Nigeria Cedes Bakassi To Cameroun 2008/08/14 By Emma Una/ Calabar & Eromosele Ebhomele The controversial Bakassi Peninsula has been formally handed over to the Republic of Cameroun. The ceremony took place today, in Calabar, the Cross River State capital. Top government officials from Nigeria, Cameroun, representatives of the United Nations, the diplomatic community, etc. witnessed the ceremony. The Nigerian delegation was led by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa. In his speech at the historic occasion, Aondoakaa said the handing over was a painful exercise. "We are saddled with the painful task of completing the implementation of the ICJ judgement," he said. According to him, there are arrangements for the resettlement of those who have chosen to leave the peninsula, promising the Nigerian indigenes who would remain in the area that their fundamental human rights would be maintained. While the Acting-Governor of Cross River State, R. Hon. Francis Adah, tasked the international community to assist in resettling the displaced Nigerians, who, he said, were already traumatised, the Camerounian minister of State for Justice, Professor Maurice Kamto, confirmed that his country would honour the Green Tree Agreement between the two countries. The United Nations Secretary General, who was represented, promised that the world body will support the displaced people and the governments of the two countries. The hand over process started two years ago, at exactly noon on Monday, 14 August, 2006, when the Nigerian flag and that of the Nigerian Army were lowered at one of the islands, Archibong Town in Bakassi. They were handed over to the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo, and the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Martin Luther Agwai, while the Camerounian flag was hoisted. It was then the Bakassi people were first hit by the realisation of a possible hand over of their land to Caremoun. They had thought a miracle would happen to change the International Court of Justice's ruling in favour of Cameroun. This ceremony became the first phase of the final hand over of the Peninsula extension of the territory of Calabar into the Atlantic Ocean with a population of between 250,000 to 300,000 people. The Republic of Cameroun had continually emphasised that the land belongs to it, capitalising on two agreements reached between it and the Nigerian government in the 1970s. The Yaounde II Declaration of 4 April, 1971, and the Maroua Declaration of 1 June, 1975, were devised to outline maritime boundaries between the two countries following their independence. The line was reportedly drawn through the Cross River estuary to the West of the Peninsula, thereby implying Camerounian ownership over Bakassi which covers an area of 665sq kilometers. Nigeria never ratified the agreement and Cameroun regarded it as being in force and this prompted the ICJ ruling in the Hague on 10 October, 2002. Despite the Green Tree Agreement between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Camerounian President, Mr. Paul Biya and the subsequent handing over process, a Federal High court sitting in Abuja put a hold to today's ceremony. However, for the first time, citizens of the country think that President Musa Yar'Adua has gone against the rule of law. Even members of the House of Representatives think so. The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Information, Eziuche Ubani, said the National Assembly should have held on to the alibi of the Federal High Court, Abuja and remind the President of his beleif in the rule of laws. "We didn't do our job at the National Assembly. There were things we could have done to stop the President from handing over our territory, at least for now," he said. For the Senator representing Bakassi, Senator Bassey Ewah Henshaw, crying would not be enough to show the grief of the people. "Government has scathered my people all over the place. My people are all refugees everywhere with nowhere to call home," he said. Noting that nothing has come out of the resettlement effort of the Federal government, the Senator said, "the people are very bitter against those people that have done them in. In time, the people will be able to identify the real people who have put them in this terrible condition." According to him, the National Assembly was yet to ratify the ICJ judgement and the various agreements by the two countries. Meanwhile, Dr. Ambrose Akpnika, a one time Commissioner for Health in Cross River State and the Mkpisong Ukara of Calabar, has described the proposed relocation of the Bakassi people to Ikang in Akpabuyo Local Government of Cross River State as a farce which is bound to fail. Dr. Akpanika, who is a prominent indigene of Bakassi, said the people of Bakassi have lived in their present place of abode for over 200 years and have taken the Bakassi Island as their ancestral home, so it would be difficult to go where they don't know. Akpanika, who is one of the Kingmakers in Efik Kingdom, said that for a people who have never known any other place as their home, they will resist any attempt made to move them in the name of relocation. Speaking to P. M. NEWS in Calabar, Dr. Akpaniko said: "my stand on the issue is that there are Bakassi natives and there are also Bakassi people. People from all parts of Nigeria and from other countries who have lived in Bakassi for over 200 years, are called Bakassi people, they have no other home. Now you cannot ask these people to re-locate. But you cannot relocate Bakassi natives who are like the Aborigines Christopher Columbus saw when he went to America . "But I think there is a contraption trying to remove the Bakassi people from Bakassi. Cameroon was given sovereignty over the land of the people of Bakassi. "The question of moving them does not arise and the United Nations Charter did not stipulate that," he declared. He said the people of Bakassi had made presentation to the Senate Committee earlier in the year asking for a stay in the handover but this has been overruled "and I think that they must have made up their minds already about the people of Bakassi and had given one thing that had never been mentioned by anybody." Dr. Akpanika said the plan of those who are bent on relocating the people want to exploit the resources of the area. "That Bakassi is full of manganese not just oil that they are fighting for. Those people might be looking at the Manganese and Manganese is a special metal some of which is used in making planes and space ships. "So Manganese is more expensive than oil, so the people who are now trying to move the natives of Bakassi from their ancestral home to somewhere else are suspect. "So what we say is that we trace the history of the people to know those who have linkage with Bakassi for some 200 years, those who have gone to Bakassi to do business and those who don't have homes. "Above all, please, Bakassi natives cannot be relocated from their home land. We have islands that could be filled up for these people who have always done business in the river to resettle." He asserted that the Calabar channel should therefore not be handed over just like that. "The Agreement that divides the channel into two for Nigeria to occupy one corner while Cameroon occupies the other corner and after five years Cameroon will take over completely, is wrong," he said. http://thepmnews. com/2008/ 08/14/nigeria- cedes-bakassi- to-cameroun

NIGERIAN MEN WIFE-KILLERS IN AMERICA !

