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The presidency has been told to comply with Courts judgment within the context of the Nigerian Constitution over the handing over of the Bakassi Peninsula territory to the Republic of Cameroon as a way of safe-guarding the security of the country.
In a letter to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua titled, Bakassi: Before You Handover, Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, representing Cross River South Senatorial District, under which the people of Bakassi belong, stated that the entire issue surrounding Bakassi have turned out to be an intense struggle between truth and falsehood.

In the letter dated August 1, 2008, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Sun from the Presidency, Senator Ewa-Henshaw, stated that the fact remains that Nigeria has a responsibility to comply with the provisions of Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution by not rubber stamping the Green Tree Agreement as an independent sovereign state.

He noted that while some may have argued that our Constitution is inferior to the ICJ ruling and by extension, the Green Tree Agreement, such argument, he noted, smacks of desperate move simply to effect the cession of Bakassi, no matter what.
Senator Ewa-Henshaw further stated that the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties particularly Article 46(1) is unambiguous on the matter.

He quoted the Article 46 (1) which states that:
“A State may not invoke the fact that its consent to be bound by a treaty has been expressed in violation of a provision of its internal law regarding competence to conclude treaties as invalidating its consent unless that violation was manifest and concerned a rule or its internal law of fundamental importance”.
Furthermore, Senator Ewa-Henshaw argued that Article 7 of the Green Tree Agreement equally clarified the matter as it clearly stated that the agreement shall in no way be misconstrued as an interpretation or modification of the judgment of the International Court of Justice of October 10th, 2002.

“Mr. President, our Constitution is our internal law of fundamental importance and was not complied with at the time the Green Tree Agreement was signed. The signing of that agreement violated several sections of the constitution, principally sections 12 and 14. These violations can and should be remedied without interfering with our compliance with the judgment of the ICJ. But the Green Tree Agreement is not the same thing as the ICJ pronouncement. It is only an instrument which can be modified without affecting our compliance with the court’s decision,” Senator Ewa-Henshaw enthused.

The Senator, who is representing the Bakassi people, also noted that there exist grave security implications of the Green Tree Agreement for Nigeria, adding that such security concerns were made known during the Senate Public Hearings on Bakassi by the military high command, which revealed that they were not involved in the negotiations which culminated in the signing of this agreement.

“Whether this was an oversight or a deliberate act of omission the future will tell. But, they have raised an alarm that this agreement severely and fundamentally undermines the security of our country. It precludes Nigerian naval vessels from using the channel which provides access from the open sea into Calabar. So the Eastern Naval Command based in Calabar may as well be closed down leaving the entire eastern flank of the country unprotected,” he said.

Senator Ewa-Henshaw noted that the development could have grave consequences for Nigeria in case of external aggression, saying that the seriousness of the situation may not dawn on some Nigerians who may think of Calabar as a remote outpost far away from where they live, stressing that the truth, however, is that anything happening to Calabar will exact a heavy price from the rest of the country.
“It is hard to imagine that anyone who loves Nigeria will insist that we go ahead to implement the Green Tree Agreement as it is in spite of the dangerous security implication which our military have pointed out,” Ewa-Henshaw said.

He also noted that given the history of hostilities between the residents of Bakassi and the Cameroonian gendarmes and the violent clashes which have taken place in the area in recent times, it is safe to assume that practically all Nigerians will leave the area if it is handed over to Cameroon thus creating a serious problem of accommodation in addition to the over 4000 refugees occupying a primary school in Ikang.
He also said that records from the Relocation Committee indicates that accommodation alone will consume over N20 Billion out of which the Federal Government has so far released about N2 billion while provision of another N1 Billion was made in the 2008 budget which is yet to be released.