Nigerian And Cameroon High Delegation Meet With UN Over Bakassi

Constance Ikokwu

The Attorney-General, Chief Michael Aondoaka, the Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, and Prince Bola Ajibola are among a high-profile Nigerian delegation that will today meet with United Nations (UN) officials in New York, United States, over the Bakassi Peninsula issue.

This is a follow-up of the Nigeria-Cameroon Joint Commission deliberations on how to implement the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Bakassi.

Sources confirmed that the delegation flew into New York yesterday morning ahead of the meeting today.

The deliberations will be held at Green Tree, the same venue where former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, signed an agreement to cede disputed Bakassi to Cameroon.

High on the agenda would be the recent position of the National Assembly on the ceding of Bakassi.

This move by Nigerian's National Assembly had raised eyebrows both within the UN and in the international community.

The legislative arm recently called for a revision of the issue on grounds that the ceding of the area was not ratified by it.

It also argued that it did not receive a formal notice on the issue, a claim that Obasanjo countered.

The former president's media assistant, Mr Adeoba Ojekunle, had issued a statement denying the claim thus: "The former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in two separate letters to the Senate and House of Representatives dated June 2006, officially conveyed to both chambers the said agreement including the modalities of implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment."

Ojekunle said the letter was officially copied to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF), Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Governor of Cross River State.

The said letter also called for an "expeditious ratification of the Agreement".

The Chairman of the Nigerian Boundary Commission and other officials of the Ministry of Justice are expected to be present at the meeting in New York.

Officials from Cameroon will be represented as well.

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