30 April 2011
The Senator-elect for Cross River South Senatorial District, Prince Bassey Otu, has vowed to re-open issues surrounding the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula and the hardship the people have been exposed to since 2008.
Addressing journalists in Calabar, in his first interaction with the media since he was declared winner, Otu said the ceding of the Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon was illegal.
Otu, who is currently the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) noted that the National Assembly still has not ratified the Green Tree Agreement that set the stage for the implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that paved the way for the ceding of the Peninsula to Cameroon and said hew would ensure the matter was re-opened.
“We still look at the Green Tree Agreement as a negation of human kinship where you deprive the people of their lives, culture, institutions and structures without a plebiscite,” he said.
He added that Nigeria has no right to accept the judgement of the ICJ without taking into consideration the feelings and interest of the people of the area.
He noted that no judgment of the ICJ had been accepted and implemented anywhere in the world and wondered why Nigeria should blaze the trail.
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