The people, who disclosed this yesterday when they gathered at Ikang in Bakassi Local Government Area yesterday at the instance of Senator Bassey Edet Otu for interaction and feedback to the National Assembly, lamented the violation of the GTA.
According to them, the Cameroonian change of names of Nigerian communities to those of Cameroon, constant harassment of Nigerians still left at the peninsula through beatings, seizure of fishing nets, boats and catch and imposition of heavy taxes and levies are uncalled for.
For example, Usaghaedeh town has been renamed Isangele; Abana is now Jabana; Archibong is now called Akwa 1; Nwanyo is now Akwa 2 etc.
This, the people said was contrary to the GTA which provided that the Nigerian towns and communities would maintain their identities in spite of the ceding of the territory to Cameroon on August 14, 2008.
Former chairman of Bakassi Local Government Area, Mr. Ani Esin, told the senator and his counterpart from the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Hon. Essien Ayi, that Cameroon had done everything to obliterate Nigeria’s identity in the area and that the inhuman treatment meted out daily to Bakassi natives living in the peninsula was unfortunate.
Oil spillage in the island, he revealed, has affected the environment which they people depend on for drinking and agricultural activities, including fishing.
Senator Otu told the gathering that these were clearly “the most trying times of our history and cultural revolution as a people battling with socio-political and international dynamics, which impact directly on our lives and our land.”
He said the trauma inflicted by the ICJ judgment which ceded Bakassi, the GTA and its shortcomings have further caused physical and psychological pain on his constituents, noting that for years now they have been weeping with nobody to clean their tears.
According to him, “ we must not relent in conscientizing the world mind on the needs to revisit and review the negative outcomes of the ICJ judgment and the GTA. Neither shall we renege in our faith in the Nigerian state to protect our lives and heritage and our territorial confines.
“The Green Tree Agreement is not ratified by the National Assembly. Let me remind us of the charter of people rights which we can deploy to revisit being compelled into a particular territorial entity. In the scenario that we as the people of Bakassi must be fixed in Cameroon, Nigeria or Republic of Bakassi, we shall have to
make the choice,” he stated.
SOURCE: 22 August 2012.
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