Cameroon and Nigeria: inexorably linked NEXTDOOR neighbours
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
AUGUST 19TH, 2012
Calabar
All appears not to be okay with the recent agitation by the Bakassi Self Determination Front (BSDF), the militant group which several days ago declared that it had commenced violent struggle for the liberation of the area from Cameroun.
Signs to this effect came to the fore on Friday when another group, the Bakassi Patriotic Front (BPF) – which claims to be the real militant wing representing the interest of the Bakassi people – reared its head. Acclaimed leader of the BPF, who gave his name as “General ” Ephriam Ekpe, said they decided to counter the BSDF because its activities had been at variance with the interest of the Bakassi people, who refused to move to Ikang, which they said is Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State.
Ekpe, who made his position known through a signed statement made available to Sunday Independent, said the BPF would not allow the BSDF to enter Bakassi because their activities are already constituting a threat to the lives and property of those of them who have remained in the territory and have in recent times been working silently to reclaim it. The statement tagged, “Rejection of Bakassi Self Determination Front in Bakassi”, reads in part:
“We have watched in silence but with keen interest the moves by the Bakassi Self Determination Front to enter Abana and take over Bakassi. Let it be stated that they are impersonating as freedom fighters for the people of Bakassi. Where have they been since these years when we have been fighting in our own style to keep Bakassi, the land of our fathers? We will not let those gang sponsored by politicians who have been cheating us to step in Abana or any part of Bakassi.
“The so-called generals and militants should be warned to remain in Calabar, where they have been all these years. All the claims the youths who reside in Calabar , under the aegis of the so-called Bakassi Self Determination Front that they have entered any part of Bakassi, is nothing but propaganda that must be ignored by those who are truly fighting for the freedom of Bakassi.
“Very soon, the world will know who the real Bakassi patriots are and will take them serious as they march to reclaim their land and restore permanent peace in the land that God has given to our fathers and ancestors.”
The statement further claimed that since the BSDF commenced it activities, especially in the media, the lives of the Bakassi people who are still in their homes are being threatened and endangered as the Cameroun military have become more vigilant and circumspect in conducting checks and searches on Nigerians, especially the local villagers who are still residing in the peninsula. Aside the militants, the BPF officials claimed that they enjoy the support of the genuine leaders of the Bakassi people who have been offering them support.
Ekpe said in the next few days the BPF would fully establish itself as the true foot soldier of the Bakassi people that should be relied on. Efforts to get the reaction of the BSDF proved abortive as no contact could be established with one Commander-General Ekpe Ekpenyong Oku, the self professed leader of the BSDF, proved abortive.
But a politician from Bakassi who refused to be quoted said the BPF members are youths from Bakassi who have been compromised to fight against the interest of the Bakassi people. “What do you expect? Those who have taken everything and positions that belong to the Bakassi people must do everything possible to prevent the sons and daughters of Bakassi from reclaiming their land and their rights. Ephraim Ekpe cannot be from Bakassi, let alone be fighting for the liberation. He is fighting against the liberation of Bakassi. We know them and their antecedents. But, watch out, very soon God will disgrace them,” he said.
Recently, the BSDF established a radio station and hoisted a flag on Day Spring Island, near Calabar, signifying the declaration of war to reclaim Bakassi from Cameroun.
Yeah, we got some truly remote and inaccessible mountain villages transferred to Adamawa, Taraba and Borno states during the border demarcation.
Places such as Ndabakura, Bourha-Vango, Danbore, Kirta Wulgo, Sagir, Lellelede, and Ali Sherifti come to mind
BOURHA VANGO in the Mandara Mountains
(Transferred to Nigeria from Cameroon during the border demarcation)
I NEED MORE PHOTOS THEN I CAN GIVE YOU A MORE ENLIGHTENED OPINION FROM A CIVIL ENGINEER’S POINT OF VIEW .OH AND DOES IT RAIN A LOT HERE?
The situation in Bakassi is deteriorating at an alarming rate. I feel like Nigeria made a massive mistake by following Cameroon to the ICJ in the first place. Matters of national sovereignty and the protection of citizens is not something that any serious country will gamble at the ICJ.
