered: Oct 2002
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That is exactly my point. If we abide by the ICJ ruling and by the advise of the British High commissioner and give Bakassi to Cameroon, you can be absolutely sure that that peninsula will never return no matter the "logic or superior organization", chiboy has spoken about.
My question had nothing to do with how Nigeria argued its case before the ICJ or beating the patriotic drum or encouraging war between Nigeria and Cameroun. It simply has to do with what is realistic. And that is once Bakassi goes, it will never be returned either to Nigeria or a Biafra or a self declared Bakassi republic. Except by means of victory in a war. That too will not change the opinion of Britain or the international community. It is one thing to talk but sometimes we should begin to realize that talk is cheap.
posted
It is no secret that the avuncular Obasanjo is the laughing stock of foreign leaders; he is a man whose arrival at foreign capitals provokes derision for Africa. When the leaders of other nations see Obtusanjo arriving at their doorstep in one of his many idiotic trips abroad, those leaders thank their God that the moron from Africa has come to sign away yet another piece of his country. So it was in France, when President Jacque Chirac presided over Obasanjo’s surrender of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon and France.
Nigerians elected a moron to lead them. Not only did you elect a moron, you elected one who is too dense to take the advice of people who know better how to maneuver in the treacherous world of international law and politics. Any decent US educated lawyer could have told Obasanjo exactly what to do to avoid losing Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon. It has been suggested that Obasanjo signed away the Bakassi Peninsula to spite his Igbo nemesis. If I did not know any better, I might have put it past him to sink so low.
Obasanjo has permanently tarnished the image of Yoruba people in BiafraNigerian politics. The loss of Bakassi Peninsula is the sort of blunder that should only implicate figures from the Sharia North and their so-called Gowonish Arewa Middle-Belt enclave. Now, Obasanjo has put the stamp of the South on that act of official malfeasance and incompetence. More precisely, he has put a Yoruba stamp on that blunder. The only saving grace is that the Yoruba did not vote for that man.
All:
There seems to be agreement that the only remaining solution to the dispute is a military one. Thus, my question is: are there any difficulties that are not now present, which you foresee in any future Biafran effort to recover Bakassi Peninsula from Cameroon?
___________________ You ain't seen nothing yet Posts: 150 | Registered: Mar 2001
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There seems to be agreement that the only remaining solution to the dispute is a military one. Thus, my question is: are there any difficulties that are not now present, which you foresee in any future Biafran effort to recover Bakassi Peninsula from Cameroon?
Simple and difficult question Seun: Simple for the Biafrans like me and difficult for the pro-BiafraNigeria dieharders.
I know it for a fact that there are tribes(nations) like Ejagam who have been comfortable living as citizens of BiafraNigeria and Cameroun. What I forsee is a coalescing of the globules of nations on either side of the water to form the Anglo Bakassi/Biafra alliance. As I am writing this I know it for a fact that you DARE not go to English speaking Cameroun and insult an Igbo(Check out Koumba). Biafra has nought to worry about.
The "white man" as ever is in the process of creating a safe corridor for oil. They couldn't care less if BiafraNigeria breaks into tiny fragments. What they can't stand is Mr Obasanjo's foolish admission before the whole world in a video conference that "He introduced Sharia"(read Islamic fundamentalism). You'd recall that it was in the wake of the Zamfara seccession that the official British media BBC threw open the debate on whether BiafraNigeria should be split. It was deliberate.
Will be back
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote: how do you re-claim Bakassi after you have given it to Cameroon?
Well, I did not give deal away Bakassi, neither did my Biafran brethrens. The sad is that the residents of Bakassi were not consulted or informed before Obu so nsi's hand shake with Kofi Annan.
Now that your pot belly slave masters have spoken in support of Cameroon, did anyone ask them why they, Britain, did not seek to settle the Falkland Islands dispute with Argentina by going to the UN and ICJs? Don't you see the hypocrisy here?
Anyway, to your friend Ugali Shaga :
Here is a sample of what comes out of my basement. This time, the plan will be flawlessly executed!
Occupy Assembly Area Perform Tactical Road March Move Tactically Assault Perform CSS Operations Establish move, and operate a command Post Develop fire support plan Perform air defense ops Perform mobility and survivability Fight a meeting engagement Develop staff estimates Attack/counterattack by fire Provide command and control Attack and defend a built up area Cover passage of lines Perform hasty river gap operations Defend.
Benbella, PM me if you are interested in details, but I must verify you are not a saboteur!
___________________ Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom Posts: 96 | From: USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Anyone in their right mind should have known that Obasanjo had a problem, since all he did was fly around the world in Halloween costumes. As for Britain, it should go straight to hell. It was Britain that coached Nigeria to disregard its international agreements. Did Nigeria not sign an agreement in Aburi Ghana?
