The Senate on yesterday passed a resolution calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to appeal an international ruling which handed the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbor Cameroon a decade ago.
Nigeria relinquished control of
Bakassi in 2008, six years after the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) ruled it belonged to Cameroon.
The ruling followed years of
political disputes, legal skirmishes and violence that killed dozens of
people.
The Senators argued that
the judgment was "erroneously based on agreement between the British and
Calabar Chiefs in 1884" and that "there has never been a precedent in
history where any case of this nature was executed without a referendum
as enshrined by the United Nations," the resolution said.
They
also said that an agreement between the neighbors that Nigerian
nationals have their rights protected was not being respected by
Cameroon, but gave no further details.
The ICJ gave Bakassi to Cameroon in 2002, based on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.
The
two African countries, which nearly went to war over Bakassi on several
occasions, had agreed to work together to explore for oil in the
region, which could help boost Cameroon's declining production of around
90,000 barrels per day.
Around 90
percent of the population of the Bakassi peninsula, estimated at 200,000
to 300,000, are Nigerian fishermen and their families who do not want
to be Cameroonians.
A movement
called the Bakassi Self-Determination Front last month declared
independence from Nigeria or Cameroon, hoisting a flag and setting up an
FM radio station. It is not clear how big the movement is or whether it
poses a security threat.
"It is
the wish of this Senate that Bakassi Island should not be ceded to
Cameroon and that Nigeria should appeal the judgment of the
International Court of Justice," Senate President David Mark said.
There was no immediate reaction from Cameroon.
Reuters
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