Bakassi is
a border region in the oil-rich Delta region of Nigeria.
In 2002 an
International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled that the disputed region be
ceded to Cameroon. Part of the region was handed over in 2006. Nigerian
President Umaru Yar’Adua has reportedly assured his Cameroonian counterpart
that the handover would go ahead as planned.
However, this week a federal high
court, ruling in favor of the people of Bakassi, said the handover should be
delayed until a compensation claim is resolved.
Cletus Obun is a community leader
in cross river state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He told Nightline’s
Akwei Thompson the people of Bakassi are asking for more than a delay of
transfer their oil-rich region.
“The people of Bakassi are asking for
a full stoppage of the process because it violates the sovereignty of Nigeria
as a nation ” he said.
The Bakassi community leader said
not only has the right of self-determination of the people of Bakassi been
fundamentally violated, but that the Nigerian government “did not exhaust all
the avenues that are applicable to them under the international statute.”
Sighting as an example,
among several others, Obun went on to say that Nigeria failed to exercise “the
right within ten years to appeal against the judgment of the International
Criminal Court, for judicial review within the International Court at the
Hague.”