Posted by From LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
President Umaru YaríAdua has said as painful as the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun is to the government and people of Nigeria, his administration has a responsibility to honour a commitment the country had made to the international community in that regard.
President Umaru YaríAdua has said as painful as the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun is to the government and people of Nigeria, his administration has a responsibility to honour a commitment the country had made to the international community in that regard.
Twenty four hours to the formal ceding of the oil rich peninsular to Cameroun , he confirmed in Abuja Monday that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondaoakaa had been mandated to go ahead tomorrow and formalize the hand-over process on behalf of the country.
His special adviser on communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi reconfirmed governmentís position Monday when he fielded questions from the state house correspondents on the subject, saying the issue is as painful to the president as it is to most Nigerians.
ìThis handing over process, as painful as it is for everyone, including the president, is a commitment we have made to the international community and we have a responsibility to keep itî, he pointed out, maintaining there were no legal encumberances to the issue as many thought.
As already made clear by the Attorney General of the federation, he said government was relying on the March 19, 2004 Federal High Courtís ruling delivered by Justice S.J. Adah.
ìI am not a lawyer, but I have been told that the Nigerian legal system has provisions for this kind of situation where courts of concurrent jurisdiction would give different rulings on the same issueî, he stated, calling attention to Justice Adahís ruling.
A Certified True Copy of Justice Adah's ruling which Adeniyi said the Federal Government sought for and obtained last week read in part:
ÖFrom the further affidavits of the plaintiffs, it is clear that there was† a dispute over the boundaries between Nigeria and Cameroun and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered judgement dated 10th October 2002. The part of the territory these plaintiffs have brought before this court was involved in the area litigated upon at the ICJ.
'Since the issue had been determined at that level, the decision binds all sovereign states that are members of the United Nations and no forum domesticum of member states can assume jurisdiction to review again what has been decided by the ICJ.'
With the issue of hand-over of Bakassi settled, the presidential spokesman said President YaríAdua was more concerned about the welfare of the people of the area who as Nigerians, have had their territory legally given to another country.
He assured that adequate arrangement had been made by government to ensure the comfort of the people, pointing out that to date, government had released about N3 billion for their resettlement, while another N1 billion was released for those in Borno State who lost territories to Chad in the same ICJ ruling.