FEARS GROW IN CROSS RIVER AS CAMEROON MOVE TO TAKE PARTS OF THE STATE IMCLUDING OBUDU CATTLE RANCH

There were fears Monday in Cross River State following reports that the Republic of Cameroon has claimed some communities in the state, including the popular Obudu Ranch Resort in Obanliku Local Government Area as well as 20 villages. But the state government quickly dismissed the anxiety and calmed frayed nerves, saying there was no cause for alarm as the state had not lost any community. Governor Liyel Imoke’s spokesman, Mr. Christian Ita, said the fears by residents were unnecessary, insisting that “there is no cause for tension or anxiety as the state government is on top of the situation.” He stressed that, “We have not lost any community and so, there is no cause for alarm.” Reports said the Cameroonian authorities and some officials of
United Nations are currently carrying out a demarcation of its border with Nigeria, but without any representative of the Nigerian government. Indeed, since the loss by Nigeria of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to the Cameroons by virtue of a World Court judgment in 2001, the maritime and land boundaries had not been adjusted. The current action is, however, said to have fuelled anxiety among Nigerians living in border communities in the state, particularly Obudu, Ikom, Obanliku, Boki and the New Bakassi Local Government Areas who still believe that Cameroon can one day claim parts of their communities. Lending credence to their fears, the resident said that Cameroon and the UN had, in fact, shifted some of the 1913 Anglo- German beacons to include Obudu, Boki, Ikom and Obanlikwu, which were not included in original arrangement. In particular, the village head of Danare in Boki Local Government Area in the state, Chief Kekong K. Mbia, and three other community leaders were said to have sent a petition to the state government on the matter. In the petition, they alleged that the retracing of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon as contained in the Green Tree Agreement signed by then President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Paul Biya of Cameroon had been surreptitiously turned into boundary demarcation. According to Mbia, the surveyors who were carrying out the retracing of the boundary “started the job in the then axis of the boundary from Pillar 113, which is some meters away from the Primary School Danare 1 in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State and effort at locating Pillar 113 A, which distance is six miles, has proved abortive.” Chief Mbia and other community leaders said consequent upon the inability of the surveyors to locate the 113 A beacon, they (the surveyors) took the path of demarcation from Pillar 113 upward. “This is contrary to retracing of boundary as specified in the Green Tree Agreement entered by Nigeria and Cameroon and by this, they have strayed and are demarcating a new boundary contrary to what is specified in the Agreement,” the village head said. The community leaders explained that by demarcating the border from Pillar 113, the surveyors were demarcating the border anew and consequent upon this, “Nigeria will suffer loss of not only thousands of kilometres of age-long cash crop land and more than twenty communities stretching through Obudu, Boki, Obanlikwu and Ikom.” Consequently, they called on the government to intervene immediately and stop the illegal demarcation exercise and should be made to study the 1913 map that spelt out the Anglo- German Agreement. It was learnt that the streamlining of the boundaries was not particularly unexpected, but it was coming earlier than envisaged. The exercise was expected later in the year. -