16 Mangrove Island annexed in Mbo

Cameroon has annexed 16 mangrove island villages of Effiat clan in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

Mbo Mangrove Island is a fishing settlement, which lies west of the Rio Del Ray estuary and serves as the official borderline between Nigeria and Cameroon.

According to reports, the island boasts oil wells and abundant gas reserves.

A member representing Mbo State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Samuel Ufuo, told reporters in Uyo on Sunday that he reported the matter Assembly as matter a week ago.

According to him, the continued expansionist foreign policy of Cameroon threatens Nigeria’s sovereignty on its maritime border.

He said the Central African’s nation’s security agencies had been terrorising Nigerians in the areas carrying out economic activities on the border communities.

He said, “Cameroon has annexed 16 villages in Effiat clan, Mbo Local Government Area, which were not part of the peninsula under dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon.

“Mbo Mangrove Island is currently under the administrative control of Cameroon. This island is blessed with resources such as minerals and copious fishing routes.

The island has approximately 350 oil wells. The strategic economic importance of this region brought the envy by our Cameroon brothers.

“It is pathetic to note that Akwa Ibom people who are living in their villages established when there was no Nigeria or Cameroon as countries are being terrorised, dehumanised, deprived of their rights and privileges and maltreated by Cameroonian security agencies.”

Quoting the March 11, 1913 Anglo-German treaties as reaffirmed by the ICJ (The International Court of Justice) on October 10, 2002, Ufuo said Mbo Mangrove Island is an integral part of Nigeria.

He claimed there had been attempts by Cameroon to distort its official boundaries demarcation with Nigeria after the October 10, 2002, judgment of the World Court.

The lawmaker said, “Cameroon in an earlier attempt to take over another part of Nigeria which was not part of the peninsula ceded to it in 2002 removed pillar 113A and started encroaching on our land until Nigerian communities occupying the territory raised the alarm.”

He called on the Federal Government to re-exert its sovereignty over the island to save Nigerians occupying the communities from maltreatment from Cameroonian security officials.

Ufuo urged the Akwa Ibom State Government to investigate the annextion of the island.

President Muhammadu Buhari met with his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya in November last year and fixed December 2016 for the final demarcation of maritime boundaries of the two countries.

Punchng.com