- Government has a duty to protest the killing of Nigerians in Bakassi
When Nigeria lost the Bakassi region to Cameroun through a 2002 decision of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, there was an understanding that the people could stay and that only the political control was being ceded. Therefore, many Nigerians opted to remain on their ancestral land, believing that both sides would keep to the Green Tree Agreement after the formal transfer in 2008.
It is sad that almost 10 years after, the Cameroonians appear to be violently breaching the pact. It is unfortunate that, in a bid to enforce its control of the area, a disagreement over an odious fishing tax imposed on the people of the area led to a reckless killing of 97 Nigerians. This is unacceptable under any guise whatsoever. The established practice all is that the killing of nationals is unacceptable. One reason nations could engender the patriotic support of the citizens is by assuring that their interests wherever they may be would be protected. The ceding of the Bakassi peninsular to Cameroun is no reason for victimisation and murder of Nigerians. Established protocols under international relations indicate that extra-judicial murder of any kind is unacceptable.
We call on the United Nations, through its Office on West Africa and the Sahel to take up the case to pacify the people along the border area and forestall conflict between both countries. Although the Nigerian government has summoned the Ambassador of Cameroun to give full explanation of what happened as well as apologise for the needless waste of lives, a tougher action by the government would not be out of place if a repeat is to be averted.
A country like the United States of America would go to any extent to protect the lives of its citizens anywhere in the world. Similarly, while not recommending war on the matter, all diplomatic channels should be explored to seek redress on the matter.
We support the probe instituted by the House of Representatives to establish the circumstances and the full import of what happened. It would not be the first time that Nigerians would be killed so recklessly in foreign lands. The Committee on Foreign Affairs has a duty to invite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials of the Cameroun-Nigeria Mixed Commission and the local officials to explain what transpired and how a repeat could be avoided. It should also look into the complaints by those in the Internally Displaced Persons camp that money and items meant for them have been diverted by the local officials.
The trend over the world is that extra-judicial killings are unacceptable. Henceforth, officials of both the executive and legislative arms of government should respond promptly and appropriately to cases of infraction of the fundamental rights of Nigerians in foreign lands and along the borders. This is a worthy pursuit as against the inter-institution wrangling that has worked against the welfare of the people.
We also implore the security agencies to step up their intelligence gathering activities along the borders. They need to be more proactive. The provocative introduction of a N100, 000 fishing tax on every fishing boat should have raised the possibility of a conflict that ought to have been passed on to the relevant agencies of government. Had that been done, the killings could have been averted.