It was Britain that armed and led Nigeria to wage a genocidal war against Biafra in violation of an agreement that Nigeria signed at Aburi. So, the British ambassador should shut his dirty mouth and he should tell his country to do the same. What about the international law against genocide? Don't tell me about "legal can of worms." The British opened it a long time ago.
Posts: 253 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Obusonjo is a bold-faced liar. I guess his tribesmen have told him it is better to lie than to accept the ultimate blame for ceding Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. Obusonjo Denies Agreeing to Abide by ICJ VerdictPosts: 127 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Dr.B, your points are well taken, however, i look at several possibilities in this brithish/french thing. The likely script i read here is not the 1966 script. The bright of Biafra is about to take a center stage once again. The caculation here might be in the likely event of a southwrd march by sani and his barberian horde from the gates of ilorin; ibadan, lagos and ota will fall with a hushed wimper: "afterall it is better to be a living muslim than a dead yoruba" The oil sources must be protected and we are about to witness very interesting times, remember the Biafran war is the only war were the west, arabs and communists fought on the same side. well communism is in its grave now and the enemy is arabism. aremu's in-laws are about to teach him the difference between boy-boy friendship and interests. What is not yet clear is how the script affects Biafra. Ours must be identifying which aspects favour Biafran interests while being carefull that our elites/sabos do not negotiate on our behalf in the biafranigeria spirit of:"oga wetin you get for the boys"
Posts: 26 | From: usa | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
"Here is a sample of what comes out of my basement. This time, the plan will be flawlessly executed!
Occupy Assembly Area Perform Tactical Road March Move Tactically Assault Perform CSS Operations Establish move, and operate a command Post Develop fire support plan Perform air defense ops Perform mobility and survivability Fight a meeting engagement Develop staff estimates Attack/counterattack by fire Provide command and control Attack and defend a built up area Cover passage of lines Perform hasty river gap operations Defend."---Ochiagha.
Ochiagha. I guess "Major" Benbella must have gotten it by now that there're FIELD MASHALLS on board. Please do reserve our tactics for the real battle which is ahead. Every right thinking Igbo knows that the Bakassi game was not arranged, played, won or lost by any person of Igbo origin, therefore, we should not be party to the whinning or the celebration as the case may be. Let the Nigerians who did the organizing, playing and now LOSING mourn their PREDICTED lose. FOOLISH "wise" Nigerians!
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
What kind of stupid president vows that his country, Nigeria, will not fire the first shot when citizens from his country are being forced to pay taxes to a foreign country. The first shot has already been fired.,
quote: Fresh border crisis brews Meanwhile, Nigeria and Cameroon may be heading for another collision over boundary but this time in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State. Cross River State is bounded by the Republic of Cameroon on four axes with Bakassi in the Southern zone, at Ekok (Ikom LGA) where Nigeria and Cameroon are linked by a bridge, at Danare, Biajua (Boki LGA) in the Central Senatorial District and at Obanliku Hills over-looking the Obudu Cattle Ranch (Obanliku LGA) in the Northern Senatorial District of the state.
Currently, 13 communities of Boki Local Government Area are reported to be paying taxes to the Cameroonian authorities as the communities, though in Nigeria, are situated far into the thick forest of Boki, creating a huge gulf between the nearest Nigerian authority and the people.
In a statement, a member of the state House of Assembly representing Boki (1) Mr. Cletus Obun said the judgement of the ICJ awarding Bakassi to Cameroon “has bolstered the Cameroonian ego in its new fame, hence it has become imperative that the Federal Government of Nigeria must stand out to defend the border communities, saying “as at this moment, there has been no peace for the Nigerians at Danare, Biajua, Bumaji, Okwa and Okwango for fear of invasion by the Cameroonians, who are expanding on a daily basis to the Nigerian side of the border. The Obudu Ranch communities of Anape, Balegete Ikwete and Asai are not spared in the Cameroonian expansionist’s programme.”
“Indeed, the Danare community, whose only support comes from the neighbouring village of Biajua, using local weapons, have lost over 20 km of their land on the Nigerian side to the Cameroonians through the sheer use of force and intimidation,” Obun said. In view of the situation, the people want the construction of the road network from Bashua-Danare and Bateriko to Bumaji and Okwa, between October this year and April 2003, to prevent these communities from unnecessary access to Cameroon.
The Cameroonian government has already commenced road construction from its border end of Bodam. In addition, they want a security post to be mounted at Danare, Bumaji and Obudu Cattle Ranch to ward off the rampaging gendarmes, and that our brothers who were fraudulently left in Cameroon after the plebiscite of 1961 should be freed to join us. Besides they want the Border Communities Development Commission Bill before the National Assembly be passed “now to give Mr. President the leverage to execute it.”
