<\/p>\n
By George Mgbeleke<\/p>\n
The Senate, on Tuesday, constituted an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the alleged annexation of the country\u2019s mangrove islands and maritime territories by the Republic of Cameroun.<\/p>\n
The Committee, which was set up after a comprehensive debate on a motion titled, “illegal annexation of Nigerian mangrove islands, waters and its crude oil by the Republic of Cameron”, was also mandated to complete the assignment and submit report within two months.<\/p>\n
Leading debate on the motion under Orders 41 and 51 of the Senate Standing Orders, the sponsor, Senator Aniekan Bassey raised the alarm on the economic and territorial implications of Cameroun\u2019s encroachment into Nigerian territory.<\/p>\n
The motion was co-soobsored by Senators Ekong Samson Akpan (Akwa Ibom South); Aminu Iya Abbas (Adamawa Central), Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (Cross River North); Williams Eteng Jonah (Cross River Central) and Ekpenyong Asuquo (Cross River South).<\/p>\n
Other Senators who contributed to the debate also underpinned the need for urgent action to prevent further escalation of what they described as a \u201cprovocation” by the Republic of Cameroun.<\/p>\n
Senator Bassey said that the affected mangrove islands, located in Efiat, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, were not part of the territories ceded to Cameroun under the 1913 Anglo-German treaties or the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling of October 2002.<\/p>\n
He lamented that Camerounian security forces, known as the Gendarmes, had imposed foreign laws on Nigerians living in 16 ancestral villages in the affected areas, describing the situation as a \u201cmonumental national embarrassment\u201d.<\/p>\n
The politician also highlighted that the illegal annexation violated multiple international agreements, with other lawmakers advocating for a review of the ICJ judgment and requested that the matter be reported to the United Nations Convention.<\/p>\n
Further worried by the development, the Senate urged President Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to protect Nigeria\u2019s territorial interests, particularly focusing on safeguarding over 2,560 oil wells located within the disputed mangrove islands in Akwa Ibom State.<\/p>\n
The Red Chamber also promised to work directly with President Tinubu to explore potential diplomatic solutions to the growing crisis, so that it would not deteriorate further.<\/p>\n
Presenting the motion earlier, Senator Bassey said: “I rise with utmost sense of responsibility to move the attention of this Senate to the illegal annexations of Nigerian Mangroves Islands situated at Efiat in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State by the Republic of Cameroun. This is noting that the islands in focus were not part of the territories ceded to the Government of Cameroun by the 1913 Anglo-German treaties and the International Court of Justice’s decision of October, 2002.<\/p>\n
“As such, the encroachment into these territories is not only illegal but has led to huge economic loss of more than 2,560 oil wells and gas revenues which ought to accrue to Nigeria. Also very pathetically, it is a monumental national embarrassment that foreign laws are imposed by the Cameroun Gendarmes on Nigerians living in the 16 Nigerian ancestral homes and villages’ and in the said mangrove islands. Hence, I am compelled to move this motion in the following terms:<\/p>\n
“The Senate: Observes that the Mangrove Islands and waters situated at the geographical location called Effiat in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State marking the terminal end of the Gulf of Guinea down seaward to the Atlantic Ocean coast, is currently under the administrative control of the Republic of Cameroun illegally and contrary to the 1913 Anglo-German Treaties, International Court of Justice’s judgment of October, 2002 and Section 12 (1) (2) (3) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (As Amended).<\/p>\n
“Aware that these islands and waters are economically important to the region, as it hosts copious fishing routes and approximately over 2,560 oil wells as well as gas revenues that should accrue to the Nigerian Government but which are lost to the Republic of Cameroun as a result of the illegal annexation of the islands by the Republic of Cameroun.<\/p>\n
“Concerned that Nigerians living in the said Mangroves Islands comprising about 16 villages and ancestral home in an area recognized and provided for in the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (As Amended) and which was not ceded to Cameroun Republic by the 1913 treaties and the International Court of Justice judgement, being uncomfortable with Cameroun Soldiers in their communities even when no Cameroonian lives in that community took to an open protests (See: Punch Newspaper Saturday March 19, 2016 page 49.”<\/p>\n
End.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The Senate, on Tuesday, constituted an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the alleged annexation of the country\u2019s mangrove islands and maritime territories by the Republic of Cameroun. The Committee, which was set up after a comprehensive debate on a motion titled, “illegal annexation of Nigerian mangrove islands, waters and its crude oil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[993,1660,1752,1751,964,1276,1750],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","tag-economic","tag-huge","tag-international-court","tag-islands","tag-justice","tag-loss","tag-mangroves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2807,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions\/2807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}