Paramount Ruler Marks 12 years of Loss of Bakassi to Cameroon, Mourns Day with Special Dress Paramount Ruler Marks 12 years of Loss of Bakassi to Cameroon, Mourns Day with Special Dress
Diana Okon-Effiong,Calabar Dr Etim Okon Edet, Paramount Ruler of Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River says the problem of resettlement still plagued Bakassi... Paramount Ruler Marks 12 years of Loss of Bakassi to Cameroon, Mourns Day with Special Dress
Diana Okon-Effiong,Calabar
Dr Okon Edet, Paramount ruler of Bakassi

Dr Etim Okon Edet, Paramount ruler of Bakassi

Dr Etim Okon Edet, Paramount Ruler of Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River says the problem of resettlement still plagued Bakassi people 12 years after the Peninsula was ceded to Cameroun.

Edet who is also Chairman Cross River State Traditional Rulers’ Council stated this in Calabar Thursday in an interactive session with some journalists in Calabar to mark the anniversary of the ceding of the peninsula.
The paramount ruler, who wore a special traditional dress with matching cap and a pair of sandals, said his people regarded every 10th of October with special feelings which evoked mourning and tribulations.
He said: “Today we mark the commemoration of 12 years since Bakassi, our ancestral home, was ceded to the Republic of Cameroun through a judgement by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 2002.
According to him the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun had caused what he termed a real permanent injury to Bakassi people.
“To me as a person and in the calendar of Bakassi people all over the world that ceding has caused real permanent injury.
“We feel it today. You can see the way I dress; I do not normally dress like this. It is only on the 10th of October every year that i dress like this. It is a very special day to all Bakassi people.
“I put on this cap which signifies the blood of our people lost so far since that day; that black traditional cap also shows that we are in a mourning mood on the day we will never forget in a hurry.
“It is also to show that the ceding of our ancestral home to Cameroon was done in circumstances that only god can explain.
 “I wish those who did that well and that what happened to Bakassi people should never repeat itself anywhere in Nigeria,’’ he said.
He also urged the international community and the Nigeria government to protect Bakassi people permanently apart from sending relief materials
“I want to bring to the attention of everybody, including the international community, that the problem of Bakassi people is not over. Up to this moment we are still having the problems of resettlement.
“ We have not been properly resettled internally. The dislocation has even affected Government policy such that they are now looking for the real Bakassi people and certain things are going into the wrong hands.
“From the coastal or riverine area where I come from the only persons that are benefitting from government policies and programmes on Bakassi are about eight or 10 including myself, five councillors, Council’s vice chairman and so.
“The rest are scattered in various council areas of Cross River. Must we continue this way after the Federal Government had instituted a committee and various committees have been set on resettlement of Bakassi people?
“What we see is relief materials being sent to people who are not on ground. The actual Bakassi people can also not vote. They have been disenfranchised. These are the greatest undoing to a people in their homeland.
“We are now a stateless people; no right to vote again. But we continue to appeal to government to come to our aid. Gov. Liyel Imoke of Cross River has done a lot in his effort to right the wrongs to our people,’’ Edet said.
He also appealed to the Federal Government to come out with a whitepaper on the resettlement of the Bakassi people because they are Nigerians.
He also blamed the international community for foot dragging on the resettlement of Bakassi people
“It should not take them so long. Even the international community is not doing much. All they do is to send people to interview me on the ceding of Bakassi continually. For how long shall we continue that way?’’ he said.

He said that the federal government can cause the resettlement of Bakassi people in three months if it so wishes, adding that president Goodluck Jonathan has the capacity to resettle Bakassi people permanently.

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