The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday set up a nine-member ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged illegal annexation of Nigerian territory by the Cameroonian authorities.
This is sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Aniekan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North-East), who highlighted the loss of sixteen ancestral communities and 2,560 oil wells in Akwa Ibom State due to a 2002 International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling.
The motion further emphasized that the annexation violates multiple international agreements, calling for a review of the ICJ judgment and urged the Nigerian government to escalate the matter to the United Nations Convention.
However, Senators from Cross River, Adamawa, and Ogun states also raised concerns over similar territorial disputes affecting their respective states.
Most of the Senators who spoke on the floor of the senate in support of the motion criticized the implementation of the ICJ’s ruling, describing it as one-sided while advocating for a comprehensive review.
The Senate however. set up an ad-hoc committee, chaired by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim to investigate issue in contentionand reportback to the senate in a stipulatedtime. The Senate also urged President Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to safeguard Nigeria’s territorial waters, including securing the 2,560 oil wells located within the disputed mangrove islands in Akwa Ibom State.
Also, while moving the motion, Senator Bassey noted that the annexations of Nigerian Mangroves Island situated at Efiat in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State by the Republic of Cameron were not part of the territories ceded to the Government of Cameroon by the 1913 Anglo – German treaties and the International Court of Justice’s decision of October, 2002.
According to him, “Observes that the Mangrove Island and waters situated at the geographical location called Effiat in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State marking the terminal end of the Gulf of Guinea down seaward to the Atlantic Ocean coast, is currently under the administrative control of the Republic of Cameron illegally and contrary to the 1913 Anglo-German Treaties, International Court of Justice’s judgment of October, 2002 and Section 12 (1) (2) (3) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (As Amended).
“Aware that this island and waters are economically important to the region, as it hosts copious fishing routes and approximately over 2,500 oil wells as well as gas revenues that should accrue to the Nigerian Government but which are lost to the Republic of Cameron as a result of the illegal annexation of the island by the Republic of Cameroun,” he said.