The fact is that The Bakassi people have no allegiance to the state of Cameroon and feel 100% Nigerian. This alone should give the Nigerian government the moral right to protect its citizens in their home land. Now they have been left confused and in the loop with no definitive nationality. But the Bakassi people live, think and breath Nigerian and this can be used by the Nigerian government to correct the mistakes already made by the Obassanjo administration.
Russia went into south ossetia and Abkhazia and crushed the Georgian military all in the name of defending Russian peacekeepers and its citizens in those two breakaway territories. The game of international politics and diplomacy is very funny because over time the Russians had systematically granted the bulk of both Ossetian and Abkhazian people Russian citizenship which helped immensely to back their claim that they were defending Russian citizens from Georgian aggression. The people of Bakassi are already Nigerian citizens and want no part of Cameroon. They are also being actively humiliated and harassed by Cameroonian security forces.
A direct military intervention by the Nigerian armed forces might raise too much dust on the international scene and serve to turn international opinion against Nigeria. Also Nigeria does not have the kind of international clout that Russia has to act and defend its actions. We do not have veto power on the security council nor do we have the muscle to force other countries to see things from our perspective. Plus in light of the serious insurgency in the north we probably lack the means to sustain a full scale conflict with Cameroon. It has been reported that the Nigerian military is in its largest deployment since the civil war.
however, I think Nigerian intelligence and defense intelligence should actively seek to unite the various factions within the bakassi people, covertly train them possibly somewhere in Nigeria and arm them to defend themselves against Cameroonian military aggression. As the regional power we should be able to manipulate the region in our interest and make Bakassi ungovernable for Cameroon. The Cameroonian government might accuse Nigeria of arming the rebels but the government just needs to deny and ask for proof while itself pointing to the situation in the Niger delta which is affecting Nigeria. The dictatorial instincts of Biya will probably translate into a poorly calculated heavy handed response which will serve to depict the Bakassi people as the victims of a heartless despot. Overtime, this can translate into Bakassi becoming somewhat of an autonomous region technically within Cameroon but operationally within Nigeria as Cameroon will have no authority over the region.
Before now(2009-2010), when the Africa Marine Commando and the Bakassi Freedom Fighters, were the only known armed groups on the Peninsula, their links to the Niger Delta militants who provided training and logistics, was not concealed. Google the Ijaw-sounding name “Commander Ebi Dari” who simultaneously had something to do with the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council and the Bakassi Freedom Fighters. Connect the dots.
With or without Nigerian support, any conflict in the Bakassi Peninsula would suck in loose cannons and mercenaries from the Niger Delta.
Every other country would do just what you have prescribed, Owi. That is the reason why Turkey with a 30-year rebellion in Turkish Kurdistan have their sights set on and are manipulating outcomes in Iraqi Kurdistan for instance. That was why the Turks entered Northern Cyprus in 1974.
Same reason why Pakistan, whose Pashtoon elements in Waziristan are neck-deep involved in the Afghanistan conflicts alongside their Pashtoon kinsmen on the other side of the border.
We would always rather play goodie-goodie, even as the agitated folk are Nigerians. Nigeria try too hard to please everyone. Unfortunately, politics and diplomacy are chiefly the business of the amoral.
Have Egypt left the Halaib Triangle, the subject of contention between the Sudanese and Egyptians? Have Israel let go of the Golan Heights? No nation became great without hurting someone else’s interests at any level.
Was that not the big idea behind colonialism and the slave trade? The pursuit by the predator nation of what they perceived to be their enlightened self-interest?
I do not want Nigeria and Cameroon to go back to renewed armed conflict but something, I dunno what, has to be done about this conundrum. If armed conflict breaks out on the Bakassi Peninsula, our people shall suck Niger Delta militants into the conflict. They shall use Nigerian territory as rear bases and for training and replenishment. Refugees shall flood back into their country, Nigeria, and at some level we shall directly or jointly have to undertake counterinsurgency operations at the Ikang border.
