By Joseph Kingston
Calabar
The Efik nationality in Cross River state yesterday expressed a determination to pursue its sovereignty outside the Nigerian state.
The nationality spreads across five local government areas of Calabar South, Calabar municipality, Akpabuyo, Bakassi and Odukpani.
Addressing journalists in Calabar, a socio-political group, the Efik Eburutu Royal Fraternity Forum, gave three major reasons why it decided to opt out of Nigeria.
In a statement titled “Notice to Pursue a Sovereign State,” issued by the chairman of the group, High Chief Bassey Eyo-Cobham, and Secretary, Ene Ekpenyong Essien Jr, the group said: “After critical assessment of the plight of the Efiks in Nigeria, we have resolved to peaceably pull out of Nigeria. Enough is enough.”
They said the “secret ceding” of Efik land in Bakassi; the attempt to cede more Efik territories to Cameroon, and undue government interference in issues of Efik kingship and throne were some of the things making them very bitter with the Nigerian system.
Eyo-Cobham said the way Efik people were being maltreated by both the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon was an indication that “our people are no longer wanted in Nigeria, and as a people, we do not want to belong to Cameroon. The solution is to have a sovereign state of our own.”
He said: “Bakassi peninsular, which was an integral part of Efik Eburutu Kingdom, as shown in all available records, was secretly and heartlessly expunged from Nigeria’s map and handed over to Cameroon without the consent and knowledge of the owners – kings and chiefs of the Efik.
“The effect of this ceding is the untold hardship and pains it has brought to Efik Eburutu people. The spirit of our ancestors, who were, as it were, buried in the now ceded territory, is now roaming, refusing to be appeased.
“As if the ceding of Bakassi peninsular was not enough pains and anguish to the Efik people, the Cross River state government, in April 2007, and in total connivance with the then Nigerian President and Attorney-General of the Federation, made a law No. 7, called boundary adjustment between Akpabuyo and Bakassi local government areas.
“Through this law, the three wards of Ikang North, Ikang Central and Ikang South were by tricks renamed ‘Bakassi local government area,’ thereby giving erroneous impression that other than the peninsular that has been taken over by Cameroon, those Efik territories were part of the ceded Bakassi.
“Those three wards were never part of Bakassi. Renaming them ‘Bakassi’ is a ploy to hand over more Efik lands to another country. This is internal colonialism by Nigeria and Cameroon.”
The chairman said the people were passing through more than 100 years of suppression and oppression, thereby turning the Efik people “to punching bags economically, socially and politically.”
He promised to take the agitation to the United Nations Organisation as encapsulated in the UN Charter on fundamental human right.