Have you ever seen the face of a wife killer? Have you ever met anyone who took the life of the mother of his children? Have you ever seen or met such a person who is a Nigerian? How spooky it is indeed that such a person has the blood of another human being and a Nigerian for that matter, drooling over his hands! Such a hallowing experience becomes much creepier, when that monster who took the life of a Nigerian is also a fellow Nigerian whom you may have interacted with somehow. somewhat! Now buckle up your belt as Icheoku takes you on a harried excursion through the faces, names and somewhat biographies of some of these denigrate of society! They are painting the average Joe-Nigerian man in American as a domestic violent person; a potential wife killer! A bad name indeed, really? They are the worst of the Nigerian male society in America : the dregs of the society! They are the fabled black-sheep who have defiled and violated the sanctity of the Nigerian family cohesiveness. These men killed their WIVES! They made their children motherless! It is abominable! Brace yourself! Now, meet denigrate person wife-killer number one, Mr. Kelechi Charles Emeruwa:- A Nigerian Mr. Kelechi Charles Emeruwa, (pictured here right) 41 of Old Umuahia, Abia State was charged and convicted with first degree murder of his estranged wife, 36 year old Registered Nurse, Chidiebere Omenihu Ochulo. Kelechi finally lost it and stabbed his wife, with her own kitchen knife, several times that the fountain left on Julius Ceaser fades in comparison, until she gave up the ghost. "According to the account, Chidiebere had just returned from Nigeria where she bolted away for three weeks to give her late father a lavish burial despite protestations of Mr. Kelechi of the bills that are accruing and payable here in America . She wouldn't hear any of it, after-all she makes the money; only to return to an angry frustrated maniacal husband who took her kitchen knife and carved her up. It was on New Year's Day, in her townhouse in the 4200 block of Dunwood Terrace, in the Washington DC suburb of Burtonsville in Montgomery County , Maryland . For a l ittle biography, Chidiebere was born on June 1, 1970 and attended schools in Umuahia and Yola before proceeding to University of Nigeria Nsukka where she bagged a degree in Microbiology. She then got married to Kelechi in 1996 and left for the US the same year, having won the American Visa lottery. In an effort to really settle down in the US and get a respectable job, she took a second degree in Nursing and began a career at Washington Hospital Centre. As a result of her hard work, she got to the peak of the administrative cadre as a Deputy Director, Clinical Services, at the Centre where she remained until her death in the cold hands of the man she once loved - the father of her three children. In Tennessee, a Nigerian man after taking it for so long, lost his cool and shot his Registered Nurse wife as well as his hitherto mother in-law to death with a shot gun. According to the account this RN wife was married from Nigeria a pauper and brought to the United States by this m an, who trained her in school as a registered nurse. Soon after her qualification, the demon in her was let loose and it became one torment after another, with one police call after another followed by sleep-over in police cells and it went on and on ad infinitum. After a protracted battle with the authorities at the wife's instigation, this man lost his almost nearly paid-off home to his wife, including the custody of his three kids by her. He sees these kids just periodically according to court's order and at the discretionary behest of the wife who sometimes comes to the appointed custody visitation ground at a time of her choosing; just to punish and suffer this man. He could not take it any longer and now the rest is history with two women shot dead and the killer in death row awaiting the electric chair. Another lunatic fringed monster, Mr. Theophilus Ojukwu has equally entered the annals of Nigerian men wife-killers in the United States of America ! This cancer of wife killing by Nigerian husbands is fast spreading that the Nigerian society is getting numb and used to it, as one of the social maladies of our times. A heinous act which hitherto would be very abominable that people are shocked to their bone marrows is today seen as a possibility. In Garland, Texas on Saturday, March 25, 2007 Mr.Theophilus Ojukwu, (pictured right in his orange prison jumpsuit) 46, of Enugwu-Agu, Ihe in Awgu LGA, Enugu State used a mattock (hammer) to bludgeon his deeply asleep RN wife, Melvina Ojukwu, 36, of Umuanebe, also of Ihe, Awgu LGA, Enugu State to a very painful agonizing death. Sources close to the family said that about two years ago, Melvina's mother and mother in-law of Theophilus, who was visiting from Nigeria tragically died in a mysterious circumstance, in a bathtub in their house at 5400 block of Barcelona Drive , Garland Texas ; this is where Melvina also met her untimely and heartbreaking death. Whether this is a chain of events is inconclusive but both situations were very tragic! Mr Theophilus Ojukwu has since been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; that one w ould ask, is the craze to control the RN's "legendary money- faucet" enough for this tragedy and the life imprisonment consequence thereof? In another family-related violent incident involving a Nigerian, it was reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitutio n of March 8, 2006 that a Registered Nurse Roseline Unachukwu, 34, and her six children were taken to the family violence shelter, Northwest YWCA in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as a result of physical violence. According to people with knowledge of the incident, the poor lady escaped with her life from her husband's maniacal rage with very severe cuts in her arms which she received while fending off her husband's killer-rage. Her husband, Benjamin Unachukwu from Nnewi, Anambra State , was taken to jail to face two criminal charges with the kitchen-knife weapon of choice as evidence exhibit! In Los Angeles California it was reported that a Nigerian RN wife was brutally murdered by her husband. The viciousness of the attack was such that the man eventually tied the dead body of his wife to his truck and dragged her dead body through the roads and streets of Southern California until=2 0her skull gave up its cranial contents. He was eventually arrested, charged, tried and convicted for first degree murder with special circumstance which carries the death penalty! He is presently awaiting a date with the lethal injection in a cold segregated death-row prison cell! Only recently, one Nigeria RN woman living in Dallas Texas had this to write on the Internet about her fellow estranged Nigerian husband:- "I have been married to Mr. X (real name excluded by Icheoku as we do not want to be a purveyor of this domestic madness) for 20years, and had five children for him. I was married to him at the age of 18years, and joined him in Dallas from Nigeria after my high school. For those 20years of marriage which can pass for 20years of bondage and slavery, I have had to endure constant physical abuse, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse and mental torture in the hands of Mr. X. I am asking whosoever that=2 0reads my story to please send it out to as many forums as they have access to. Silence they say is golden. But if you are dealing with a mad, sad, disgruntled man like Benjamin X, silence will no longer be golden". And what could have driven a Nigerian wife to write such an unflattering "oration" about her husband, one would ask? The answer depends on who you ask. Is this couple close to the finish line? Similarly, in Grand Prairie , Dallas , Texas , Mrs. Monireti Abeni Akeredolu, (pictured below in her wedding with her killer-husband) a 46-year old Registered Nurse from Ondo State Nigeria met her untimely death in the hands of her estranged husband, Mr. Ebenezer Akeredolu, Sr., 48. According to the story, Mr. Akeredolu drove several hundred miles from Georgia (where he had moved to nurse his pains at loosing everything he had worked so hard for since coming to the United States several decades ago) to Dallas and pumped several bullet s into his ex-wife in day light, with so many people watching the macabre spectacle. Mrs. Monireti died slumped in the wheels of her SUV enroute to a birthday party in her honor – she had just turned 46 a day before on September 7, 2005. Not too long ago, also, on August 10, 2005 in Euless, a suburb of Dallas, another frustrated Nigerian husband, 45-year old Johnny Omorogieva from Edo State, Nigeria murdered his RN wife, Mrs. Isatu Omorogieva, 35, also of Edo State by savagely striking her on the head numerous times with a hammer in the full view of their 7-year old screaming daughter. In Tulsa, Oklahoma a yet to be fully authenticated report has it that another Nigerian man recently bludgeoned his RN wife to death while she was fast asleep; following a traumatic life which she has subjected him to since turning into the majority bread winner of the family following her graduating from a nursing program. Another Nigerian nut-case, Mr. John Onwuka (pictured here right in his orange prison jumpsuit) 49, from Akwete community of Ohafia Bende Local Government Area of Abia State was charged with one count each of homicide and use of a knife in the commission of a felony. He stabbed his RN wife of twenty five years, Mrs Gloria Uchechi Anya Onwuka age 42, fourteen times in her bedroom while she was getting ready to go to work. She was a nurse manager. Mr. John Onwuka committed this crime on the night of Saturday August 19, 2006 at the home of his wife in Estate Drive , Farmington , Hampton , Virginia with her children watching him act out his gory insanity. "Yes I have killed the woman that messed my life up! A woman that had destroyed me. I am at Shalom West, my name is Michael and am all yours". With those words - a 911 call placed to the authorities, another Nigeria man has joined the infamous heinous club of Nigerian Men Wife Killers. Fifty year old Mr. Michael Collins Iheme (pictured here left) of Hennepin Minnesota placed the call above few minutes after shooting his twenty eight year old wife, Mrs. Anthonia Eberechi iheme, the mother of his 4 year old boy and 3 year old girl, to death. What is wrong with this crazed out Nigeria man was that he lacked the stomach to take all the bullshit he was forced to take by a typical Nigerian "Nurse" wife. However in as much as Icheoku does not condone such misbehaviour of taking the life of another, these Nigeria men who marry "fedexed" wives should better watch it as what they bargained for might not necessarily always come to fruition. There is no need travelling to Africa to find a wife - if it is akaata, filpino. latina mamacita, oke-bekee or even chinese that loves you, please settle down with such a person. Your love for foofoo and egusi soup is not enough to trade your happiness and possibly freedom when they make you do the unthinkable like our Mr. Micahel Collins Iheme and crew. For the records, it would appear that majority of these uxoricides occ urred in Dallas , Texas ! Leading to the question, whuz up Dallas ? Is there any maniacal peculiarity with Nigerian men living in Dallas ? Further, most of the victims were Registered Nurses which forces one to ask is the "war over the purse" of who controls this their "legendary treasure trove" enough reason to commit the most heinous of all crimes? Also the number of such homicides is rather astronomical judging the sanctity of life-environment from which majority of these homicidal maniacs come from back in Nigeria . Admitted, that it is dreadfully wrong and also a sacrilege for anyone to take the life of another, especially if that other was a spouse; but what could be the driving factor of this senseless exhibition of ravenous rage by some frustrated Nigerian men in the United States of America ? This question is imperative because there are other more acceptable options available for getting out of a hellish marriage including just getting up and leaving; mutual separation; taking a second wife just like the Mormons of Texas, Utah and Nevada; becoming a bachelor once again; keeping a girl friend outside your so called matrimonial home or the penultimate divorce instead of committing the mother of all crimes - taking the life of another! Nothing is worth it! Does the underlying problem defy every solution imaginable? NO!=2 0Take a deep breath and consider other options including the almighty walking-out! Nothing is worth the trouble! Not all the diamonds in South Africa and/or gold in Fort Knox ! The "mansion" which you are fighting for, you did not bring it with you to America ? The SUV or Mercedes car that is making you to loose your head, the manufacturing plant in Stuttgart Germany has not yet closed shop! In your convoluted suspicion that your wife is sleeping around because she dresses well, ask yourself, where is the foundational trust of your relationship and at worst, were you the first man in her life? Did you break her virginity and why do you think it is either you with her or nobody at all, that you will rather have her dead than loose her to someone else? Have you also tried getting professional counseling or earnestly engaging your wife in an open discussion to find out what you may be doing wrong and make amends where necessary. Have you tried temporary separation for a cool-off period? At worst get an amicable divorce so that you guys can remain friends for the benefit of the children! Before you write that check which you cannot cash, please stop and ask yourself, before you met her did you not have any life? It is not worth it! Learn to move on; as around the next corner may be lurking your real wife of "Christian marriage" who will really cherish and love you for who you are! Your wife's leaving you is not the end of the world as we know it! As the popular aphorism goes, "when one door closes another one is open down the road". Nothing is worth the taking of life and not that of a spouse who also is a Nigerian! PLEASE GET A LIFE! Ezeamii, Hyacinth