Turbulent times lie ahead. The major problem here is that Cameroon is a police state and its security forces are control freaks. That does not go down well with individualistic Nigerians who are accustomed to life sans the overbearing control of the State. That is one reason why they are always having these tiffs with Cameroonian gendarmes.
The question is: does the Nigerian government maintain the institutional and intellectual assets required to sustain such an operation?
It will be a very tricky game to play.The most difficult part will be ensuring that the aggression of the armed groups are only in the direction of Cameroon and no Nigerian strategic national assets are put at risk.
Gentlemen, lets call a spade a spade. A kingdom divided against itself, cannot stand.
This bakassi issue, is a showcase, of the arrogance, and lack of sensitivity the big 3 ethnic groups have towards the rights and interests of the minority ethnic groups in nigeria.
Had bakassi being in the north, or the middle belt for that matter, their is no way General Gowon would have signed away nigerian territory to cameroun, out of gratitude for their assistance, in keeping another piece of nigeria’s territory from seceding.
Had bakassi being in the southwest, president Obasanjo would have being a lot more sober, and considerate of both the nationalist objections of nigerians in general, and the specific plight of the people of bakassi.
His treasured good standing with his international friends, should never have been maintained at the expense of nigerian citizens of bakassi.
The south easterners, the so called third leg of the nigerian 3 legged stool, has been basking in we told you so’s for damn near 42 years now.
But truth be told, those in southern minorities that were against the biafrans, were probably afraid of swapping northern and south western domination, for igbo domination.
But times are changing, the Ijaw nation, in the form of MEND, said to hell with the 3 legged stool concept in nigeria. If they could find a way, not to excessively intimidate the itsekiris and the others, they may be on to something profound in nigerian politics.
As for the middle belt, or the christian north, it seems like they are still hedging their bets.
So, which way nigeria ? Is it going to be regionalism or nationalism. Some say stronger & more prosperous regions, would make for a stronger & more prosperous nation. But they have to assume that the regions remain progressive, and see benefit, in belonging to the whole.
I understand what you mean and the truth is a national agenda and Identity is greatly lacking in the Nigerian equation. However do not forget that parts of Taraba state were also ceded to Cameroon.
Oga owi give all the information we got a lot of villages which were formally in Cameroon ceded to Nigeria . Please give all the information NOT ONLY THE INFLAMMATORY information some of the villages are miles deep in Minerals including OIL so play nice and play balanced.
The Cameroonian government might accuse Nigeria of arming the rebels but the government just needs to deny and ask for proof while itself pointing to the situation in the Niger delta which is affecting Nigeria.
I am quoting OGA OWI welcome back after a long spell. @ OGA DOZIEX ose o ( thank you) one thing about my brother from a different mother is he will tell it like it is even if the truth is bitter.
So where do we go from here.:
1) Make an offer to buy/ rent/ lease/ the land from his excellency PAUL BIYA
2) Neither COUNTRY wants this WAR because of the inevitable outcome
3) OGA OWI your ANALYSIS of the Georgia /Ossetia situation is eerily similar to the
Bakassi/ Cameroon situation The major difference is the Georgian PRIME MINISTER
openly tried to taunt the Russian Bear again we talk about receiving a few months of non lethal aid western training and it went to the Georgians heads.PAUL BIYA despite the over zealousness of some mis- guided gendarmes who will be easily dispatched one 80mm mortar shell has not a word. this is a major difference
4) It would be misguided at this point just because Nigeria can rightly seize bakassi to do so .Right now NIGERIA is in the midst of trying to reform / procure / train its armed forces/ contain and quash a mind- numbing insurgency in the north/as well (as we all know increase the population of its armed forces.This is more than enough for any conventional first world army let alone Nigeria A crude comparison would be America with its commitments in IRAQ (50,000) and Afghanistan (68,000) It is straining the armed forces
5) In conclusion High ranking Diplomatic efforts should be the key ( akinyemi, ajibola,koffi annan tony blair,j.j rawlings) can be called to settle this.This is one situation where play nice and keep your powder that is going to solve this problem.