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Nigerians displaced
from Bakassi following an agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon to
return the peninsula to the latter, took to the streets of Calabar at
the weekend to protest their year-long neglect.

Numbering over 70,
they commandeered the Cross River State government owned Metro Blue Bus
from New Bakassi Local Government Area to convey them to Calabar, about
40 kilometers away. There mission was to present a petition to the
state governor, Liyel Imoke over their plight.

The scared driver
dropped them at the Etta Agbor Roundabout and they found their way on
foot to the Governor’s Office, some three kilometers away. Afterwards,
they hoped to return to the same roundabout, hoping to jump into
another bus back home free of charge.

These people defied
the scorching sun to invade the governor’s office, holding everyone at
the gate to ransom. With placards to give voice to their anger, the men
and women chanted solidarity and war songs which attracted the
attention of senior government officials.

They came with eyes
downcast. Silently edging through the mangrove forest of Cross River
South from the Ikang border, the displaced persons looked haggard; with
some hobbling on crutches as they arrived the governor’s office looking
quite hungry. This poor appearance was a convincing evidence of their
untold hardship.

Some in rags,
staggered into the main entrance to this seat of power waiting for the
governor to address them. Nursing mothers came along with kids; some
covered with sores, many of them naked, stumbling along at their
parent’s heels and crying of thirst.

Parade of zombies

It was like a
parade of zombies. For those who witnessed the macabre march, it was an
unforgettable reminder of what some Nigerians have been forced to pass
through. Most of the refugees were clad in black, appropriately
indicating the horrors they had passed through. Hunger, poverty,
idleness, high cost of living, lack of water, accommodation and health
facilities are some of the daily realities the Bakassi returnees said
they had to face. They said they decided to see the state governor for
first hand information on why they have been abandoned by the federal
government.

Leader of the
demonstrators, Innocent Asuquo told Bassey Okim, the state’s security
adviser who represented Mr Imoke, that since they were forced out of
their ancestral homes at Abana, Atabong,

Archibong Town,
Amoto and other creek communities in the aftermath of the formal
handover of the peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon, they have become
refugees in the new local government area.

“We have no food to
eat, nowhere to fish since we are fishermen, no roof to sleep under,”
Mr Asuquo said. “We have been abandoned and forgotten at the camp where
we were brought into in 2008. Our children are no more schooling for
want of schools even as there is no health institution to readily
attend to our health needs.

We have been
patiently waiting for government to come to our aid. Now we have ran
out of patience. Let Nigerian government tell us what sin we’ve
committed. We were advised to come here. Now that we’re here, nobody
cares about us again. The houses built to resettle us are too few.

Secondly, there is
no water in them for domestic use. We trek many kilometers to fetch
water from streams. Because of this suffering, some have died.

We have called on
government repeatedly to resettle us on a river bank to enable us
continue with our fishing occupation to no avail. We only hear of plans
for such a resettlement. Nothing concrete is on the card yet. Please,
let government stop this inhuman treatment being meted out to us. We
did not tell the Nigerian government to handover our territory to
Cameroon.”

Threat of revolt

They vowed to
revolt violently if government continues to be nonchalant towards them,
stressing that because they have been quiet for almost two years now,
government thinks all was well. They also called on the state and
federal governments to make provisions in this year’s budget for their
rehabilitation before things get out of hand.

Some of the placards carried by the protesters read:

Bakassi returnees
no water; Bakassi returnees have become refugees in Nigeria; No food
for Bakassi returnees; No employment for Bakassi returnees; Government
give us our right; We are for peace.

We lost all our belongings to Cameroon gendarmes who chased us out; We are Nigerians too.”

Mr. Okim, who addressed the restive Bakassi natives, appealed to them to be more patient as government was working on their welfare.

“Mr Imoke would
have personally granted you audience if he had not travelled to Abuja
on official duties,” he said, adding that it would have been better if
they had written down their grievances and presented them to the
government rather than mobilise in large numbers to Calabar.

Mr Okim said Obioma
Liyel Imoke, wife of the state governor, had, last year, donated food
items to them and promised to let her extend another hand of
benevolence to them in view of the acute food shortage experienced in
the crowded camp.

“On return from
Abuja, the governor will attend to your demands without delay as he has
been discussing with the federal government over your plight,” Mr Okim
said, just as he promised to visit their camp to see things for himself
before the governor returns to know what line of action to take.