Italian police mistreats prostitute (NIGERIAN)

http://parma.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Prostituta-fotografata-in-cella-Il-Comune:No-allinchiesta/1500460

August 15, 2008
Italy was in shock with the case of a young Nigerian prostitute found, lying on the ground, in a police office in Parma. The woman, dirty and semi-naked, was photographed inside a cell, left Italians outraged.
According to the Italian daily newspaper 'La Repubblica', which published the photo, the couple was arrested - along with other women - "while practicing their job " during an operation to combat prostitution carried out by the Municipal Police of that city in northern Italy. The couple, undocumented, reacted so violently and crying heavily, which has left her exhausted, after which she was brought to the command to collect her fingerprints.
Closed in a cell, and on the floor, exhausted, semi-naked and full of dirt on her body. Ali was left for at least half an hour. The photograph was taken, last Friday, by a group of reporters , along with other journalists and Security of edilidade councilman from Parma, Costantino Monteverdi, were invited to cover the second operation against prostitution held in that city in just three days.
Since the shocking picture was published, last Tuesday - Friday, the digital edition of this newspaper, political and defence of Human Rights has denounced the measures adopted by the government of Silvio Berlusconi, supposedly aimed at enhancing security and conditions of life in Italian cities. The President of the Italian Senate, Renato Schifani, already requested an explanation from the chief of police in Parma on the case of the youth "photographed in a cell in conditions of extreme neglect."
"Indeed, the dramatic picture published runs the risk of transmitting an image of our country different from reality and all that is being done to protect public order, but respecting the rights of the person inviolable," Schifani said
_________________________________________________

