The Akwa-Cross Progressive Union (ACPU), a socio-cultural
and political group in Port Harcourt has condemned the ceding of Bakassi
Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In a statement in Port Harcourt, the union charged with the
responsibility of promoting the interest of the Akwa-Cross Ethnic Nationalities
said it is aware that the documents tendered to the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) at the Hague did not truly represent the interest of Akwa Ibom
and Cross River States as the judgement fell short of the wishes of the people.

According to the statement signed by the president, Comrade
Emmanuel Iyang and the publicity secretary, Asuquo Coco Bassey, facts at the
disposal of the community in Rivers State show that the ICJ judgement was based
on the 1913 anglo-cameroon matter on their common land and maritime borders
which dated far back to 1811.

It noted that the documents confirming the rightful position
of Bakassi were not presented to the ICJ to support Nigeria’s ownership of the
Peninsula.

“We are at loss as to why a territory that is claimed to be
a  part of Western Cameroon which never
took part in the 1961 plebicite should be ceded to Cameroon. It may interest
you to note that in the official Gazzet of Southern Cameroon, Vol. I No. 14,
Bakassi was never included in the list of communities that would vote for their
future country of reference because the Cameroonian government knew that
Bakassi was never a part of Cameroon.”

“We see the ceding of Bakassi which has not participated in
any elected process in Cameroon since 1811 as a calculated ploy to deny our
people the right of citizenship in Nigeria. The claim to the 1931 Anglo-German
treaty which Cameroon rested its case and which the ICJ relied on to give the
judgement was porous, illegal and contestable as Bakassi is determined to take
their fate in their own hand”, the union said.

For the avoidance of doubt, the statement noted that the
1931 Anglo-German treaty was never signed by both countries and that Germany
even renounced all its territorial claims at the end of the First World War

Akwa-Cross people in Rivers State view the ICJ judgment on a
treaty that was never signed and on a territory that was renounced by the
German as a judgment in futility”, the statement stressed and called on Nigeria
to appeal to the ICJ judgment in view of the emerging facts available to right
the wrongs meted out to the people.

The group commended the efforts of Senator Florence Ita-Giwa
in the struggle for Bakassi people and encouraged her steadfastness, pointing
out that the choice of the Bakassi people to belong to Nigeria should be
respected.

At the end of the meeting where this resolution was reached,
two committees, mobilisation and strategy committees were set up.