No fewer than five Nigerians were reported dead and several others injured, some severely, after the government of Cameroon forcefully expelled over 1,000 Nigerians living in the Bakassi Peninsula who had accepted Cameroon’s sovereignty after they opted to remain in the area; in yet another unbridled breach of the 2005 Green Tree Agreement (GTA). Two women have put to bed in their refugee camp in Akwa Ikot Eyo, Akpabuyo Local Council of Cross River State.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Bakassi Local Council Chairman, Mr. Eyo Eyo, said the victims of the latest harassment “were living in Efut Obot Ikot and its adjoining settlements have been forcefully ejected by Cameroonian authorities.”
According to one of the returnees, who simply gave his name as Etim, “five people died in the stampede by Cameroonian authorities while several others were wounded, as the people now are completely cut away from their sources of livelihood.”
A spokesman for the displaced people, Chief Asuquo Etim Asuquo, said the incident occurred on March 7 when Cameroon invaded their settlements, accusing them of militancy. According to them, several persons were arrested and taken away, and it is not clear what their fate was.
Reacting to the incident, Chairman of Bakassi Local Council, Ekpo Ekpo Bassey, said the council was disturbed by the sad development because it shares common boundary with Cameroon in the west.
He called for the Nigerian government’s intervention, as “such cases and other security challenges were rampant in the area” and a “violation of the Green Tree Agreement which guarantees sovereignty for Nigerians wishing to remain in the peninsula and the right to their sources of livelihood.”
The GTA arrangement, based on the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, specified that Nigerians could decide to live in the Bakassi Peninsula under Cameroon’s sovereignty without any harassment or molestation, but recent development is quite on the contrary. Last year, the Cameroon authorities were reported to be harassing Nigerians in the territory, a development the Nigerian government frowned on, but did nothing to protect the rights of its citizens living in the area.
