25 February 2018
While I welcome the decisive Supreme Court Judgement on the actual location for the New Bakassi Local Government Area after the ceding of the Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon by the International Court of Justice Judgement and subsequent conflicting positions of political elites for the new location for the new Bakassi LGA despite the passage of a law by the C.R.S House of Assembly, the Judgement has however not addressed how the traditional institution will function in the new Bakassi Local Government Area but merely looked at the electoral system in particular & the political system in general of the new Local Government Area.
At this point, many people will be wondering how Paramount Ruler of Bakassi LGA will be from the ceded Territory of Bakassi instead of being from one of the Landlord Communities in the New Bakassi LGA.
Is the creation of the New Bakassi LGA now resulting in the degrading of their indigeneship status of the owners of the land where the new LGA is being established? It is my candid opinion that it is absolutely unfair to the indigenous people of the New Bakassi LGA for the Paramount Ruler not to be selected from among them.
I also think that with this Judgement, the National Assembly Representatives of Bakassi LGA should seek a constitutional amendment of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to designate a new Headquarters for the New Bakassi LGA while deleting Abana that is named in the 1999 Constitution.
INEC at this point should take appropriate steps to create, in partnership with the state Electoral commission, the appropriate state & local constituencies for the area while reconsidering, with a view to increase or maintaining the status quo, that of the present Akpabuyo LGA where the New Bakassi LGA was carved from. It is of utmost importance for the Federal Government to determine if Day spring Island one & two belongs to the country or is part of the territory we lost as result of the ICJ judgement that did not go in our favour.
It shall no longer be acceptable for us to loose any more territories to the Cameroonians because of the negligence of our state or federal governments. Let the resolution of all contending issues in the New Bakassi LGA be on the spotlight of every concerned stakeholders so that we can get it right this time.
Ben Usang
Is a Civil Society Leader, Development Activist &Public Affairs Commentator, He writes from Calabar, Nigeria
