Obasanjo Betrayed Us – Bakassi People
…Accuse RMAFC Of Complicity
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR –
The Chairman of Cross River State Traditional Rulers Council, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet has blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the sufferings and woes bedeviling the displaced people of Bakassi Local Government Area
Etinyin Okon Edet, who also doubles as the Paramount Ruler of Bakassi, said it was callous for the Nigerian government under Obasanjo to handover Bakassi to Cameroun without adequate measures being put in place to cushion the sufferings of the displaced people.
He told newsmen in Calabar that, “Obasanjo should be held responsible for the plight of the displaced people of Bakassi Local Government Council. Such outright demonstration of indifference by a serving president and government at the time without taking into cognizance that the people’s ancestral homes and their livelihoods were adversely affected by the exercise was a clear evidence of insensitivity and an abuse of office by a sitting president. He must therefore take full responsibility of his actions and inaction.”
The Royal father also took a swipe at the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) for alleging that Cross River State was handsomely compensated in the deal that ceded Bakassi to our francophone neighbours, the Republic of Cameroon.
According to him, “the claims bandied around by Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission that Cross River State received N36 billion as compensation for the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun is an insult to the sensibilities of an average Cross Riverian, as up till date, the Commission has failed to identify the individual or group of persons that collected such amount of money on behalf of the State.”
The Paramount ruler said in their pains, the people are invoking the spirits of the departed souls of all the displaced indigenes of Bakassi to hunt those responsible for their plights and that of their children yet unborn.