The people also want the Federal Government to provide “facilities as health centres, schools and markets to give Nigerians living in this area a sense of belonging and national pride.”
posted
I watch and read gross miscarriage of history and truths about the Bakassi issue. If you gentlemen and ladies could take time to interview those from Bakassi and know the truth, you'll be shocked at how twisted some opinion here have been.
There is no relationship between Bakassi and Biafra for a start. Ibo claims and fixation to this issue is based on sentiments only they (Ibo) can explain. Ibos in Bakassi are merely migrant traders who hardly can claim rights in Bakassi.
People from Bakassi share between two countries. There is no reliable census figure to correctly determine what percentage of them are Nigerians or Cameroonians. It is estimated, according to Nigeria government data and Press, that majority in the area are the "Atam" people, followed distantly by the Efiks and Ibibios (in given order). The other side also lay claim of numerical majority. It is wise to have near correct census data for Nigeria to determine what next moves shall be and, perhaps, propose a referendum. Both sides had better be careful of a referendum - results may be surprising.
Even more disturbing is fact that the multi-ethnic Bakassi cannot be strictly called an indigenous people according to UN standards. Meaning, they will have a tough time establishing self-determination and be accepted internationally. They do not have resources and political will to secede from either country.
Hardly a month goes by without inter-community skirmishes. That is as common as earthquake in California. In most cases, intervention of the military is uncalled for. If there is a problem today in that area, the Press must not descend upon to magnify and sing war tunes.
The equation describing true state of things in Bakassi region is very complex. So complex that it must take the intervention of both countries to solve. Nigeria goofed in poor handling of the case from onset. Obasanjo's government showed extreme carelessness and shortsightedness in allowing the ICJ to decide. Let us put it clearly, Nigeria leaders from Gowon unwittingly gave away the Bakassi region. Cameroon capitalized on Nigeria's poor presentation and representation.
Nigeria cannot but abide by ruling of the ICJ despite the oil. The politics and other calculations predicting future stability is too abstract to waist effort. Although some Bakassi citizens of Nigeria descent may feel bad, and I feel bad for loosing fellow Nigerians, I know that it will be more peaceful for them and me and Nigerians and Cameronians to abide by the ICJ ruling.
If forthcoming elections were based on issues, President Obasanjo has demonstrated a serious breach of trust given him by the Cross River and Akwa Ibom States mandate in the handling of two important issues concerning them: 1. The Supreme Court verdict of April 2002; 2. The Bakassi misrepresentation at the ICJ.
Bakassi issue is a problem for the Atam, Efik and Ibibio peoples of Nigeria. No other Nigerians have the moral or any other reason to pretend being interested or affected by it. When needed, they are never there for those affected persons and should not twist and bend this issue for election reasons.
[ October 28, 2002, 10:59 PM: Message edited by: Udonsit ]
Posts: 4 | From: TX, USA | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:There is no relantionship between Bakassi and Biafra for a start. Ibo claims and fixation to this issue is based on sentiments only they (Ibo) can explain. Ibos in Bakassi are merely migrant traders who hardly can claim rights in Bakassi.---------Udonsit
It is either the above writer pretends or deliberately decides to hide the truth or he is bent on mischief.
Igbos have never claimed to own Bakassi Peninsula. What the above spinner did here was twist the whole story confusing himself to have ample knowledge of "Atam," Efik and Ibibio people who as he claims are the original owners of the said land in dispute. No one is arguing that.
The ridiculous writer also refused to acknowledge the fact that it was Gowon's war strategy that gave Bakassi away to the Cameroons.
Before the total annihilation and invasion of the South-East, was Bakassi not part of Biafra? And the Ibibios, how did they migrate and doesn't their language share a common relationship with the Igbo language?
The writer also went further to say the "Ibos in Bakassi are merely migrant traders who hardly can claim rights in Bakassi." Mr. historian, how do you define citizenship?
What is wrong with this fela telling his fellow Nigerians how much Biafran oil money he wasted or stole in pretence of defending Bakassi?
What ever happened to transperency? Read on..
quote:Newswatch: We also learnt that the federal government spent about $315 million on the case. Akinjide : Anyway, I’m not aware of that. I’m not in the federal government. Whosoever gave you that figure should answer that question. All I know is that up till now the federal government is owing me my fees. It has not paid up. I don’t know who spent that money.
Newswatch: And if you denied that, I also learnt that the federal government gave you more than $1 million to defend the country in this matter.
Akinjide: Is it not one billion? Not one billion dollars? Possibly it was sent to me through Newswatch. These are rubbish, it is all a lie.
The cowardly Newswatch interviewer gave up after his sacarstic response, that is nothing but an insult to the public!
___________________ Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom Posts: 96 | From: USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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