THE Federal government yesterday sealed Nigeria’s hope
of recovering the Bakassi Peninsula, by saying that the government will not
appeal the International Court of Justice, (ICJ) judgment of 2002 ceding the
Peninsula to Cameroon.
The Minister of Justice in a long statement released
last night said that after consultation with experts, the government decided
not to pursue the review of the case stating that it will be more damaging to
the country diplomatically if she failed in her quest.
Adoke’s release entitled, statement of Bakassi stated
that:
It will be recalled that on 10th October 2002, the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered judgment in Land and Maritime
Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria, which covers about 2000 kilometres
extending from Lake Chad to the Sea.
It will also be recalled that before the judgment was
delivered, President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR of Nigeria and President Paul Biya
of the Republic of Cameroon gave their respective undertaking to the
international community to abide by the judgment of the Court.
The commitment and undertakings given by both Heads of
Government were confirmed by the establishment of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed
Commission (CNMC) pursuant to the Joint Communiqué adopted at a Summit Meeting
on 15 November 2002 in Geneva. The CNMC is composed of the representatives of
Cameroon, Nigeria and the United Nations and is chaired by the Special Representative
of the United Nations Secretary General for West Africa.
The CNMC has held 29 Sessions since its inception and
has peacefully, amicably and successfully:
(a) Brought Cameroon and Nigeria back to negotiation
table;
(b) Supervised the handing over of 33 ceded
villages to Cameroon and 1 to Nigeria in December, 2003 and received 3
settlements and territory in Adamawa and Borno States Sectors from Cameroon in
2004;
(c) Initiated the Enugu-Abakiliki-Mamfe-Mutengene Road
project as part of the confidence building measures between the two countries;
(d) Supervised peaceful withdrawal of Civil
Administration, Military and Police Forces and transfer of authority in the
Bakassi Peninsula by Nigeria to Cameroon in 2008 in line with the modalities
contained in the Greentree Agreement signed by Cameroon and Nigeria in 2006
which the United Nations, Germany, USA, France, UK and Northern Ireland
witnessed; and
(e) Commenced the emplacement of boundary
beacons/pillars along the land boundary and initiated final mapping of the
whole stretch of the boundary. It is instructive to note that about 1800
kilometres of the boundary have so far been assessed for Pillar Emplacement
leaving only about 220 km to complete the assessment of the entire boundary.
The Greentree Agreement was also signed by H. E. Paul
Biya, and President President Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR, on 12 June, 2006, in Long
Island, Greentree, New York, USA; reaffirming their willingness to peacefully
implement the judgment of the ICJ.
The Agreement contains the modalities for withdrawal
and transfer of authority in the Bakassi Peninsula by Nigeria to Cameroon in
pursuance of the ICJ Judgment.
The Follow-Up Committee comprising representatives of
Nigeria and Cameroon was established to monitor the implementation of the
Agreement and settle any dispute regarding the interpretation and
implementation of the Agreement. Nigeria handed over the Bakassi Peninsula to
Cameroon in 2008.
The Statute of the International Court of Justice
provides that the Judgment of the Court is final and without appeal. However,
following the Resolutions of both Houses of the National Assembly calling on
the Executive to take steps to apply for a review of the judgment, His
Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR called a Stakeholders
meeting comprising the leadership of the National Assembly, the Governors of
Akwa-Ibom and Cross River States, the Members of the National Assembly from
both States, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Honourable
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Honourable
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director General, National Boundary Commission
to review the situation.
The Stakeholders Meeting after due deliberations
constituted a Committee comprising of the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Honourable Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Director General, National Boundary Commission and Members of
the National Assembly namely: Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, SAN, CON, Hon. Dr. Ali
Ahmed and Hon Nnena Ukaje to examine all the issues in contention and available
options for Nigeria including, but not limited to the application for review of
the ICJ Judgment, appropriate political and diplomatic solutions.
Although the judgment of the ICJ is final and not
subject to appeal, the ICJ Statute provides for circumstances under which its
judgment can be reviewed. The relevant provisions are:
(a) Article 61 (1) which provides that the Court can
review its judgment upon the discovery of some fact of such a nature as to be a
decisive factor, which fact was, when the judgment was given, unknown to the
court and also to the party claiming revision, always provided that such
ignorance was due not to negligence;
(b) Article 61 (4) which stipulates that application
for revision must be made at least within six months of the discovery of the
new fact, and
(c) Article 61(5), provides that no application for
revision may be made after the lapse of ten years from the date of the
judgment.
The implication of the above provisions of the ICJ Statute
is that a case for revision of the judgment of the court can only be successful
if:
(a) The application for revision is based on the
discovery of a new fact;
(b) The fact must have existed prior to the delivery of
the judgment;
(c) The newly discovered fact must be of a decisive
nature; and
(d) The party seeking revision (Nigeria) and the Court,
must not have known of the fact at the time of the delivery of the judgment.
The Committee proceeded to examine the case for
revision against the requirements of Article 61 of the ICJ Statute and was
constrained to observe from the oral presentations made to it by the proponents
of the revision that the strict requirements of Article 61 could not be
satisfied.
This is because their presentation was unable to show
that Nigeria has discovered a decisive fact that was unknown to her before the
ICJ judgment, which is capable of swaying the Court to decide in its favour.
This is more so as most of the issues canvassed in
support of the case for a revision of the ICJ judgment had been canvassed and
pronounced upon by the ICJ in its 2002 judgment.
The Federal Government also retained a firm of
international Legal Practitioners to advice on the merits and demerits of the
case for revision.
The firm after considering all the materials that were
placed at its disposal against the requirements of Article 61 of the ICJ
Statute came to the reasoned conclusion that “an application for a review is
virtually bound to fail“ and that “a failed application will be diplomatically damaging
to Nigeria”.
In view of the foregoing, the Federal Government is of
the informed view that with less than two days to the period when the revision
will be statute barred (9th October, 2012), it would be impossible for Nigeria
to satisfy the requirements of Articles 61(1) -(5) of the ICJ Statute.
Government has therefore decided that it will not be in the national interest
to apply for revision of the 2002 ICJ Judgment in respect of the Land and
Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria.
Government is however concerned about the plight of
Nigerians living in the Bakassi Peninsula and the allegations of human rights
abuses being perpetrated against Nigerians in the Peninsula and is determined
to engage Cameroon within the framework of the existing implementation
mechanisms agreed to by Nigeria and Cameroon in order to protect the rights and
livelihoods of Nigerians living in the Peninsula.
Nigeria will also not relent in seeking appropriate
remedies provided by international law such as the invocation of the compulsory
jurisdiction of the ICJ; Petitioning the United Nations Human Rights Council
and good offices of the United Nations Secretary General which has played
pivotal role in ensuring the peaceful demarcation and delimitation of the
boundary between the two countries and other confidence building measures and
calls on the United Nations to continue to provide assistance to the affected
populations.
Finally the Federal Government wishes to assure all
Nigerians especially the people living in the Bakassi Peninsula of its
determination to explore all avenues necessary to protect their interests
including but not limited to negotiations aimed at buying back the territory,
if feasible, the convening of bilateral meeting of the Heads of State and Government
to ensure protection and development of the affected population.
In the meantime, we call on all well meaning Nigerians
in the Bakassi peninsula to be law abiding and to allow the various initiatives
being undertaken by the Federal Government to bear fruitful results.