Bakassi gone for good, says Ita-Giwa

Bakassi political leader Senator Florence Ita-Giwa has said efforts at reclaiming the ceded Bakassi peninsula are fruitless.

She said energy should be channelled towards proper resettlement of displaced persons.

Ita-Giwa, who is a delegate to the national conference, said: “I heard that someone made a presentation and recommended that the matter of reclaiming Bakassi be revisited.

“I don’t want anybody to deceive us into developing false hope. That we are likely to return to Cameroon to go and live in Abana is not possible. The 10-year period we had to appeal had elapsed.

“That territory now belongs to Cameroon and our people have been relocated to Ikang. But we need proper resettlement.

“As I speak now, we have 3, 000 refugees in that camp. We need for them to be resettled. You cannot be a refugee in your own country.

“The only way Bakassi can be brought back is if the country goes to war.

“Remember we subjected ourselves to the jurisdiction and we also allowed ourselves to be used as guinea pigs that two countries can settle scores without blood letting.

“I think I am too old in politics to deceive people. I am too old to give people false hope.

“I wear the shoes and I know where it hurts and for now my people want compensation and to be taken out of the refugee camp.”

Ms Ita-Giwa, who is the chairman of the Committee on Environment at the conference, said her mandate is to ensure that Cross River State is compensated in perpetuity.

“I am impressed that based on our submission on the mandate we came with from our state, the Southsouth has agreed that the people of Bakassi be compensated in perpetuity, not only for the mental dislocation and trauma arising from the ceding of Bakassi peninsula but also for loss of economic and financial potential and opportunities.

“Loss of resources is not only oil but also of aquatic wealth because hitherto the crayfish that the country uses comes from Bakassi and it is gone. Also all the big lobsters from there are gone too.

“Fortunately, the mandate the state gave me is also my mandate. It is a mandate that if the Federal Government is serious can be achieved. But if you come here and tell us that we should go back to court to bring back Bakassi, it is not possible.”