IN ITALIAN

Da Repubblica on line)
Prostituta fotografata in cella.Il magistrato apre un'inchiesta
Il Pm Francesco Gigliotti ha affidato alla questura di Parma l'indagine sulla vicenda della fotografia della prostituta nella cella della polizia municipale. Via ai primi interrogatori
di Stefania Parmeggiani

Il Pm Francesco Gigliotti ha aperto un fascicolo di atti non costituenti reato, per fare chiarezza sulla vicenda della prostituta fermata venerdì scorso dai vigili urbani di Parma e fotografata seminuda per terra in una camera di sicurezza. Al momento non ci sono indagati. Il magistrato ha affidato alla Questura le indagini preliminari. Per questo oggi la squadra Mobile della città emiliana ha sentito Mario Robusti, che ha scattato la foto per Repubblica Parma (La storia della fotografia). Nei prossimi giorni saranno sentiti anche gli altri fotografi e giornalisti presenti al blitz di venerdì notte, per ricostruire esattamente quello che è successo durante i controlli e successivamente nel comando della municipale. Al corpo dei vigili, inoltre, il pm chiederà una relazione. L'immagine della giovane prostituta nigeriana, accasciata sul pavimento di una cella del comando della polizia municipale di Parma, è divenuta un caso nazionale. Riportata da tutti i principali quotidiani e telegiornali del Paese ha sollevato dubbi e interrogativi, spingendo il presidente del Senato a chiedere chiarimenti al Prefetto e il pm Francesco Gigliotti ad aprire un fascicolo.Eppure, per l'assessore alla Sicurezza del Comune di Parma Costantino Monteverdi non ci sono dubbi: "Nessuna inchiesta interna sul caso della prostituta fotografata". Nemmeno dopo l'intervento della seconda carica dello Stato perchè "è già tutto chiaro, basterà una chiacchierata del sindaco col Prefetto e il rappresentante del Governo riferirà a Schifani". Considera le polemiche eccessive e l'immagine da cui sono nate "solo un tentativo di scoop".Il sindaco Pietro Vignali spiega di essere già in contatto con la presidenza del Senato: "La relazione dei vigili conferma la regolarità del loro comportamento verso la prostituta fermata. La donna, che non aveva con sè i documenti, è stata trattata con dignità e rispetto. Dalla ricostruzione fatta dalla polizia municipale ( Il giorno del no comment) mi risulta che si sia gettata a terra da sola. Inoltre le è stato offero di prendere parte a un programma di recupero, ma la sera dopo era già, nuovamente, sulla strada. Significa che è "recidiva". Sono in contatto con la Presidenza del Senato per rassicurare su questo. Ribadisco che i controlli anti prostituzione sono necessari per evitare il peggioramento della vivibilità della nostra città, ma anche per recuperare le ragazze dalla strada, Parma in termini di civiltà non ha nulla da imparare da nessuno. E non esiste alcun sindaco sceriffo: quella di venerdì notte era un'operazione di routine, come se ne fanno tutti i giorni". (Il comunicato stampa)Le rassicurazioni di sindaco e assessore non basteranno, da sole, a placare la polemica. Infatti, dalla Prefettura fanno sapere che l'iter da seguire non sarà quello di una chiacchierata informale, bensì l'ordinaria procedura che segue ogni interrogazione parlamentare. Stanno già preparando il fascicolo con tutti i dettagli di quanto è avvenuto nell'operazione anti-prostituzione di venerdì scorso, da inviare a Roma a disposizione del presidente del Senato e del ministero dell'Interno.Nel frattempo continua la bufera politica (Tutte le reazioni), con il capogruppo del Pd in Consiglio comunale Giorgio Pagliari che chiede chiarimenti durante la prima assise utile "non per creare confusione, ma perchè non ci possono essere dubbi sull'operato della polizia municipale". E perchè "non si può perseguire la sicurezza dei cittadini non rispettando i diritti umani". Marco Ablondi di Rifondazione comunista è ancora più netto e chiede "il ritiro immediato delle deleghe all'assessore Monteverdi". (La posizione della minoranza)Critico anche il segretario generale della Cgil Paolo Bertoletti, che accusa il sindaco di essere impotente edi sviare il problema, i comunisti italiani e il garante dei detenuti del Lazio, che ritiene l'episodio gravissimo, "mai accaduto prima".Non solo la politica locale, ma anche quella nazionale continua a interrogarsi sulla fotografia e sull'utilità delle retate anti-prostituzione. Il Presidente del Senato,Renato Schifani, in merito alla giovane extracomunitaria fotografata all'interno di una cella "in condizioni di estremo abbandono", ha chiesto chiarimenti sull'episodio al Prefetto della città emiliana. ''La drammatica foto pubblicata - si legge in una nota di Palazzo Madama - rischia infatti di trasmettere una immagine del nostro Paese diversa da quella che è in realtà e di quanto si sta facendo a tutela dell'ordine pubblico, ma nel rispetto dei diritti inviolabili della persona. Chi intende adottare il criterio della tolleranza zero è tenuto a farlo non sottraendosi mai alla tutela della dignità della persona e della sua privacy. Pertanto il presidente del Senato auspica che venga fatta al più presto opportuna e doverosa chiarezza sull'intero accaduto". Chiarezza, però, secondo l'assessore Monteverdi non è necessaria perché, a suo dire, l'unica verità da spiegare è che "c'è stato un tentativo di scoop". Subito dopo, però, racconta la notte "di ordinari controlli" e difende l'operato dei suoi uomini, che hanno dimostrato "come sempre grande umanità". La ragazza, infatti, sarebbe stata lasciata in quella cella a dormire per terra "solo per un'ora", "il tempo che si calmasse" e liberata l'indomani dopo che "i vigili gli hanno offerto la colazione" (l'intervista integrale).
Ma Enzo Letizia, segretario dell'Associazione nazionale funzionari della polizia di Stato dice: "A Parma la polizia municipale in questo tipo di operazione non ha coinvolto la Questura, perché le extracomunitarie devono essere accompagnate negli uffici della polizia di Stato in cui vi sono le attrezzature e gli archivi che permettono di identificare un soggetto che può stare legalmente in Italia, oppure no. I vigili urbani, forse - aggiunge Letizia - volevano fare un fermo di identificazione, ma non hanno gli strumenti tipici della polizia scientifica per farlo, perché non hanno gli strumenti. Manca ai vigili urbani quella professionalità e sensibilità tipica delle forze dell'ordine. Il poliziotto quando ha davanti una prostituta sa benissimo che ha di fronte una vittima e come tale procede. Non vorrei che è stata fatta una scelta culturale che li ha portati a pensare che di fronte si solo una prostituta. Non vorrei che fosse successo questo''.I radicali Marco Perduca e Donatella Poretti chiedono al ministro degli Interni, tra le altre cose, "per quali motivi l'operazione è stata preannunciata alla stampa con il coinvolgimento di giornalisti e fotografi, unitamente alla presenza dell'assessore senza che venisse adottata alcuna precauzione a garanzia e tutela delle persone fermate" e se è vero che nel comando dei vigili urbani di Parma "esiste una struttura di detenzione di sicurezza dotata di imbottiture perimetrali, tali da proteggere l'incolumità di ospiti irrequieti". Critici anche gli esponenti emiliano-romagnoli del Prc, Nando Mainardi e Leonardo Masella: "E' la conferma che l'emergenza securitaria lanciata dal Governo, attraverso il decreto che attribuisce ai sindaci maggiori poteri in termini d'incolumità pubblica e sicurezza urbana, punta a colpire i più deboli socialmente mentre lascia inalterati i grandi e veri fattori di insicurezza che attraversano il Paese". Indignato anche Pino Sgobio del Pdci, ex capogruppo del partito alla Camera: "Non si può in alcun modo accettare che sui diritti umani l'Italia scivoli verso il baratro".«Il presidente del Senato Renato Schifani ha chiesto chiarimenti al prefetto di Parma sulla vicenda della prostituta fotografata inerte in un commissariato di polizia e ha fatto bene. Anche se rimane l'unico esponente della maggioranza a stigmatizzare l'episodio». Dichiarano, invece, Albertina Soliani e Carmen Motta, rispettivamente senatrice e deputata del Pd, entrambe di Parma. «Il presidente Schifani – aggiungono le parlamentari democratiche - ha sollevato finalmente il problema di come si debba garantire la sicurezza e nello stesso tempo assicurare sempre, in ogni circostanza, il rispetto per la dignità di ogni persona e dei diritti umani universali. Si tratta di un fatto di civiltà per la città di Parma e per tutto il nostro paese». «Nei prossimi giorni interrogheremo il governo insistendo perché sia avviata subito una seconda fase negli interventi per la sicurezza nella quale sia fortemente salvaguardata la cultura della dignità delle persone, evitando superficiali spettacolarizzazioni e realizzando politiche serie a favore di tutti i cittadini senza creare inutili allarmismi come è successo per il pacchetto sicurezza».
(12 agosto 2008)

