THE UNTOLD SECRET: Why Obasanjo Cheaply Ceded Bakassi To Cameroun

Several years after Nigeria ceded the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, allegations have emerged that the former president did so base on some ulterior motives, former Governor, Obong Victor Attah has claimed.

Attah in an interview with Ripple Nigeria laid the blame for Nigeria’s loss of the oil rich Bakassi peninsula, squarely on former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said, for ulterior motives, Obasanjo ignored his advice and paper presentations that could have prevented the negative judgement the country got at the International Court of Justice, ICC, The Hague.

The Ex-Governor of Akwa-Ibom State lamented how the former president ignored and shut him out because he did not want Bakassi oil wells to come to Akwa Ibom State.

He said, “The determination, was to keep Obong Victor Attah out because if we succeeded, Akwa Ibom would want to claim the oil wells. This is because Obasanjo had determined to give them to Cross River State. They kept me out and refused to take any of the documents. They however went to The Hague and fumbled”.

The former governor was reacting to questions on the recent demand by another militant group in the Niger Delta, the Bakassi Strike Force, aka Esighi Group, asking the Federal Government to reclaim Bakassi, if it wants it to lay down its arms.

According to Obong Attah, Nigeria misdirected itself badly on the issue of Bakassi, even as he insisted that there was nothing he did not do to ensure Bakassi was saved.

“There was nothing I did not do to save the situation. Even if we lack ancient history, we should remember the villages were fishing villages, where people go to for fishing and come back after the fishing season. That place was called Apabana and is now Bakassi. All the villages were named after existing towns and most of them were in Akwa Ibom and not even in Cross River State.

“I tried my best and it came out in a paper I presented to show that those people had their roots and Bishopric in Eket before it moved to Oron. They owed everything to Nigeria. You must also remember that at that time, Western Cameroon was part of Nigeria. I also tried to remind everybody concerned that the Certificate of Occupancy for the military barrack in Bakassi was signed by a military governor in Akwa Ibom.”

The former Governor, who said he was not claiming that his papers would have won the case for Nigeria, however said it would have helped the country make a better case at The Hague, which he noted could have changed the outcome.

He added that the situation led to Cross River State losing all the oil wells despite the fact that some oil wells were left for the state in his proposal.

Speaking on whether the demand of the Bakassi Strike Force was feasible, Obong Attah said: “We have a situation here where a decision had been taken by the ICC and honestly, I am not a lawyer to know if anything can be done. I will only advice that if through good legal advice and through political negotiation, we discover that reclaiming it is not feasible, we should just gnash our teeth and bury it because we cannot go to war and reclaim it.

Speaking on the renewed agitation for restructuring and fiscal federalism, Attah said that though he would readily not want to use the word restructuring because it has been severally misused, he insisted that fiscal federalism is an idea whose time has come.

He also frowned at the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari not to implement the report of the 2014 National Conference, saying the report holds the key to reducing the current agitations in the country by half.

Obong Attah said: “I feel sad that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is doing very well, should insist that he was not going to look at the report of the 2014 National Conference. He needs to look at it because there are aspects of the report that, if he can implement, will automatically take care of the demands by groups such as IPOB, MASSOB, Niger Delta Avengers, Joint Liberation Council and all others. Everything will calm down. We have all these agitations because of feelings of injustice and feelings of being cheated.”

Credite: Ripples Nigeria

N'Delta Avengers' Identity Unraveled; "They're NOT Nigerians" - Jonathan's Close Ally Reveals

The Identity of the notorious Niger Delta Avengers, the militants specialises in bombings of oil facilities in the Niger Delta region has begun to unearth.

A prominent female activist from the Niger Delta, Ankio Briggs, on Sunday condemned the Niger Delta Avengers for attacking oil and gas pipelines and installations in the region, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Ms. Briggs, a close ally of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, said the avengers were from Somalia and not Nigeria.

The avengers have claimed responsibility for recent attacks on oil and power installations in the Niger Delta. The attacks have reduced almost by half Nigeria’s oil production and caused darkness across the country by destroying pipelines that supply gas to power stations.

Ms. Briggs spoke in Enugu at the 17th Annual Convention of the Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, with the theme `Nigeria, still in pursuit of true fiscal federalism’.

She also condemned the recent murder by an irate mob of a woman, Bridget Agbamihe, in Kano for blasphemy as well as herdsmen attacks in Nimbo, Enugu State and other parts of the country.

Also speaking at the event, Alex Ekwueme, Second Republic Vice-President, and a former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana called for true federalism and devolution of powers to the states.

They said that restructuring and resource control by regions was a panacea to end acts of uprising across the country.

The former vice-president, who chaired the event, said that the British colonialists had earlier divided the country to enable each region control and manage its resources without interference.

“The British colonial masters divided the country in such a way that every region will operate within its constitution,” he said.

The guest speaker and former Information Minister, Jerry Gana, said that the key solution to Nigeria’s problem was through true federalism and devolution of powers to states.

“True fiscal federalism is the only form of association that will allow peace and stability in the country and each region should be allowed to manage its resources the way they want it,” Mr. Gana said.

He noted that the formula for allocating revenue made the Federal Government to get richer while the states operated like beggars.

“States should be allowed to manage its resources to enable them govern their people the way they want and allocate some percentage to the Federal Government.

“Government should not be far from the people and the federating unit should be made strong to meet the needs of the people,” he said.

Mr. Gana recommended continuous dialogue and the implementation of the resolutions of national confab by the government as the only means the recent agitation and other national demand could be handled.

A Yoruba leader, Ayo Adebanjo, said that the various acts of political instability in the country were because the constitution under which the country was governed was not good for heterogeneous country like Nigeria.

“To put a stop at the various uprising in the country such as Niger Delta Avengers, MASSOB, IPOB etc, our constitution needs to be changed to allow for restructuring of the country under true federalism.

Earlier, the founder of IYM, Elliot Uko, said that the event was to honour prominent Nigerians who had contributed to the growth and development of the country.

He said Igbo youth were committed to building a stronger Nigeria and to reduce the tension in the region, adding that true federalism would help the country to grow and prosper.

The highlight of the event was presentation of awards to Messrs. Gana, Adebayo, detained Biafra secessionist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and Ms. Briggs.

The event was also attended by former governors of Anambra, Chukwuemeka Ezeife and Peter Obi, and students from tertiary institutions in the South-East.

(NAN)