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Bakassi Peninsula: Suspending the demarcation is not enough.

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Due to the heavy but non-violent protest of the original inhabitants of the disputed Bakassi Peninsula on Wednesday and Thursday, the on-going territorial demarcation of the Maritime boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon was suspended.

However, suspending the demarcation process is not enough, the so-called Joint Technical Team, including the Cameroon government as well as the United Nation know very well that they are trying to steal meat from another mans pot, which is totally unacceptable. There are newly but authentically generated facts that proves who the true ownership of the land in question is, so why won’t the UN/ICJ look into it? In fact, why should Africa subject herself to international evaluation, inspection and appraisal?

We the people of Nigeria, more especially the Nigerian leaders who have quieted up either for fear of the world noticing their incompetence, or for their own selfish needs, have a long way to go. There is a clause in the Green Tree Agreement that specifically states that the ruling of the International Court of Justice can be reverted if the rights of the people is violated. The people of Bakassi have suffered untold human rights abuse which the United Nation should first look into, added to that is their homelessness as a result of the ICJ ruling that ceded their territory to Cameroon.

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These people have the right to be heard, they have the right to choose where they want to belong, they also have the right to life as do any Cameroonian who kill and rape their women. If this dispute is not amicably resolved today, it might last longer than the conflict of Israel and Palestine.

For many months now, the air of war and national conflicts has been moving from country to country, we the people of Nigeria don’t want a taste of it. Let what is right and just be done for the transformation of Africa and by extension, the entire world. Let Bakassi be given back to its rightful owners – Nigeria.

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Jeff Okoroafor is a leading member of a new generation of civic advocates for government accountability and democratic change in Nigeria. The Citizen Affairs Initiative is a citizen-driven governance initiative that enhances public awareness on critical issues of service quality in Nigeria. It encourages citizens to proactively seek higher standards from governments and service providers and further establishes new discussions in communities about the standards that citizens should expect and deserve from those they have given their mandates. Jeff is the Managing Director of SetFron Limited, a multimedia development company that is focused on creative and results-driven web, mobile app, and ERP software solutions. He is the co-founder of the African Youths Advancement and Support Initiative (AfriYasi), a non-governmental not-for-profit organisation that provides tertiary education scholarship for young people from low-income homes in Nigeria. He is a Fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative and the United Nations World Summit Awards. A Strategic Team member of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, and a member of the National Technical Committee on the Establishment and Management of Missing Persons Database in Nigeria. Jeff holds a Bachelor and Postgraduate diploma degrees in Computer Science, and a Certificate in Public Administration from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, GIMPA.

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