Paradise News

Tag: Bakassi

  • We did not call for delisting of Bakassi – Group clarifies

    We did not call for delisting of Bakassi – Group clarifies

    By Kelvin Obambon

    The Indigenous Displaced People of Bakassi Communities has come out to clarify the misconception and misrepresentation of their petition to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding the plight of Bakassi.

    Contrary to claims that the group had called for the delisting of Bakassi Local Government as one of the 774 councils in Nigeria, The Indigenous Displaced People of Bakassi Communities led by Chief Iyadim Amboni Iyadim, said that the local government area is a creation of the constitution and as such the group could not and would not even contemplate such move.

    Iyadim, who spoke during a meeting in Calabar Friday, said “Naturally, it is in my best interest and that of the group I represent to debunk and then challenge anybody living or dead to produce such document written by me or the group I represent and signed by us to the press as proof calling on the Federal Government to delist Bakassi from the 774 Councils in Nigeria.”

    He affirmed that Bakassi has come to stay and that no individual or group can remove it from books without going through a rigorous constitutional process.

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    “I know my left from right having gone through a lot of processes, I can make bold to say that I am a thorough bred. I know we are in the end times and people can rise and raise an accusation on somebody without fear of God or consequences. A group of charlatans and political greenhorns who do not have any sense of history about Bakassi nor have in their lifetime been part of Bakassi struggle from the Creation, to Ceding, to the Resettlement after 17 years of ICJ Judgement.

    “However, I am happy for few of their positions and that our group which are not different especially as it concerns the Coastal reclamation of Dayspring 1,2 and Qua Island which remains the unceded part of the old peninsula in order to restore our dignity and give us that political and traditional identity.

    “Let us put here and now that we are not in anyway antagonizing the administration of Hon. Effiong Okon as Chairman of Bakassi Local Government as widely speculated nor that of His Excellency the Governor of Cross River State Apostle Prince Bassey Edet Otu by our detractors but merely deploying constitutionally recognized approach to drive home the point of Proper Resettlement of Displaced People of Bakassi as promised by the Federal government 17 years ago, hence a Save Our Soul letter to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

    “A burden to resettle the displaced people of Bakassi is too much for the State to shoulder at this time. It is also proofable that we are all registered members of the ruling APC and had worked tirelessly to elect His Excellency as well other standard bearers of the Party in the last general election; as men and women of conscience, we cannot for whatever reason or gain destroy that which we invested time, energy and resources to build.

    “I have with me a copy of the letter we sent to Mr President on the 6th of February, 2025 through the office of our counsel Obol Okoi Obono Obla. It was endorsed by my humble self and twenty-eight others to you to vet and show where “delisting” was written either as heading or in the body of the letter. If this is not found or any other proof beyond reasonable doubt, the gentleman of the esteemed profession should henceforth scrutinize any information brought to it by any sinister group(s) who do not have any idea of their own but doing the bidding of their slave masters for little political games before making any publication.”

    To further buttress his position, Iyadim who is a former chairman of Bakassi local government area, read out the 7 prayers captured in the letter sent to the president.

    “Mr. President Sir, for justices sake we plead that you use your good self and office to treat expeditiously our underlisted prayers.

    PRAYERS
    1. That the Federal Government through the National Assembly should pass a resolution to resettle the displaced people of Bakassi in the unceded parts of the pennisula DAYSPRING 1, 2, and KWA ISLAND. AS SHOWN IN CROSS RIVER STATE MAP ATTACHED.

    2. The legal transfer and relocation of the administrative headquarters in Bakassi Local Government Area from Ikot Effiom to ABANA in Dayspring Island.

    3. Immediate land reclamation and shoreline protection and other infrastructural development of Dayspring 1, 2 and Kwa Island to give the displaced people of Bakassi Local Government Area their identity and sense of belonging.

    4. Provision of adequate security in DAYSPRING 1, 2 and Kwa Islands to protect the lives and properties of the displaced people of Bakassi.

    5. As ruled by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on the application of Local Government Area autonomy fund. Bakassi Local Government Area allocation should be used to further develop constituted Bakassi State Constituency in DAYSPRING 1, 2 and KWA ISLAND.

    6. That, since INEC won in the Supreme court on suit file by the people of Ikang dated 23rd February 2018 setting aside the “Cross River State House of Assembly LAW No. 7 of 2007” the law should be Repealed by Cross River State House of Assembly for want of contempt.

    7. The president should please direct RMAFC and Ministry of Finance to withhold and keep Federal Allocation meant for Bakassi Local Government in an ESCROW account to stop further fraud and misappropriation of funds.”

