'Lack of Political Will Is Stalling Resettlement of Bakassi'

West African coast near the Gulf of Guinea. Traditional leaders in Bakassi want to secede from Nigeria., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

SATURDAY MAGAZINE

‘LACK OF POLITICAL WILL IS STALLING RESETTLEMENT OF BAKASSI’

Saturday, 09 November 2013 18:31
by Anietie Akpan

Twelve years after the People of Bakassi lost their ancestral home, they are hanging around in school buildings as refugees, feeding on rice and beans. Paramount ruler of the place, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, remains livid with this development as can be gleaned from this interview. The man who describes himself as the only legitimate voice and spiritual head of the Bakassi people, also spoke on other issues.

WHAT is the significance of October 10th to your people and to you as the Paramount Ruler of Bakassi?

Every 10th of October is a significant day in the calendar of the Bakassi people all over the world, because it was on that day that their ancestral home was ceded to Cameroon. That ceding has caused a permanent injury to me as a person, and to all Bakassi people all over the world. It is a special day that we would not forget in a hurry because the ceding was done in circumstances that only God Almighty can explain. I wish those who did that well, and I hope it would not repeat itself anywhere in Nigeria. However, I want to assure everybody, including the international community that the matter is not over. Because up till this moment, resettlement problems still linger as the people of Bakassi have not been properly resettled internally.

The dislocations have even affected government policies to the extent that they are now looking for the actual people. So many things are going into the wrong hands and as I speak, the only Bakassi people that have benefitted from government policies and programmes are about just about eight or 10. These are my humble self, member representing the area in the state House of Assembly, the council chairman and his vice, and the five councilors in the area. These are the direct beneficiaries of government projects, policies and programmes while the rest of the people are scattered all over the place. Must they continue that way?

The federal government has set up various committees to look at these problems. But all you see is relief materials being sent to people, who are not on ground, and we have decided to keep quiet for certain reasons. Now, the Bakassi people have been disenfranchised and that is the greatest harm you can do to a people. Now we do not have the right to vote again and so do not have a stake in how we are governed.

I thank Governor Liyel Imoke for his efforts so far in trying to right the wrongs done to us. But the federal government is not forthcoming. Very soon, we would heap the blame on the federal government because it cannot continue to set up committees that are not producing the right results. The Effiok Cobham-led committee is a glaring example of one of those set up that the result is still being awaited. It should not take the federal government so long to come out with a white paper, where it should state what they want to do with the Bakassi people.

Unfortunately, the international community is not saying anything about the plight of the Bakassi people. What they only do is come around and continue to interview me and ask questions continually. For how long shall we continue this way?

It is alleged that the Bakassi people are not united and that is the reason that their problems still persist.

The matter is not that of speaking with different voices. The federal government should know what to do with the area they ceded. There is no other voice for the people of Bakassi. I am the only voice and there is no legitimate voice than this voice that you are hearing. I don’t know what other voice they are looking for. If you are hearing any other voice then that voice is illegitimate. I am the traditional head of Bakassi and I am the spiritual head and owner of the place. I have spoken that we need to be resettled properly. Or what is hard for the federal government to resettle a people from an area, which they ceded, which has never happened anywhere in the world?

We have accepted our fate and the new location and we are still waiting to be properly resettled. But the whole thing appears to be a contraption as they keep on sending relief materials instead of doing the right thing. So I ask, for how long would they continue to feed us because that is not our culture. Part of our culture is to practice fishing, trading and farming and not to sit down and receive rice and beans every other time. Or if I may ask, what are they encouraging? Just imagine the number of years that they have kept on sending rice and beans. Is it not shameful that government should be sending rice and beans to people, whom a section of them are camped somewhere and people flock there to stay so they can eat rice and beans? The real Bakassi people would not go and stay in one small hut longer than three days. They would go out to do their fishing. I told President Goodluck Jonathan that even if he takes Bakassi people to the villa, they would not sit down there idle, in spite of the beautiful environment. They would demand to go back to their fishing. That is what they want and that is why some of them at Ekpri Ikang said they could no longer stay and went back to go and face whatever hardships the Gendarmes were going to put them through as they do their fishing. Whoever is sending down rice and beans should stop. Why don’t they properly resettle these people by giving them money to go and do their trading? We want proper resettlement and not what the government is doing. The women are still giving birth there and adding more problems to problems. This rice thing should be stopped so that they can give proper resettlement to the people.

What do you think is stalling the proper resettlement of the people in the new location?

I think what is stalling our proper resettlement is the lack of political will. Secondly, at the federal government level, we don’t have any person from Bakassi at the centre. At the state level, we don’t have anybody except the young man in the House of Assembly. So who is able to drive the Bakassi matter apart from myself, and you know I am the traditional ruler and there is a limit to where I can go. Is there any Bakassi person that is a minister and so on? There is none and I think that is one of the main problems.

It is also pertinent to understand that this is a very delicate matter that involves human lives. So the international community should know that the people apart from being Nigerians are citizens of the world and need to be protected. If they are citizens of the world, the world should be able to protect them.

So, what is the way out for the Bakassi people since you have said that the numerous committees are not helping matter?

The stage we are now is that of resettlement and I don’t see what is wrong in the federal government calling on Governor Imoke to come and pick N10b as first tranche for the resettlement process and so get it off the ground. I, as a person can resettle the Bakassi people in three months if given the opportunity to do so and everybody would be satisfied. There is no point setting up committees to do that. So the critical matter now is proper resettlement of the people.

So I want to use this medium to ask President Jonathan these questions. ‘Is it not possible for you to resettle this people; and what would it cost Nigeria to resettle a people whom ancestral land was ceded to the Cameroon?

We all know that in recorded history, when a people are handicapped, another group of other people usually come to their aid, offering assistance and help. So our prayer is that one day; God will bring somebody or group of people that would come and say no to this injustice that Nigeria has done to the Bakassi people. When the wrath of God would be visited on certain persons, it is then that questions would be asked because when you push a people to a point, there is bound to be a reaction. For now, it is difficult to believe that a president who is from the South-South region; and who knows the predicament of the Bakassi and indeed the South South having stayed there for sometimes, is not doing enough to remedy the situation. This is very bad. If I tell Bakassi people to land at Ekpri Ikang now, you will see them from everywhere. If they come and there is nothing they will go back. They will not stay in a school building or a block and get rice.