Terrorism: Nigeria Has No Territorial Ambition, Sambo [the National Security Adviser to President Jonathan of Nigeria] Assures Cameroon - THISDAY LIVE : A Rejoinder

Sir,

Yes, we do not have any ambition to acquire any territory in Cameroon, but certainly not with respect to the Bakassi territory - a Nigerian territory that The Obasanjo Administration ceded to the Cameroonian Government on a platter of gold.  It is our land, our territory, our home, and a central component of our inalienable rights as a sovereign nation-state. And when the time comes, we will secure it, recover it, and reclaim every bit of it. So, speak only for your administration. You cannot force a given people out of their traditional God given land within a given sovereign nation and handed it over to aliens to assume ownership and control based on some vacuous and convoluted decisions that do not hold substance or support in fact, reality or precedent.  

Don't tell me it was not just that simple. It was. Did anyone, the UN, The Hague, Vienna, or any international organization involved in the settlement of the dispute seek audience with the affected people (the owners and age-old inhabitants of the land) or their concerns or their consent before the forced relocation and alteration of citizenship? How come there was no plebiscite, a vote, or an opinion poll? This is a question of ethics and values.

Obasanjo gambled with our territorial integrity/sovereignty, because he wanted to be the good boy of western leaders and in the good book of western international institutions/organizations in view of his aborted third term ambition. Resolving ownership of Bakassi Peninsular shouldn't be a "Hague" affair, and it shouldn't have been. You don't cede land voluntarily by arbitration. You cede or acquire land by conquest. That is a universal historical fact. 

What took place at Bakassi Peninsular was an aberration. It was inhuman and a deprivation of one’s inherent right, a sheer betrayal of a group of people by a nation-state they so much loved and believed in, and look up to for support and protection.

The Obasanjo administration gave the Bakassi people two options: If you choose or elect to stay behind in your house or in your land, you automatically rescinded your Nigerian citizenship and become Cameroonians. On the other hand, if you choose to retain your Nigerian citizenship, you MUST evacuate yourself and your belongings; abandon your house, your land, your culture and your age-old traditional heritage for a new settlement and culture to be created for you in the image and likeness of Obasanjo and his thoroughly passionless presidency and advisers. Majority of those who stay behind, did so, not necessarily because they love and cherish Cameroonian citizenship, but for the uncertainties that shrouded their exodus and new settlements in Nigeria, especially in regards to jobs and sustainability. 

Obasanjo and his advisers stay in the comfort of their Abuja mansions and stay blinded to the plight and anguish of a people who did not choose to be Nigerians, but are Nigerians by birth and by inheritance, and therefore, entitled to every right, privilege and protection deserving of a full blooded Nigerian.

In the words of Mario Balotelli, the Italian soccer star: "I'm Mario Balotelli. I'm 23 years old and I didn't choose to be Italian. I strongly wanted to be Italian because I was born in Italy ..." Every resident of Bakassi Peninsular has every right to declare like Mr. Mario Balotelli: I didn't choose to be Nigerian. I strongly wanted to be Nigerian because I was born in Nigeria. And Nigerian I shall be.

America own Alaska and Hawaii - thousands of miles away from Washington State. In 1982, the United Kingdom invaded and sacrificed their lives and blood to force the Argentine Military Forces out of the British Falkland Islands, thousands of miles away from Great Britain. No, not Nigeria; we took counsel with foreigners and foreign institutions and agreed to abdicate our sovereign right over Bakassi Peninsular. Same people who will readily sacrifice anything to hold on to any territory they considered part of their extended family or of any strategic or economic advantage/importance. Yes, we provided them the opportunity to dictate to us what to make of our own territory, our inheritance, our heritage, our own Bakassi Peninsular. It is a shame. And it is patently inhuman. It should not have happened. We should fight to reclaim it, if we have to; every bit of it - Hague or no Hague, or Vienna or no Vienna. Mark my word. I would like to round up by reinstating the fact that no nation cede land or territory voluntarily or by arbitration. You cede or acquire land by conquest. That is a universal historical fact.