…”we don’t want to lose any part of Cross River State again” says Gov Otu
…”we don’t want to lose any part of Cross River State again” says Gov Otu
By Nsa Gill
CalabarA fifteen-member Federal House of Representatives Ad hoc committee on International Boundary dispute held public hearing at the weekend in Calabar and received position papers from stakeholders of Danare and Biajua communities of Boki Local government area in Cross River State in the boundary dispute with Cameroon.Calabar
A fifteen-member Federal House of Representatives Ad hoc committee on International Boundary dispute held public hearing at the weekend in Calabar and received position papers from stakeholders of Danare and Biajua communities of Boki Local government area in Cross River State in the boundary dispute with Cameroon.
The Committee embarked on a spot assessment of the disputed area before sitting in for the public hearing held in a conference hall of the Transcop Hotel and suite, Calabar.
Cross River State Governor, Senator Bassey Otu represented at the hearing by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Emmanuel Ironbar, charged the National Assembly committee to do a painstaking job to unravel the truth because after losing part of Cross River State over the Bakassi area dispute, the state does not want to lose any part again.
In her opening remarks, the chairman of the committee, Rt. Hon. Benni Lar noted that the crux of our mission is to carry out the mandate of the House of Representatives which passed a Resolution on Wednesday 05 July 2023 on the need to investigate both the remote and recent circumstances leading to the looming INTERNATIONAL
BOUNDARY DISPUTE BETWEEN NIGERIA AND CAMEROON towards
unraveling the circumstances that led to the non-traceability and/or displacement of a very vital international PILLAR 113A IN THE DEMARCATION of the boundaries between Nigeria and the Cameroon
along the Biajua and Danare axis of Boki LGA which also even goes up to areas of ADAMAWA STATE
INCLUSIVE OF SINA AREA OF MICHIKA LGA of Adamawa State.”
That “the House of Representatives did note with curiosity that the displacement and/or non-traceability of that vital INTERNATIONAL PILLAR 113A would pose a perennial existential possibility of CEDING SUCH VITAL AREAS OF NIGERIA to the Cameroon, a situation Nigeria can not condone, hence, the constitution of this Ad-Hoc Committee.”
“Our mission simply therefore is a FACT FINDING MISSION: to leverage inputs from the affected communities because, as the saying goes: fit is only the person that is wearing a shoe that knows where it pinches”:
“We are here to visit the points of turmoil (which we did today before this Session began), hold an OPEN PUBLIC HEARING (which we are doing right now) by which we collect memoranda on the proper position of you, the affected communities, and draw and agree on a COMMUNIQUE that will inform our final REPORT back to the Federal Parliament,”
A Position paper was presented by Danare community, read out by Kingsley O. Mbia. Godwin Enu Bessong presented the position Buajua community while Comrade Peter Bette presented a position on behalf of CSO/NGOs working in the area.
The position papers revealed that pressure over the missing pillar along the boundary line is coming from Nigerians working under the National Boundary Commission and those working with the Technical Committee of the United Nations mixed Commission.
The communities noted that Cameroon are not even raising any dust over the matter because neighboring communities of Cameroon know the boundary and have been leaving peacefully with their Nigerian neighbours.
They maintained that the officials of the National Boundary Commission have been insisting on taking a taking a new boundary alignment that will practically cede a large portion of Nigeria’d land with Nigerians to Cameroon.
Hon.Cletus Obun, a former state legislator who comes from the disputed area adumbrated on the position papers from the affected communities and pleaded with the National Assembly committee to protect the interest of Nigerians who want to remain Nigerians.
He requested that the committee use the opportunity to take a holistic look at the activities of the National Boundary Commission on the various decisions taken on Nigeria’s boundary areas with Francophone neighbors because most boundary disputes are often with Francophone countries. He cited the instance of the ceded area of Bakassi and insisted on a thorough look at the National Boundary Commission.
In her closing remarks, the Committee Chairman, Rt. Hon. Lar thanked all stakeholders for their contributions and urged that state office of the surveyor General to submit a written position within 7 days to the committee while assuring that the interest of Nigeria will be protected and defended in their resolution.
Cross River State Governor, Senator Bassey Otu later granted audience to the committee on Saturday evening.
The committee members included three members from federal constituencies in Cross River State, namely Hon. Victor Abang representing Boki /Ikom Federal Constituency, Hon. Joseph Bassey representing Bakassi, Calabar South and Akpabuyo federal Constituency and Hon. Akiba Bassey representing Calabar Municipal Odukpani Federal constituency.