– 350 oil wells and fishing pots seized
by the Cameroonians
– Indigene explains how their leaders
are being coerced into accepting
‘village head’ titles for the secession
File photo of Cameroonian troops.
In a show of sheer insurrection, the Cameroonian government
has reportedly taken over some Nigerian communities in Akwa
Ibom state.
According to The Punch, the parts of Akwa Ibom State taken
over, were not covered by the original judgment to cede part
of the Bakasi Peninsular to the Central African country
following a decision of the International Court of Justice
(ICC) in The Hague in 2002.
Reports say over 350 oil wells and fishing pots were seized
as Nigeria continues to lose potential revenues from these
assets.
The people of Effiat clan in Mbo local government area of
the state, which is presently being affected by the forceful
eviction, claim that the Cameroon government have used
documents acknowledging their headship to lure their village
heads into accepting Cameroonian citizenship, in a desperate
attempt to cede their communities.
The West African neighbours of Nigeria which had kept
claiming parts of the country, were also reported to have
operated through some greedy village heads whenever the
people resisted paying tax to their government.
An indigene of Effiat, who was identified as Etim Okon, said
that he suspects that the documents issued by the Cameroon
authorities are fake, explaining that this gimmick being
employed to get the people’s consent to present the territory
as a border demarcation between Nigeria and Cameroon is
ongoing.
Okon explained also, that the Cameroonian gendarmes have
taken absolute control of the Akwa Ibom territories which
were never part of the islands that Nigeria ceded to their
neighbours.
He said: “None of the Effiat 16 villages had
been ceded to Cameroon when Bakassi
Peninsula was ceded to Cameroon by the
International Court of Justice at the
Hague in 2002.
“Effiat is an area in Akwa Ibom State and
not part of Cross River, where Bakassi
Peninsula became an issue.”
The mangrove island which hosts 16 villages of Effiat clan in
Mbo, it was gathered, is being managed by the Cameroon
authorities.
This new development is sure to breed bad blood between both
countries, especially because they had formed allied forces to
wrestle insurgency which has ravaged their coasts in recent
years.
There were also reports that Ebenezer Akwanga, the human
rights activist and former political prisoner, in the interview
granted to the IBTimes UK said that Biafra movement in
Nigeria may join its forces with Southern Cameroon to achieve
independence.
Akwanga supposes that human right violations of secessionist
mobvements in Southern Cameroons are the same.
The man, who is now the president of the Southern
Cameroons Youth League, was imprisoned and tortured in 1977
in Cameroon for six years due to his political activism.
The activist believes his people might collaborate with pro-
Biafrans in south-eastern Nigeria, who are also willing to
become independent.