http://parma.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Prostituta-fotografata-in-cella-Il-Comune:No-allinchiesta/1500460

Life

SINDACO CATURAN FESTEGGIATO

MORE STORIES....BAKASSI ETC

THE REPUBLIC OF AMBAZONIA

(British Southern Cameroons)

THE PROBLEM: ILLEGAL ANNEXATION BY LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN

1. The Facts: Ambazonia which was described as "The United Nations Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons under the United Kingdom Administration" achieved the objective of Trusteeship Administration on 1^st. October 1960 with the promulgation of the Southern Cameroon Constitution (Order-in-Council). This effectively terminated Ambazonia's trusteeship status. Ambazonia thus became technically an adult UN member and would have been formally so seated if administering authority had so requested the General Assembly.

2. UN Plebiscite of February 1961 invalid: Once trusteeship was legally ended UN had no legal authority to conduct any plebiscite in Ambazonia. But UN still did.

3. PURPOSE OF PLEBISCITE: To vest UN with a Mandate to do one of the following "Two Alternatives": either (a) merge Ambazonia into Nigeria or, or (b) united Ambazonia and Cameroon in a Confederation of Sovereign States (CSS). The terms of the proposed confederation appear on the UN plebiscite manifesto stipulating that each state has EXCLUSIVE COMPETENCE in all maters except that, in the Eight subjects specified therein, federal law would prevail over state law if there is a conflict.

4. WHY AMBAZONIAS VOTED FOR CONFEDERATION: After stating that progress of the Cameroon towards independence had not fallen behind that of Nigeria, on the Southern Cameroons Britain stated that "the position of the Southern Cameroons is largely that of a Region within the Federation of Nigeria." UK memo to Trusteeship Council dated 06/18/1958. The memo went on to state that the Southern Cameroons would achieve Self Government in 1958. This being one of the objectives of Trusteeship Administration, its achievement legally terminated further trusteeship administration. From the legal standpoint the Southern Cameroons ceased to be a Trust Territory, but an independent country in 1958. Yet the original intention of annexing it to Nigeria motivated UK to suggest Two Plebiscites for the Southern Cameroons. One to find out if the country wanted to remain with Nigeria or secede from Nigeria. If they voted for secession then the second plebiscite would as if they wanted to join Nigeria or remain independent.

After the Chair lady of the African Block, Ambassador Angie Brooks of Liberia presented to the UN a declaration jointly signed by Prime Minister and Dr. EML Endeley Leader of opposition (who were then participating in the United Nations debates of the ordinary session starting September 1959) proclaiming the secession of Southern Cameroons from Nigeria, the UN cancelled the idea of plebiscite number One. The UN acknowledged the Southern Cameroons and recognized it as a self-governing and separate nation from Nigeria. Again that by itself legally ended Trusteeship and the Southern Cameroons became an independent nation. Accordingly, the UN caused an independent constitution to be worked out and was promulgated as THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS C ONSTITUION ORDER-IN-COUNCIL. This came into effect on October 1, 1960. Yet the UK insisted in the Plebiscite number Two, but ensured that it was framed in such a way that the alternative to joining Nigeria was to join Cameroon Republic which was then been ravaged by the UPC guerrillas seeking to depose the French puppet President Ahidjo. The UK believes that the terrorism exuding from this war would make Southern Cameroons opt to get back Nigeria.

But for the following three reasons our people still voted against merging into Nigeria.

