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Bakassi: Oily Drumbeat of Anarchy in the Gulf of Guinea

August 23, 2008

It was really pathetic that the Federal Government made no plans – in tangible terms to resettle and re-absorb the Bakassi people who were actually uprooted by circumstances which they had no control over. Federal Government’s shabby arrangements in the resettlement of the displaced people of the peninsular could best be described as criminal.

It was really pathetic that the Federal Government made no plans – in tangible terms to resettle and re-absorb the Bakassi people who were actually uprooted by circumstances which they had no control over. Federal Government’s shabby arrangements in the resettlement of the displaced people of the peninsular could best be described as criminal.


It amounted to the highest level of insensitivity and insincerity for government officials at both the federal and state levels to have handled the matter the way it was executed. Unlike some of the affected communities up north, the terrain made it very easy (at least on the surface) for resettlement centres for the people, but in Bakassi, the nature of the habitat and the only known occupation of the people of the peninsular was supposed to have been considered as a special challenge that would have deserved special attention. Since the judgment was given, Nigerian government had about six years to complete the resettlement plan of all the affected Nigerian communities both in Bakassi and up north. So, there was no reason why enough manageable accommodation should not have been built to resettle the people displaced from their aboriginal lands through no fault of theirs. Yes Nigeria had obligation to obey the judgement by the International Court of Justice but the Government had a greater obligation to obey the constitution, Nigerian laws and above all to put the security and welfare of its citizens as priorities. Anyway, that was supposed to be obtainable in a normal administrative setting where government is for the people, by the people, and for the people. Since Nigeria does not want the Bakassi people and the indigenes themselves do not want to belong to Cameroon, at least majority of them, the option the federal government dangerously left for them was a fight for self determination which even the United Nations fully recognized and endorsed as a means of peaceful protest for freedom of association. The Bakassi people are already seen are already causing refugee problems and the threats associated with it in the adjourning ethnic nationalities- the Orons, Ibenos, Opobos/Ikot Abasi, Bonny etc where majority of the people had migrated. If these people had already dispersed to about four states even as far as Bayelsa, who were the ones allegedly planned for and resettled by the Federal Government? This is the big question that the Federal and Cross River state governments need to ask. It is pathetic that Nigerian government that is yet to fashion out a single workable idea on how to handle the evolution and tactical sophistication of the Niger Delta resource rights agitators, willingly and blindly provided a very conducive training and operational arena (in the Bakassi and adjourning creeks) for the militants. If the federal government had sleepless nights dealing with the activities of militants in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, the Abuja government should just wait a very little while for militant activities to kick off full- stream in the Bakassi no man’s land. This time, it is not going to be resource control as it is currently being feigned but outright uprising for self determination. The Bakassi people (Ijaws) will not only fight the Nigerian government, they will engage the Cameroonian authorities also. And ultimately, the militant activity that may spring up in the peninsula area will pitch Cameroon against Nigeria in a full blown war. This prophesy would not waste time at all before it comes to pass, amen. The governments of the countries in the Gulf of Guinea that opposed the establishment of AFRICOM military bases in the region would soon wake up from their slumber to discover that they will be begging for help in the entire Gulf of Guinea. The timing of the handover was a very big blunder and a miscalculation that both the Nigerian and Cameroonian governments will pay heavily in a very short time. This is the scenario that may emerge: The militant rebels will move, that is if they are not there already, into the breeding ground created by the present confusion in the peninsula area of course which is naturally, an extension of the difficult Niger Delta terrain. And if the Cameroonian authorities dare engage the rebels in a fight, they will likely form a joint military cooperation with the already existing disgruntled and militant deviants of the southern Cameroonian self determination campaigners. Self determination militia on both sides working together would effectively keep both the Cameroonian and Nigerian governments fully occupied. This will create the enabling environment for criminals (oil thieves, drug and arms traffickers) to do their things while the confusion lasts. It is noteworthy that in addition to the oil politics in the peninsula, Bakassi has served as an interface for various drug cartels, arms dealers and oil thieves. So it will be in the interest of these groups, who are mostly foreigners from western countries to perpetually destabilise Bakassi and the entire Gulf of Guinea. The Cameroonian gendarmes who actually take no orders from the Yaounde government were allegedly being engineered by the various interest groups especially the drug cartels and oil thieves and now that relationship is likely going to be stronger. Another dangerous aspect is that the brewing anarchy in Bakassi peninsula may spill into Angola, where the fragile peace treaty between the ruling government and former rebels seems to be holding. The leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah was arrested in Angola for whatever alleged offence. In that country, he was not on a diplomatic shuttle for discussions with the Angolan government or it representatives. Of course as the Nigerian government alleged, we were told those he was dealing with. This is just an insight into the emerging picture. So the problem created by this rush hush handover goes beyond Bakassi and its people. It is purely a security issue for the entire Gulf of Guinea. The Nigerian and Cameroonian governments should not deceive themselves to believe that the militants can be easily handled if the picture painted above is allowed to fully evolve. The stage is already set for full manifestation of high level disorder in the gulf of guinea. Would France allow America to establish military base in the Gulf of Guinea now that the French oil concern TotalFinaElf seems to be the only winner or rather gainer in the ICJ judgment? And with the re-enactment of the cold war tussle between Russia and the West by the Georgian crisis, the Russians and Chinese may be a very dependable ally for the militant rebels. The picture painted above may be very wrong, but supposing it manifests to stack reality? Nigeria and Cameroon may pay heavily for the costly mistake of playing international politics without thorough analysis of the situation on ground and this was because those who speak do not know and those who know do not speak.

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The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

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