Apply For Revocation Of ICJ Bakassi Judgement Now, NBA Urges FG

Source: thewillnigeria.com
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ABUJA, August 31, (THEWILL) - The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Friday urged the Federal Government to apply for a review of the 2002 judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ceded oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to neighbours Cameroon.

The association made its position known in Abuja in a communiqué it issued at the end of its 52nd annual conference. It warned the Federal Government to apply for the review before 9th October 2012 or forever forfeit the chance to do so.

“The NBA is aware that there are grounds upon which the government of Nigeria may legitimately apply for a revision of the ICJ judgment of 10th October 2002, and having adjudged those grounds as being worthy of reconsideration by the ICJ, the NBA calls on the government of Nigeria to, without further delay, apply under the Article 61 of the ICJ statute of 1946, to the ICJ for a revision of what is an unjust judgment over Bakassi,” a part of the statement read.

“In this regard, it must be borne in mind that the government of Nigeria has only six weeks (that is, up to 9th October 2012) to apply to the ICJ or be forever be shut out in the light of Article 61 (5), which provides inter Alia that ‘no application for revising may be made after the lapse of 10 years from the date of the judgment.”

Chief Joseph Daudu (SAN) the then outgoing president who read out the communiqué before relinquishing office to the new executive council headed by Mr. Okey Wali (SA), observed that both Nigeria and Cameroon have consistently breached the rights of the Bakassi people.

“In the case of Cameroon, there exits discernible and visible violation of Articles 3 (1) and 2 (a) of the Green-Tree Agreement of June 12, 2006,” he added.

Neighbours Nigeria and Cameroon tugged at Bakassi Peninsula for decades until a ruling of the ICJ ceded it to the latter. However, since former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo spearheaded the handover of the region to Cameroon, majority of its citizens have consistently decried their neglect by the Nigerian government, which they still see as responsible for them.