CHAIRMAN of Bakassi Council of Cross River State, Dr. Ekpo Bassey, has accused the United Nations (UN) and indeed the international community of abandoning his people to their fate, despite a gamut of promises they made during the ceding of the area.
According to Bassey, the present peace currently enjoyed in the area, was on account at the behest of the state government and could be compromised if the people were continually left homeless.
Bassey, while speaking in an interview, said since the handover of the oil-rich peninsular to the Republic of Cameroun following the International Court of Justice judgment of 2002, the UN had abandoned the promise made to the people.
He called for quick intervention from the Federal Government and the UN to assist the state government in the proper resettlement of the people, expressing fears of an impending security breach that may arise as some displaced youths may decide to take up arms if the situation was not adequately addressed.
“If you are in your father’s house, you know the benefits that are accruable to you, starting from identity, you have a name, place, property and even hope. But when under that condition, for whatever reasons, not caused by you, someone gave instructions that you must vacate the house, because the people of the area are law abiding citizens, they obeyed the decision of the International Court of Justice and agreed to relocate.
“Where did they provide for them to relocate to? No option, yet, no good alternative. They have lost everything about them and life becomes too difficult. It simply means that they can do anything because they have been deprived of many things,” he stated,
Bassey, who also alleged incessant attacks by the Cameroun gendarmes, stressed, “I cannot say that I am satisfied with the way the international community has handled the problem of resettlement. The ceding of Bakassi in the first instance was an unfortunate development, if a territory is ceded, the people were not ceded.
“They had the option of relocating to this part of Nigeria and we expect that since they have lost their economic base, traditional homes and certain identities, we thought a lot of things could have been done to cushion this effect. So far, the way it is done is actually unsatisfactory. That is why we are afraid that the people may themselves become a security threat.
“Any moment from now, we intend to raise this very serious issue at the state, national and international levels to ensure that this problem of resettlement is properly handled,” he said
Other than the haphazard resettlement programme, Bassey said: “We are not also comfortable with the issue of pirates occupying the buffer zone. We have made proper reports to security agencies on the incident of violence, robbery around the area. Details of this are available with security agencies.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAccording to Bassey, the present peace currently enjoyed in the area, was on account at the behest of the state government and could be compromised if the people were continually left homeless.
Bassey, while speaking in an interview, said since the handover of the oil-rich peninsular to the Republic of Cameroun following the International Court of Justice judgment of 2002, the UN had abandoned the promise made to the people.
He called for quick intervention from the Federal Government and the UN to assist the state government in the proper resettlement of the people, expressing fears of an impending security breach that may arise as some displaced youths may decide to take up arms if the situation was not adequately addressed.
“If you are in your father’s house, you know the benefits that are accruable to you, starting from identity, you have a name, place, property and even hope. But when under that condition, for whatever reasons, not caused by you, someone gave instructions that you must vacate the house, because the people of the area are law abiding citizens, they obeyed the decision of the International Court of Justice and agreed to relocate.
“Where did they provide for them to relocate to? No option, yet, no good alternative. They have lost everything about them and life becomes too difficult. It simply means that they can do anything because they have been deprived of many things,” he stated,
Bassey, who also alleged incessant attacks by the Cameroun gendarmes, stressed, “I cannot say that I am satisfied with the way the international community has handled the problem of resettlement. The ceding of Bakassi in the first instance was an unfortunate development, if a territory is ceded, the people were not ceded.
“They had the option of relocating to this part of Nigeria and we expect that since they have lost their economic base, traditional homes and certain identities, we thought a lot of things could have been done to cushion this effect. So far, the way it is done is actually unsatisfactory. That is why we are afraid that the people may themselves become a security threat.
“Any moment from now, we intend to raise this very serious issue at the state, national and international levels to ensure that this problem of resettlement is properly handled,” he said
Other than the haphazard resettlement programme, Bassey said: “We are not also comfortable with the issue of pirates occupying the buffer zone. We have made proper reports to security agencies on the incident of violence, robbery around the area. Details of this are available with security agencies.”
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