Former Special Adviser to ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo on National Assembly Matters, Mrs. Florence Ita-Giwa,
has asked the Federal Government not to “waste” money appealing the
ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
The International Court of Justice
handed the oil-rich peninsula to Cameroon in 2002. Nigeria has till
Tuesday (today) to appeal the judgment.
However, Ita-Giwa, who had championed
the struggle for the reversal of the judgment, on Monday made a U-turn,
saying the government should instead channel the money for the appeal
to resettle the displaced Bakassi people at Day Spring Island.
The former lawmaker said this at a rally attended by Bakassi indigenes in Calabar, Cross River State on Monday.
Continue after the cut...
She said if there were things to be
done to review the matter, it should have been done four or five years
ago, adding that though Nigerians had shown great interest in the
Bakassi issue belatedly, the displaced persons want to be resettled.
Ita-Giwa said, “Today we are still
displaced people and displaced people are worse than refugees. For 10
years after the judgment, we have cried, nobody listened to us. Today,
we are surprised that two days to the expiration, people have gone to
court. We appreciate efforts of the sCross River State Government, but
what we want is shelter.
“Many well-meaning Nigerians,
organisations and groups have severally advocated a revisit of the ICJ
judgment. Quite recently, the National Assembly even passed a resolution
asking for a revisit of the judgment.
“We equally remember that two members of
the National Assembly representing Cross River State, Essien Ayi and
Senator Bassey Otu, at different times moveds motions on the floor of
the National Assembly sometimes in 2006.
“As we speak, all these efforts seem to
be in futility. While acknowledging these efforts by these
well-spirited Nigerians and the press, for bringing the plight of the
Bakassi people to the front burner, we wish this issue of ICJ revisit
had come much earlier. We call on the Federal Government to use the
money meant for appeal to resettle the people properly.”
She said a majority of the people claiming to represent Bakassi people had not been to the area.
On the allegation that about N6bn was
appropriated for the resettlement of Bakassi people and that she was the
Chairman of the Resettlement Committee, Ita-Giwa said the committee
was set up after the Ikang resettlement camp had been built, adding
that the committee was not given any money.
-Punch
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