The House of Representatives has said it would explore diplomatic and political solutions in resolving the plight of the citizens in Danare and Biajua communities bent on remaining with their kith and kins in the country, as a result of the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) between Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.
The Chairman of the Adhoc committee on the international boundary dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon, Rep. Beni Lar stated this at the investigative hearing of the committee.
Rep. Lar expressed displeasure that it would be inhuman to allow the affected communities to lose their preferred nationality as it was against their rights as citizens of Nigeria.
Said she: “There has to be a political solution to this issue. There has to be a way to keep our brothers and sisters in Nigeria by using diplomatic channels.
“I can’t imagine waking up and being told you are not a Nigerian. How would you feel? From the Human Rights angle there has to be a way where on compassionate ground we find a way to solve this issue”.
The Committee Chairman stated this after she was informed by an official of the Ministry of Justice that the 10 years window period for Nigeria to appeal the judgment of the ICJ’s ruling that ceded Bakassi and other parts of the country to Cameroon had elapsed.
Rep. Lar who disclosed that the committee would embark on a fact-finding mission to the affected areas expressed readiness to meet with top government functionaries including the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to achieve the objective.
Speaking earlier, the Director General of the National Boundary Commission, Mr Adamu Adaji, argued that the boundary demarcation was in tandem with the Green Tree Agreement reached between both countries after the ICJ judgment.
He stated that the fieldwork, which involves the location of the boundary points and placement of boundary pillars by the judgment, was undertaken by a Joint Technical Team (JTT), a sub-body of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission.
According to Adaji, the Commission did not adjust but only re-establish the boundary; he also blamed the situation on the Cross River state government for refusing to cooperate with his outfit on situating pillars 113A appropriately.
Stating that no adherence to the resolution of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission could portray Nigeria in a bad light, he enjoined the Cross River state government to liaise with the Federal Government to address the concerns bordering on farmlands raised by the affected communities.
The representative of the Chief of Naval Staff in their intervention said, “As you rightly attested it was not easily determined, that’s why you went back to interpret what the document/the ruling said and found the approximate position and which perhaps if you had the legal aspect, a lawyer to look into the issues based on these factors I am talking about historical and cultural, perhaps maybe most of these issues would have been solved”.
Representatives of the Nigeria Immigration Services also said the rights of the citizens were not out into consideration.
“I wish to reiterate the fact that the Nigerian constitution of 1999 section 25(1a) as amended states that a citizen of Nigeria shall not be deprived forcefully or relocated on his fatherland and if there is any intention to do that, they must have a referendum where they will decide. The people living in that border community will decide where in Cameroon or Nigeria.
“My submission is that these people’s interested were not taken into consideration in the planting of Pillar 113A, you can see that there’s no problem with Pillar 113 which has been in existence, but this one has entrenched on their citizenship right and that has to be looked into to resolve further issues”.
Representatives of the Chief of Army Staff COAS assured that they will provide security when called upon.
“Ours is to provide security and before the ICJ’s ruling, as a young officer I was at the Bakassi peninsula, I served in one of the islands but immediately after the ICJ ruling when we had to obey the ruling, we pulled out of Bakassi. So as it stands now, part of our mandate is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and we take directives from the presidency through the appropriate channel of communication.
“So whatever is the position of the House, and the nation ours is to provide security and we will do just that when called upon”.
Representative of the Danare community, Comrade Mfam Mbia Asu, accused the Nigerian government of wanting to forcefully cede their land to Cameroon because they are of a minority clan.
According to him pillar 113A has never been located and commended the ad-hoc committee for the briefing.
He said: “The Nigerian government failed to have utilised the 10 years period of appeal, meaning that there was a conspiracy by the Nigerian government to cede us forcefully. Thereafter I was in Calabar where I worked and I was specifically informed that the Nigerian military escorted certain persons to ensure that they forcefully cede us to Cameroon.
“All those areas they are talking about both the affected communities in Nigeria and Cameroon are all Boki speaking communities. The part in Cameroon today was in Nigeria until February 11, 1961. I want to inform the surveyor General and the boundary Commission that in 1964, the France government sent their frontiers to locate pillar 113A. I can still recall that our late clan Head died 3 weeks ago, as at then was a clan head for about 7 years, he had been a clan head for over 52 years. He made a presentation and insisted that if pillar 113A can be shown and if by that we are to be ceded to Cameroon we will accept. Incidentally pillar 123A since 1967 is nowhere to be found.
“So it was so surprising that those from the Minister of Justice, the surveyor general of the Federation and even the boundary Commission had a particular interest to ensure that they forcefully plant a pillar in a place that it never existed.
“In fact, the communities in both Nigeria and Cameroon have been living harmoniously since 1961 till date without having any disputes whatsoever pertaining to land”.
Another representative of the Biajua community, Comrade Clement Okon insisted that the disputed pillar 113A at the centre of the boundary dispute doesn’t exist just as he accused officials of the national boundary commission and the Office of the surveyor general of deliberately going out of their ways to cede their lands to Cameroon to score political goals.
Member of the Committee, Rep. Awaji-Inombek Abiante queried why 113A was missing, according to him there are other pillars that were not reported missing.
“Why is 113A missing? Why is it the only one that has an ‘A’ and is the only one that is missing? I am not a surveyor but I want to know.
“International maritime laws tell us that boundaries, especially maritime boundaries are not just by the river, you use the deepest part of the river, the deepest part of the creek is where the boundary is. I am not from Boki, I don’t know the river you are talking about but if there is anything different from what international understanding says, then we need to know more”, he queried.
The representative of the National Human Rights Commission gave their position and said that Nigerians in the affected communities stood the risk of finding themselves as stateless people if the matter is not resolved in due course.
She stated: Before any decision is taken, we need to understand that the issue of demarcation and boundaries affect a whole lot of human rights issues of a vast majority and one of them is the fact that these persons at some point might be rendered stateless. And when they are rendered stateless, they are neither here nor there and as such their rights to self-identity will be violated, their right to education will be violated, their rights to judicial procedure will be violated, their right to administrative systems will be violated, their right to housing will be violated, a protectorate of rights will be violated in the cause of this, so we need to ensure.
“One of our position is that pillar must be found by hook or by crook. Anyhow we want to do it, we must find that pillar”.
Members of the committee empathised with the plight of the communities and assured that the House would not allow an inch of Nigeria’s territory to be ceded to Cameroon again.
It should be recalled that on Wednesday 5th July 2023, the House of Representatives deliberated on a motion by Rep. Abang Victor Bisong, representing Ikom/Boki federal constituency of Cross River State on the Border dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon and constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate and assess the case of potential land encroachment by the Cameroonian Government, to ensure a thorough understanding of the security implication of the dispute and of the technical aspects involved in resolving the dispute; proffer solutions and report back to the House for legislative action.
Dominica Nwabufo
