PLEBISCITE FOR THE BAKASSI PEOPLE
An open letter to the UN.
By
Biafra International
In the next several months, the worst injustice and inhumanity of the 21st Century will be meted against the hapless but proud and endowed people of Bakassi—the People who give their name to the Bakassi Peninsula, a land that sits in Southeastern Nigeria at the border with Southwestern Cameroon. Our goal today is to stop this travesty and tragedy before it happens, by appealing to the reason, decency, and humanity of the entire world through the instrument and institution of the United Nations.
In October 2002, the International Court of Justice (herein referred to as ICJ) settled what has been billed as a border dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon by “awarding” the so-called Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. Because the ICJ decision was based on Colonial agreements between Britain, France and Germany of 1800’s we find the decision at best, a legal expediency which fails to reflect the present revulsion and repugnancy that the entire civilized world has come to associate with colonialism. The only poignant comparison would be settling a case involving a German Jew today by using Nazi laws and agreements. We thus find the ICJ decision unconscionable and morally lacking..
Because the ICJ proceedings never bothered to ascertain in any meaningful way what the wishes and desires of the Bakassi peoples involved in the matter are, rather, treated the entire case as if it was about mere property and mineral rights—again, reminiscent of colonial mentality—we find the decision reprehensible and anti-humanity, a total negation of human rights, human rights being the basis of modern human consciousness.
We find the claims and role of Cameroon on Bakassi as purely mercenary, having no interest in the people of Bakassi, but all interest in the Oil resources of the Peninsula, as promised compensation by Nigeria for Cameroon’s part in the Biafran War of 1967-1970. We find the active ceding of the people and land of Bakassi to Cameroon by a willing Nigeria not surprising, given the well documented and deliberate policy of Nigeria to do everything possible and practical to punish and destroy the entire region subtended by the Bight of Biafra and the nation of Biafra, as a result of the Biafran war of self-defense for the Biafrans. Nigeria has willingly handed over the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon as war loot and reward to Cameroon for the latter supporting Nigeria during the war and not allowing Biafrans a toehold in the area. The ICJ proceedings have thus been used and exploited to legitimize the nefarious transactions between Nigeria and Cameroon, a transaction that! now threatens the people that reside in and own the Bakassi Peninsula. For these reasons, we conclude that the ICJ ruling can only at best be collusive naiveté whose real effects are no more well thought out that the antecedents informing the ruling: at best.
Today, out of concern for the cries of the humanity that lives on and owns the land of Bakassi, out of empathy for their despondency arising from the reality of the ICJ ruling if carried out, out of sympathy for the helplessness of fellow human beings ready to be crushed by the machinery and machinations of powerful, untouchable forces, in the name and practice of righting previous egregious wrongs when well known and well documented, in the name of and out of respect for the human being, we ask the entire world through the UN to put aside the ICJ ruling and grant the people of Bakassi the right of plebiscite.
In practical terms, this is not a plebiscite for the Bakassi people on whether to join Cameroon or not: the people of Bakassi have already vehemently, consistently and unanimously rejected that. the answer there is “NOT.” And, it is not about whether to remain in Nigeria, because Nigeria has already rejected the Bakassi people and deliberately failed to legally defend the citizenry of the Bakassi people. This is a plebiscite on the AUTONOMY of the Bakassi people. The Bakassi people do not have any other options open.
Today, we ask the world to do that which is right, and to do it at the right time, before it is too late. Today, we ask the world to examine their conscience and be proactive in choosing to avoid a disaster before that disaster becomes a reality. Why, in this, the 21st Century, should the world sit idle while a segment of humanity is being throttled and readied for slaughter at the altar of colonialism, greed, and a policy of extermination?
We are of the belief that the world has already said, “Never again!” to this sort of thing. Therefore, we are hopeful that the world shall be on the side of right this time around.
We, the undersigned, after these deliberations as above, mindful of our duties as humanity and to humanity, therefore ask the world through the UN for an AUTONOMY plebiscite for the people of Bakassi who own and inhabit the Bakassi Peninsula of West Africa.
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