[a] FIRST, of all if the UN eventually succeeded in creating the proposed Confederation the terms of Union as spelt out in the plebiscite ensured that Ambazonia would continue to be a sovereign state and have 'exclusive competence' in all maters subject only to the fact that in the eight matters where the Federal government was allowed to legislate its legislation would prevail in the event of a conflict with State legislation. Thus even in those subjects the states had concurrent jurisdiction with the Union government. Ambazonia would thus retain her sovereignty and exclusive competence over all else including her currency, the issuing, valuation and revaluation of same; while Cameroon would continue to depend on France which to this day constitutes the central Bank for Cameroon and issues, values, devalues and revalues currency for Cameroon.

[b] SECONDLY, at the post-plebiscite United Nations Conference which would draw the draft union constitution, all that the Ambazonian delegation needed to ensure the continued independence of Ambazonia, would be to make sure that there is no agreement on the draft federal constitution, or just walk out, or boycott it.

[c] THIRDLY, the draft, if at all agreed upon, would (the ratification clause according to the Plebiscite Manifesto) be submitted to the people to express their opinion for or against it. Thus once the Ambazonian people voted against it, there would be no union with Cameroon.

5. WHY UNITED NATIONS DROPS THE PLEBISCITE

The United Nations, on April 18, 1961 passed Resolution 1608 [XV} GAOR which: (a) Appointed a Commission to implement the said Plebiscite mandate, (b) Fixed October 1, 1961 for formal end of the presence of the UN Administration in Ambazonia, and then (c)On realizing that the objectives of the Trusteeship having been achieved (accordingly; [i] self-government in 1958 and [ii] independence in 1960), realized that the only legal authority which the UN had over the territory had ended. It was then argued that the UN had no legal authority for ever organizing the said plebiscite in the British Southern Cameroons at all.

That for the following two reasons the idea of creating a Union between the territory and the Republic of Cameroon must be dropped.

1. The creation of a union fell totally outside the objectives of trusteeship stated in United Nations Charter Article 76(b);
2. There being no legal authority for the plebiscite the mandate thus obtained was invalid and could not be implemented. That, the Southern Cameroons, as every other independent nation, should be left to determine its relations with other nations by itself.

Accordingly, the United Nations Commission appointed for working out the draft constitution for the proposed Confederation was dropped, but the date line of October 1, 1961 for United Kingdom to leave Ambazonia remained unchanged.

6. THE ILLEGAL ANNEXATION OF AMBAZONIA

1. On September 1, 1961 (i.e., a month before UK ceased to be agent of the UN in Ambazonia), the President of the Republic of Cameroon promulgated a constitution which suppressed the Southern Cameroons Constitution and assumed the powers of the Queen of England as Head of State of British Southern Cameroons.
2. Franco-Cameroon troops moved into British Southern Cameroons and took over positions held by the British troops.

(c ) Finally on October 1, 1961, when their role as the UN Administering agents formally ended, the Queen's representative as Head of State of Ambazonia was transformed into British Consul to The republic of Cameroon with residence in Buea (Capital of Ambazonia) All these happened while the British were still formally the United Nations Trusteeship Administering Authority.

7. THE AMBAZONIAN CASE as presented BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE which was rejected, is still the same CASE BEFORE THE INTERNAIONAL COMMUNITY, that is, if the rule of the law is to prevail

In 1994 Nigeria and Cameroon troop clashed over the oil rich Bakassi peninsula which was part of, and still part the Southern Cameroon. Recall the Bakassi people participated in the UN organized Southern Cameroons plebiscite as a region of the Victoria Plebiscite District. Cameroon's reaction was to immediately sued Nigeria at the International Court of Justice [ICJ] asking for Nigeria to withdraw its troops and pay reparation for its 'armed aggression".

SOME BACKGROUND ABOUT THE AMBAZONIAN MOVEMENT:

About a decade earlier, an Ambazonian Restoration Council [ARC] lead by the first President of the Cameroon bar Association, and Traditional ruler, Fon Fongum Gorji-Dinka, lunched a pacific and legalistic struggle for the restoration of the independence of Ambazonia. As may be expected the Fon, Fongum Gorji-Dinka was imprisoned without charge nor trial, but in reaction to international protests, Biya set him before a military tribunal and demanded the sentence of death by firing squad. When the tribunal acquitted him, Biya rearrested him and placed him under house arrest from where after more than two years; he made his escape to neighboring Nigeria. There the UN and Nigeria government accorded him protection as a political exile.

Back at home, the struggle continued with one of ARC founding fathers, John Fru Ndi, veering off to seek a 'democratic-based' solution from inside Cameroon by forming the Social Democratic Party [SDF]. The early SDF was a nationalist movement who catered to the people's aspiration for independence by rationalizing the incremental "hidden agenda" strategy. Its simplistic assumptions, devoid of any legal anchor, assumed that Ambazonians {Southern Cameroonians} could still be able to gain their independence by encouraging Cameroonians to accept and practice democracy. While all these were gaining momentum inside Cameroon, the ARC on the advice of foreign diplomats, filed at the United Nations in 1990 the formal Independence Proclamation of Ambazonia, with Fon Gorji-Dinka as Head of State of Ambazonia. There Ambazonia applied for her seat as a UN member state and demanded for the UN to end Cameroon annexation of Ambazonia.

To further provide evidence of having exhausted domestic remedies, Ambazonia, in 1992, file a law suit before the Mezam Division of the High Court of the Republic of Cameroon against Cameroon illegal and forcible occupation of Ambazonia. The Court located in Bamenda passed a judgment in favor of Ambazonia. It declared that Ambazonia is now a sovereign state illegally and forcibly been occupied by the Republic of Cameroon. The estoppels judgment of the Court also made an order for Cameroon to withdraw from Ambazonian territory to which the Cameroon's President Biya has ignored to this day.

In May of 1995, taking advantage of Article 62 of the ICJ Charter, Ambazonia filed an intervention in the Cameroon-Nigerian litigation over the Bakassi Peninsula at the ICJ. In it, Ambazonia challenged the basis of Cameroon's claim of sovereignty over Ambazonia, which Cameroon acknowledged to be the real owner of Bakassi peninsula. In a word, Cameroon, now aware that the confederation no longer exist, which is the only way they can have any legal claims over Bakassi, in its ICJ application, made the false claim in having Ambazonia's mandate to sue Nigeria over Bakassi. Ambazonia's intervention not only deprives Cameroon of that false claim of Ambazonian's mandate, but has also totally deprived Cameroon of even the right to have commenced the litigation against Nigeria.