  • Press Release: Misleading, Deceitful And Fraudulent Agitation For Unceded Part Of The Erstwhile Bakassi: The Truth Perspective

    Press Release: Misleading, Deceitful And Fraudulent Agitation For Unceded Part Of The Erstwhile Bakassi: The Truth Perspective

    The attention of the peace and development loving Ikang Joint Assembly, Bakassi Local Government Area has been drawn to the selfish and greed-driven TVC interview granted by Barr. Okoi Obono Obla, TVC interview granted by Senator Florence Ita Giwa, petition requesting the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to delist Bakassi from the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria and their agitation for unceded part of the erstwhile Bakassi in Dayspring 1, 2 and Kwa Island under the name of “Indigenous Displaced People of Bakassi”.

    The underlying upshot of this wicked agitation is perpetuation of underdevelopment and backwardness in Bakassi Local Government as presently constituted. This same people whose style of administration has always been, collection of Federal Allocation and sharing same in a Leader’s sitting room without consideration for infrastructural and human capital development have consistently defrauded Bakassi for many years without anything to show until now that Bakassi is greeted with practical and evidential development.

    Now development committed and determined administration is on the saddle to change such narratives that can best describe the agitators’ many years era as benighted. And because of that, Bakassi should be delisted from the Nigerian Constitution. Why? It is even more wicked that the front-liner in this agitation, Hon. Iyadim Amboni Iyadim who left office as Chairman of Bakassi less than 1 year ago, is now crying wolf.

    THE UNCEDED PART OF ERSTWHILE BAKASSI QUESTION
    Ine Inua Esighi which the agitators try to rename was captured in the Cross River State Edict No. 1 of 1996 and listed as the 8th Village under Esighi Clan in Akpabuyo Local Government. Even when Bakassi was created later in 1996, Ine Inua Esighi in the so-called Dayspring was still not under the former Bakassi Local Government Area.

    The people of Esighi till today, are collecting royalties for Dayspring with receipts to show and strengthen their position. We have gazetted maps showing names of the villages that belong to Esighi and Ikang clans before the arrival of the plunderers. What do they have to show that Dayspring, so called, is the unceded part of former Bakassi?

    The plan and design to forcefully and cunningly annex these islands that belong to the people of Esighi together with their call for relocation of a fully established Local Government Administration with a functional Local Government Secretariat to where their duplicity will continue thriving, is all the more very discomfiting. The huge benefit Bakassi Deep Sea Port Project is bringing to Bakassi, Cross River State and beyond does not sit well with them.

    PERTINENT QUESTIONS
    Without mincing words, Senator Florence Ita Giwa was a “particeps crimini” in all the events, talks and negotiations that culminated in the heartless ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon. And the questions are:
    Senator Florence Ita Giwa having been a law maker, Presidential Aid and many more in the Government that supervised the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon, why didn’t she achieve all her agitations when she had the chance to effortlessly get them all?

    Given all Senator Florence Ita Giwa’s various appointments and positions vis-à-vis her inclinations as an activist and Dayspring pressure group leader, how many people did she empower to build even one house in Atabong in justification of their agitation for a place of their own as displaced people who left their homes in Cameroon?

    At what point did these places she is strongly agitating for become unceded part as edict no 1 of 1996 has never mentioned Dayspring or any island to be a village under any place other than Ine Inua Esighi in Esighi clan?

    Calling the Federal Government to delist or delete Bakassi from the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria by these set of selfish antagonists, reminds us of Solomon’s judgment that revealed the true  owner of the child that two mothers claimed, 1 Kings 3:16-28.

    It was in an attempt to maintain its structure as a sovereign nation that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) decided to assist these strangers to return and join real indigenous people of Bakassi who are now busy developing their Local Government and are being applauded for it. Cross River State Government even decided to make them comfortable by maintaining the name Bakassi in the adjustment of the boundaries between Akpabuyo and former Bakassi through the Cross River State Law No. 7 of 2007. As such, the name Bakassi cannot be delisted from the constitution as it remains part and parcel of Cross River State, having been a duly and validly passed law of Cross River State.

    We wish to restate that Dayspring 1, 2 and Kwa Island were never part of the erstwhile Bakassi Peninsula and/or part of the defunct Bakassi communities now under the jurisdiction of the Cameroon Republic by virtue of the ICJ judgment of 2002. These Islands can therefore not be said to be unceded parts of the former Bakassi Local Government. Even when the Supreme Court Judgment made it clear that there was no unceded part of Bakassi as it was ceded in its ENTIRETY, these dare devil liars keep taunting and pushing their deceitful narrative that Dayspring 1, 2 and Kwa Island are their unceded part of the erstwhile Bakassi.

