‘Sallah booty and Bakassi boot’ x-rays the irony of Nigerian life. While a date was fixed to “boot” some poor Nigerians into Bakassi, the rich and privileged ones were sharing ‘booty” for Sallah celebration.
So those guys in flowing gowns sat in Abuja and shared N2 million booty each for Sallah?! That’s N218 million for 109 Senators. Yet, none of them sent me as much as ram hair. To think that I joined the Muslims in observing an injunction I don’t even understand. Yes, I went without food. And, long after the religious rite, many Nigerians and I are still “fasting.” Ravaged by poverty, we starve, tenaciously hoping on God for a better tomorrow. While a few loots the money that could have been used to better our collective lot.
Next year March /April, it would be another booty time. Easter. And another N218million or thereabout would go into private pockets. Another bonus for doing nothing for the masses. Rubber stamp reward, for not confronting Baba. Meanwhile, the masses, like the Naira, continue to slide downwards. No thanks to poverty, neglect and want. Yet, General Olusegun Obasanjo has a rare reward for their patriotism. Take the millions in Bakassi, for example. In May, he would boot them out of Nigeria and their land given to Cameroun!
A disturbed citizen Samuel Edet sent me a mail from Uyo, the other day, asking my opinion on the Bakassi issue. Well, I told him the problem, though political, is anchored on the economics. That is why Kanu Agabi, Nigeria’s minister of Justice, from Cross River (a major stakeholder in Bakassi) is more concerned with the enormous gain the nation stands to get from offshore oil reserve, after the land goes to Cameroun. And the Senators couldn’t call him to order. Really, the way Obasanjo and his men are going, there’s more they are hiding from the shocked people of the peninsula, who have vowed not to go to Cameroun. They threatened to declare a Republic and Obasanjo ordered them to “shut up!” Just like he did at the Lagos bomb blast.
Obasanjo had pledged to abide by whatever ruling from the International Court of Justice. After the October 22, 2003 ruling, he claimed to be seeking a political solution. Now, it’s quite clear Bakassi would be ceded to Cameroun in May 2004. Already, NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency), has been asked to prepare for the displaced people. Suddenly, the “Bakassians” would become refugees. Without any sallah booty, of course!
In deed, they’ve only two options. They could remain on the land, as Camerounians, or vacate it and retain their identities as Nigerians. I don’t know which one they prefer but its better they remain where they are. With the jackboot treatment the Lagos bomb blast victims got, nobody should pray to find himself a refugee Nigerian. If you are from Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc, things may be different. Obasanjo is always in a hurry to show foreigners how caring he is. But to the needy back home, he plays the pharaoh!
For now, the Bakassians are in suspense. They want to know their fate, fast. It shouldn’t be difficult for Obasanjo to tell them point blank whether or not he would give the land to Cameroun. Prince Bola Ajibola, a member of the funny Nigeria-Cameroun Mixed Commission, pretending to be seeking solution to the problem, says they’re treating the Lake Chad issue first. “Thereafter, we should go and look into the problem in the land boundary, then the maritime delimitation and finally Bakassi.” But, is Bakassi not the most controversial; most curious; most disturbing of all? In any case, is the problem there not that of “land boundary and maritime delimitation”? Why do the elite take delight in using big words to confuse our already disturbed brains? Expectedly, Ajibola gave the troubled citizens no assurance, which they sought.
As usual, Obasanjo is playing the ostrich. He toys with the life of the poor, while the rich share our national wealth. While some share the “Sallah booty,” some get the boot. And, so it is with Bakassi people. Obasanjo and co care less about their trauma. If at all, they are only concerned with the crude in Bakassi’s soil – which caused problem in the first place. Maybe, that is why they are taking time. Maybe, they are negotiating a cut from the oil deal, instead of treating the welfare of the poor.
Senator Bassey Henshaw has traced Cameroun’s interest in Bakassi to the long years of neglect of the peninsula by successive administrations. And the discovery of the resource potentials of the area. In fact, General Sani Abacha showed interest in the area in 1994 because of the oil there. Besides, by then, the generals, many who owned trawlers in the waters, had discovered the shrimps there moved market in the United States. So, to protect their investments, they did “shakara” for Cameroun.
Now, upon all the Nigerian government’s “media concern” for the Bakassians, there’s no tangible effort at improving the land. Apart from Abacha’s creation of Bakassi Local Government in 1996, everything else came through communal sweat. And there’s no Cameroun’s presence. Except for French beer and Makossa music / dance. So, it makes no difference, socially, whether Bakassi belongs to Cameroun or Nigeria.
Legally, it might be different, post May 2004. But if the laws there have human face, no fuse. The major concern should be on social amenities. With low food prices, cheaper fuel, good roads/transportation, steady power supply, secure environment, etc, I wouldn’t care if my village belonged to the end of the earth. The question the Bakassians should consider is: What have they benefited from being Nigerians?
Bakassi has always been used as bait. General Yakubu Gowon once allegedly ceded the land to Cameroun. What ever he got in return never benefited us. When I confronted him at Muson Centre in 1994, as the problem became serious then, he stretched hands and declared: “My hands are clean. Whatever I did are on record”. Surprisingly, that record didn’t help Nigeria at the ICJ. Now, I suspect Obasanjo wants to give Cameroun Bakassi in exchange for another area. He was quoted as saying there are areas inhabited by Camerounians, which belong to Nigeria. And Ajibola, who earlier denied Nigeria’s ceding of 33 communities and Bakassi to Cameroun, said ICJ rejected Nigeria’s claim on some villages.
So, what exactly should the Bakassians go home with? Are their identities changing with the weather? Don’t ask the Senators. Right now, they are very busy with “matters of urgent importance” – money! Or should we call it Sallah booty? No time for silly questions on Bakassi. They would only talk about it after they leave office.
- First published in Saturday Sun of Dec 27, 2003
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