CAMEROON'S CASE

1. That Bakassi belongs to Ambazonia.
2. That Ambazonia opted in the UN Plebiscite of 1961 for ANNEXATION by Cameroon.
3. That Cameroon now owns Bakassi
4. That the previous Nigerian-Cameroon accords, estopp Nigeria from taking her present position on the Bakassi boundary dispute.

JURISPRUDENCE QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Was the United Nations sanctioned Plebiscite of 1961 for the annexation of the Southern Cameroons {Ambazonia}?

ANSWER: (a) NO!.... By just the terms of the UN Manifesto, the TWO ALTERNATIVES, it envisaged but for a CONFEDERATION of SOVEREIGN STATES (CSS) to be called 'Federal United Cameroon Republics' to take effect only after both States have ratified the new constitution. (b) Recall, the "plebiscite' all by itself was an illegal enterprise and therefore non-binding to Ambazonians. Reasons why the UN dropped out of the "implementation segment" of its mandate because the plebiscite which gave it authority was illegal and therefore non-binding to all parties.

QUESTION 2. Can Nigeria still be able to stand on the side of the law and bring peace and justice to bear in this Gulf of Guinea region?

ANSWER: YES! By taking a stand on the side of the law and recognizing the extinction of the Cameroon Federation and, Ambazonia as the successor state of the now defunct Southern Cameroons --the last legal entity owning Bakassi. Nigeria should be able to take this position now in the post ICJ judgment era, to recover from the mistake they made in 1995 when their arguments did not account that the Cameroon federation had long been extinct since 1984. This is all more important since right from the start of their case, Nigeria knew there was to be no way it could have easily nullified the several Cameroon-Nigeria boundary accords signed by previous Nigerian Heads of States according Bakassi to what it though was a "Federated" Cameroonian state!

Again, as it is with the Greentree Agreement [GTA] of 2006, an opportunity exist for Nigeria to stand on the side of the law when it should invoke Article 6(2) to prove that the "Republic of Cameroon" cited as the country to receive Bakassi is the wrong country. Indeed a country that has perpetuated a FRAUD for so long, must be exposed if Nigeria wants its standing as a progressive African super power to hold!

Nigeria will have to state the facts as-is, that as of the extinction of the Cameroon Federation in 1984, the Republic of Ambazonia is the country which has title to Bakassi and not the Republic of Cameroon. Unless Nigeria stands by the law which deprives Cameroon of its claim of sovereignty over Ambazonia, which gave it right to sue Nigeria, Nigeria will soon be handing Bakassi but to the wrong country and by that committed a double jeopardy injustice!

It is therefore the responsibility of ALL PEOPLES OF GOOD WILL to get this message of TRUTH and JUSTICE out to the open as your own 'little', but significant contribution to PEACE in this tri-state Gulf of Guinea region. The TRUTH is that Cameroon today is occupying AMBAZONIA, and that the bases of Cameroon claims of sovereignty over Ambazonia is palpably false and totally invalid, and so her very right to have even commenced any litigation against Nigeria on Bakassi is invalid and not recognized by law.

Post script

Those who advocate that Ambazonia must remain part of Cameroon regardless of the FACTS are simply talking because Cameroon has the "power" advantage as of now. They TRUTH is they will never be able to proof their case anywhere in any court and they know this, reason Cameroon will continue to play the political obfuscation card. The only thing going for them is the default power disequilibrium which as of today still favors Cameroons. But as in all system dynamics this "unstable" state property must seek equilibrium along its two logical options. Either:

http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CCPR.C.83.D.1134.2002.En?Opendocument (1) In the total assimilation {absorption/annihilation/annexation} of what used to be the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia), or

(2) In the total independence of what use to the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

That there can be no middle ground is more reason for all people of good will to take a stand for the JUSTICE….for the PEACE….for the rule of the law. By doing this you would have taken a stand for the TRUTH.

(SENT BY.... Edwin N. Ngang)

HIDDEN STORIES...BAKASSI

BAKASSI $300 BILLION CAMEROON U.N. BRIBE SCANDAL

The United Nations has confirmed per the Human Rights Committee judgment in the case of the exiled Ambazonian Head of State 'Gorji-Dinka –v- Cameroon': (a) that the Cameroon Restoration Law 84/01 dissolved the French and English speaking Cameroon Union created in 1961; (b) that it restored the French nation back as the republic of Cameroon while English speaking Cameroon took its native name Ambazonia; (c) that thereafter, Cameroon presence in Ambazonia is indeed an act of continuing aggression which must be terminated. The Committee's judgment inter alia reads… "As a result of the subjugation of Ambazonians, whose human rights were allegedly severely violated by members of the Franco-Cameroon armed forces, as well as militia groups, riots broke out In 1993, prompting parliament to enact the Restoration law 84/01, which dissolved the Union of the two countries. The author then became head of the "Ambazonian Restoration Council" and published several articles, which called on President Paul Biya of the Republic of Cameroon to comply with the Restoration Law and to withdraw from Ambazonia."

[Excerpt from ICCPR Communication # 1134/2002]

http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CCPR.C.83.D.1134.2002.En?Opendocument

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sketch Map # 1)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the dispute over the Bakassi Peninsular, both Cameroon and Nigeria conceded at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the peninsular belongs to neither of them but to Ambazonia ex British Southern Cameroons). The ICJ judgment reads: …."Republic of Cameroon points out that the map attached to the report of the United Nations Plebiscite Commissioner shows that the Bakassi Peninsular formed part of the Victoria South West plebiscite district in the Southwest corner of Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). This would show that the peninsular was recognized by the United Nations as being part of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia)" {excerpt 2002 ICJ judgment paragraph. 210.

"Nigeria on its part….claims to have acted in self-defense. It further contends that if the Court should find that Cameroon has sovereignty over these areas, the Nigeria presence there was a result of 'reasonable mistake." ICJ paragraph 311. The ICJ accordingly ruled:….. "Nigeria is under an obligation expeditiously and without condition to withdraw its administration and its military and its police forces from the areas of Lake Chad which fall within Cameroon's sovereignty and from the Bakassi Peninsular." ICJ paragraph 314

Nigeria withdrew from the Lake Chad area and 37 villages reverted to Cameroon administration without such thing as a Greentree Agreement! In like manner, Nigeria is to withdraw from the Bakassi peninsular and it would revert to Ambazonian administration; which would be set up by the exiled Ambazonian Head of State either with the help of the United Nations peace keeping force or with some alternative security arrangements, while waiting for the Cameroon President Biya to withdraw from the Ambazonian mainland in compliance with commitments which the United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan flew to Cameroon in January 2005 and obtained from him which reads: " I President Paul Biya of the Republic of Cameroon do here by in a bid to provide lasting peace to the Bakassi conflict, commit myself and my government to respect the territorial boundaries of my country as obtained at independence."

