Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke on Sunday assured that the International Court of Justice in Hague Netherland has foreclosed any purported attempt by neighbouring Republic of Cameroun to claim ownership of the Obudu Mountain Resort. The resort is the foremost tourist attraction in the state.
Imoke said the ICJ had, in its judgement of October 10, 2002, upheld the Anglo-German Agreement of 1913 and other legal instruments which defined the relevant sector of the Nigerian-Cameroon international boundary.
He said the sector, based on the judgment, was traced and physically confirmed between November and December last year by the Nigeria-Cameroon Joint Technical Team, which comprised technical experts from Nigeria and Cameroon as well as the United Nations.
The Governor’s explanations came on the heels of speculations that Cameroon was scheming to take over the resort.
While describing the rumour as malicious, Imoke in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary and Special Adviser, Media, Mr. Patrick Ugbe, asserted that Cameroun would have no moral and legal basis to hatch such a plot.
The statement further clarified that the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary in the vicinity of the Obudu Cattle Ranch was clearly defined and falls within Anglo-German Pillars 100 and 101.
Quoting Article 18 of the agreement that defined the sector, he said: “From Pillar 100, the boundary follows the thalweg of the Amiri River upstream as far as the source of its western head-water, crosses the watershed, and then follows the thalweg of the Magbe River, passing the Pillar 101 where the Aliketti (German Aligetti)-Okwa road crosses this river, to Pillar 102 at the junction of the River Magbe with the River Oyi (German Oji) [Mapu]”.
According to him, the delineation of the boundary line on satellite images map covering the whole boundary length made by the JTT using the Agreement did not put the Obudu Cattle Ranch or any of its part in the Republic of Cameroon.
He insisted that during the field tracing, the Ranch was found to be entirely in Nigerian territory, adding that “though the Obudu mountain range stretches from Nigeria into Cameroon, the portion of this range in Nigeria is what constitutes the Obudu Cattle Ranch”.
The governor also said that the state was ready to resist any attempt to cede any of its territory to any country or state in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Director-General, Cross State River Border Development Commission, Mr. Leo Aggrey, has said that his commission had spent N214m to develop some border communities. Although he did not list the beneficiary border communities, he said the state was giving priority to the needs of displaced people of Bakassi.
Aggrey said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Calabar on Sunday.
He said the state government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, was working on a master plan to build ultra-modern towns for the Bakassi returnees.
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| Nigeria-Cameroun Border Region from a 1963 map. Image copyright: Wikipedia |
He said the sector, based on the judgment, was traced and physically confirmed between November and December last year by the Nigeria-Cameroon Joint Technical Team, which comprised technical experts from Nigeria and Cameroon as well as the United Nations.
The Governor’s explanations came on the heels of speculations that Cameroon was scheming to take over the resort.
While describing the rumour as malicious, Imoke in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary and Special Adviser, Media, Mr. Patrick Ugbe, asserted that Cameroun would have no moral and legal basis to hatch such a plot.
The statement further clarified that the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary in the vicinity of the Obudu Cattle Ranch was clearly defined and falls within Anglo-German Pillars 100 and 101.
Quoting Article 18 of the agreement that defined the sector, he said: “From Pillar 100, the boundary follows the thalweg of the Amiri River upstream as far as the source of its western head-water, crosses the watershed, and then follows the thalweg of the Magbe River, passing the Pillar 101 where the Aliketti (German Aligetti)-Okwa road crosses this river, to Pillar 102 at the junction of the River Magbe with the River Oyi (German Oji) [Mapu]”.
According to him, the delineation of the boundary line on satellite images map covering the whole boundary length made by the JTT using the Agreement did not put the Obudu Cattle Ranch or any of its part in the Republic of Cameroon.
He insisted that during the field tracing, the Ranch was found to be entirely in Nigerian territory, adding that “though the Obudu mountain range stretches from Nigeria into Cameroon, the portion of this range in Nigeria is what constitutes the Obudu Cattle Ranch”.
The governor also said that the state was ready to resist any attempt to cede any of its territory to any country or state in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Director-General, Cross State River Border Development Commission, Mr. Leo Aggrey, has said that his commission had spent N214m to develop some border communities. Although he did not list the beneficiary border communities, he said the state was giving priority to the needs of displaced people of Bakassi.
Aggrey said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Calabar on Sunday.
He said the state government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, was working on a master plan to build ultra-modern towns for the Bakassi returnees.
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