APC chief wants ceding of Bakassi revisited

All Progressives Congress (APC) chief in Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, has alleged that France and other nations have made over $2 billion from Bakassi at the expense of Nigeria, calling that the 2006 Green Tree Agreement (GTA) that ceded Bakassi to Cameroun be revisited.

Briefing newsmen on Monday night in Calabar, Otu said: “Up till date, the issue of Bakassi has not been settled and the amount of money that France and other nations are making from our Bakassi is something that we cannot continue to fold our arms and watch. I believe we will revisit the GTA and follow up on that case. I also believe the oil well issue needs a second hearing.”

Giving details on how France and other nations were exploiting Bakassi, he said: “Almost all the anacondas, the pythons, shrimps and other aquatic animals are taken from Bakassi. As of the last time I checked, over $2 billion were taken out of Bakassi. A lot is being taken out of Bakassi and we are living in a world that propagates democracy. At the time that place was handed over, there was no referendum. Nobody asked anybody: ‘Are you ready to leave the land of your birth? Are you ready to leave the ghosts of your ancestors? Are you ready to leave your ancestral place and move to where you become refugees?’ If we continue to hypothesise and accept things the way they are, we will not move.”

Otu, who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the APC, made the claims while unfolding his blue print.

He added: “We are going to be very frontal at our agro revolution. We will make sure that whatever crop, product that is of comparative advantage to any local government, we will pursue it to the fullest.”