Bakassi: Obong Alerts FG, Int’l Community

The Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu has called on the Federal Government and the international community to come to the aid of the “traumatised people of Bakassi’’.

The Obong made the call in Calabar at the end of a meeting of Efik Kingdom-in-Council held at the Palace of Otu, the Treaty King and Grand Patriarch of the Efik.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Efik families and houses, traditional leaders, professionals, religious leaders, women and youth groups as well as other critical stakeholders of the Efik Kingdom.

According to  the Chairman, Chief Asuquo Ekpenyong, Obong Executive Forum, the meeting is called to examine the unfolding crisis in Bakassi.

The meeting resolved that “all concerned authorities should as a matter of urgency, provide aid and succour to the hapless, brutalised and disenfranchised Nigerians who are facing a terrible time in Bakassi.’’

It also called on all Efik youths to remain calm and law-abiding, believing that the Federal Government and all well-meaning Nigerians would hearken to the desperate cries of their fellow citizens.

The resolution restated its belief that the Federal Government would “right the wrongs’’, which had been committed against the Efik Kingdom and the Bakassi people in particular.

It resolved that Bakassi Peninsula was the bonafide property and ancestral land of the various Efik ruling houses under the Obong of Calabar.

“There are numerous documents to attest to this fact, including the 1884 Treaty signed between the kings and chiefs of old Calabar with Britain.

It stated that Efik Kingdom and its peace-loving people had watched with consternation as their property had been partitioned, bought over, its boundaries adjusted and subjected to a court judgment without consultation, let alone consent in recent times.

“While appreciating the efforts and good intentions of all concerned to deal with the issue of Bakassi, we, hereby, call on all sons and daughters at home and in the Diaspora, to come together with one voice to restore the rights and dignity of their brothers and sisters in Bakassi.

“The Federal Government is requested to without further delay explore every legal avenue and opportunity to seek a review of the ICJ judgment before October 10, 2012 deadline.

“The attention of all Nigerians and the international community has been drawn to the sad plight of traumatised Efik people as well as other Nigerians, who have been affected and continue to suffer as a result of the ICJ decision,’’ it stated.