    These people are dangerously steep in lies. This is how they flew the kite and propaganda that the Governor had given them Dayspring 1, 2 and Kwa Island for their Local Government and that Ikang people must move to Akpabuyo where they belong and leave them alone. On the basis of this cheap propaganda, they filed strangers to impersonate landlords of the Deep Sea Port Project and collected royalties during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Bakassi Deep Sea Port in Esighi.

    During an interface with the Governor, His Excellency made it categorically clear that Bakassi is one, that is, one indivisible people. But the impersonators keep undermining the policies of Government just because their selfish interest is not fertilized.

    The Green Tree Agreement gave them the option of staying in Cameroon or coming to Nigeria. So, if they want to go back to their ancestral communities now in Cameroon, they don’t need to ask for delisting of Bakassi from the 744 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. We are comfortable with the authentic Bakassi indigenes now in power and clearing the underdevelopment mess they piled up for many years.

    Greed, duplicity and loss of power to share Bakassi Local Government allocation meant for meaningful development is eating them up.

      

  • You are a champion of justice, Bakassi people hail Gov Otu

    You are a champion of justice, Bakassi people hail Gov Otu

     

    By Kelvin Obambon

    People of Bakassi local government area have showered encomiums on the Cross River State Governor, Senator Prince Bassey Edet Otu, describing him as a champion of justice.

    The commendation follows the governor’s declaration that the state government would no longer accept the idea of the displaced Bakassi people living as refugee in their own land.

    Speaking during the official signing and endorsement ceremony for the Bakassi Deep Seaport project by stakeholders in Calabar on Thursday, gov Otu particularly expressed concern about the plight of Bakassi people who over the years have been alienated in their own land and forced to live as refugee, and therefore demanded an end to it.

    Applauding the governor for the bold declaration, the Paramount Ruler of Bakassi, HRM (Dr) Etim Okon Edet, at a press conference in Calabar on Friday, said that governor Otu has given the Bakassi people a future they had long yearned for. He commended the people of Bakassi for their courage, determination and resilience, which according to him, has paid off.

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    “I salute you O Bakassi people. I salute your courage, your resilience. I salute your determined spirit. When all else beareth chains, when part of your home was taken away from you, your heart became your home and only sanctuary in a devastating world. Apart from the children of Israel, you are the next courageous and most determined race on earth.

    “The Exodus of the Hebrews from the hands of their cruel task-masters is one of the most triumphant stories in the Old Testament history and the book of Exodus is an amazing book. It is an epic tale of oppression, deliverance and freedom. But Israel’s bondage in Egypt had disciplined Israel, preparing them to go through the wilderness in order to be in the promised land. Your bondage has indeed prepared you for an exciting future. The future started yesterday by no other person than the State Gov Prince Bassey Otu.

    “My dear Bakassi people and gentlemen of the press, justice has been a universal longing of human heart since the beginning of time. In the most basic context, the ten commandments for example present the idea that wrong doings and violations of others for one’s own benefit is not only a sin against the Creator of the human race, but it is also unacceptable in a civilized society where respect and protection are essential. In our own case, “JUDGEMENT turned away backward and justice standeth afar off, truth fell on the street and equity could not enter”. We are here today to thank Gov Otu for being the CHAMPION OF JUSTICE AND TRUTH IN THE BAKASSI SITUATION.

    “FOR the past 17 years we have faced humanitarian, economic, social, political and security problems. Our welfare and security was no more the primary purpose of government. The devil hates free people. But we have been set free by the blood of the lamb.

    “May God bless Prince Otu. May God bless his family. May we specially thank the Press for their support over the years.

    “In the words of O.J. Sanders, “the eyes that look are common, the eyes that see are rare”.

    “Senator Prince Bassey Otu is the “OTU-EKONG BAKASSI,” he said.

    Throwing more light on the import of the governor’s declaration, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Host Communities, Chief Udeme Okon, explained that “Yesterday (Thursday), the governor made it practically clear to everybody, which is also an established fact from the presidency to the National Boundary Commission, and other institutions, including the traditional institutions, that Bakassi Peninsula was a conglomeration of islands.

    “Those islands were five. Only two were ceded to Cameroon. The remaining three are: Dayspring 1, Dayspring 2 and Qua Island. That’s why the governor said the people cannot be in camp. The traditional rulers cannot govern in a camp. A camp is not a community. Let the people return to the unceded part of the peninsula that remains in Nigeria.

    “That peninsula is going to secure the litoral status of the state because the communities will be litoral and the National Boundary Commission is going to profile and gazette them. Then the 13 percent is paid to the state because the state will now be able to secure the litoral status back. It is not the landlocked environment of Ikang.”