This is a self incriminating admission that Ambazonia is not part of Cameroon, but a sovereign state; and that Cameroon's occupation of Ambazonia is a source of the Bakassi conflict. That for lasting peace in Bakassi, Cameroon must withdraw from Ambazonia. Yet by the June 12, 2006 Greentree Agreement, Nigeria offers to giver Cameroon the very Bakassi Peninsular which by their admission and the ICJ judgment belongs to Ambazonia. Now as reported in the Nigeria's authoritative news 'BusinessDay" of May 21, 2008, Nigeria former Attorney General and Ad hoc ICJ Judge, Honorable Ajiobola's testimony at Nigeria's Congressional hearing is that the agreement to alter the ICJ judgment was procured with a Cameroon bribe of $300 billion oil bloc. ://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/comments/10089.html?print

Did the UN Secretary General, and the Ambassadors of the USA, UK, France and Germany, (all whom as witnesses became the "Follow-up Committee") endorse this illegal and fraudulent alteration of the ICJ judgment, as accomplices; or were they duped to believing (as stated in Article 7 of the Greentree Agreement) that it sets modalities for implementing the judgment? The use of the Office of the United Nations Secretary General to alter the judgment of the ICJ sets a very damaging precedence; and the United Nations Secretary General is under an obligation to urgently set the records right by initiating the process of correcting the agreement to conform to the judgment it sets out to implement.

The good news is that the wrongful insertion of Cameroon in place of Ambazonia in the agreement has raised a fundamental dispute as to whether the document sets out modalities for implementing the ICJ judgment or it sets out to alter the said judgment? But then an alteration of the Court judgment which is not done by the Court itself is of null and void effect. For, by operation of law, the terms of judgment apply to the total preclusion of the alteration intended; that is to say, the ICJ Judgment that Bakassi Peninsular belongs to Ambazonia makes the Greentree Agreement read 'Ambazonia' in the place of 'Cameroon' wherever mentioned.

The Follow-up Committee members would acquit themselves of active complicity in the fraudulent alteration of ICJ judgment if and only if they, even by a simple majority, adopt the correction which is deemed to have been made to the agreement by operation of law. And so the making of Republic of Cameroon party to the Greentree Agreement has created a dispute within the meaning of Article 6.2 of the said Agreement which read as follows… "The Follow-up Committee shall settle any dispute regarding the interpretation and implementation of this Agreement." http://www.un.org/unowa/cnmc/preleas/sgstmts.htm#greentreehttp://www.un.org/unowa/cnmc/preleas/sgstmts.htm#greentree

The true parties to the Greentree Agreement are Nigeria and Ambazonia as sketch map below shows (map# 2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sketch Map# 2)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edwin N. Ngang

Ambazonia Information Bureau ;

DEATH IN PREGNANCY...AFRICAN WOMEN

African women at high risk of death in pregnancyy

Lynn Eaton London
Death in pregnancy and childbirth is the biggest killer of women of childbearing age in developing countries, according to Dr Adrian Brown, chairman of the charity Maternity Worldwide. One in 16 women die in pregnancy or childbirth in Africa, compared with 1 in 4600 in the United Kingdom. The organisation has teamed up with body painter Julia Laderman and photographer Carolyn Cowan to highlight these women's situation.

For more details visit http://www.maternityworldwide.org/

.

BUON COMPLEANNO.. SINDACO . M. CATURAN

BUON COMPLEANNO DOTT. MAURO CATURAN (SINDACO : CISTERNA DI LATINA)

______________________________________________________________________________________

Chukwubike O Charles

(Associazione di Volontariato Welcome)

Cisterna di Latina

DEFENCE PACTS...BAKASSI

The handing over of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon that may take place on the 14^th of this month is a sad story especially for the inhabitants who we all know dread the Cameroonian government; Resettling them in an already inhabited community is also a bad choice by the FGN.

Going over the whole story of the Bakassi people and mistakes made by all concerned is just as painful as the wound, however, .the most painful of all is the crying of Nigerians which is summarized by these words from The Chief of Defence Staff, General Owoye Azazi,"……..I want to believe that if anything happens between Nigeria and Cameroon, the defence treaty between France and Cameroon would be called to force. They have such treaty with their former colonies. We don't have defence treaty with any country; we only have training agreements……………………" http://allafrica.com/stories/200807170436.html

In another interview a Nigerian officer bemoaned our stars because our defence agreement with Britain is worthless according to him. Is it not shameful that at this 'age' Nigeria or any African country should cry because she has no OYIBO (Whitman) to rush to help her beat-up her neighbouring African sister? It is a shame.

In the '80s before the sell out of the peninsular by those we know, the Nigerian armed forces (Army, Navy and Air force) did a spectacular military manoeuvre in that area (operation Sea Dog) probably to send a massage to Cameroon or to show 'we can be pugnacious at times if you step on my toes'. I lived in Enugu then, and we were all proud of the military movements/shipments toward Calabar area , but also wished those 'idle soldiers' did some other important social work for the community instead of going to play war games, eating fish pepper-soup and beer in Calabar creeks.

France did not waste a day in sending a matching force to Cameroon. Mirage jets started flying over the air spaces of Cameroon and we learnt even provoking the Nigerian military manoeuvres inside Nigeria spaces. The planes were taking off from an Aircraft carrier because the never cared to build any airport fit for such crafts for their ex-colonies and friends.

Now Nigeria is mourning because France wont allow her beat up Cameron and Britain may not come to our side to assist us because we do not have an 'all inclusive' defence pact with the Queen.

On the other hand Cameroon is happy because 'now our master is at the corner waiting for those big fools from Nigeria to cough loud in our direction….. after all said and done through them and their (ELF) oil company , the petroleum in Bakassi will soon make us better than Nigeria- that prodigal son of Africa"

These deep-rooted colonial mentality at his century is the most worrying aspect of this Bakassi issue.

Why must we at this age allow the colonial wolves come back to show us our boundaries. Is it of whose interest that these boundaries are shifted right or left?

It is a shame ladies and gentlemen.

Africa must wake up! It is not yet late.
Chukwubike .O Charles

( Cultural Mediator)

Foundation for Peace culture & Social Development (fpsd)