Cast adrift like a splinter of wood in a stormy sea, Bakassi refugees have now washed up in a temporary camp in cross River State and bemoan their fate.
“Like Obasanjo, Yar’Adua has made us a laughing stock. What type of life are we living without our ancestral home and means of livelihood?” Etim Okon Ene, the refugees spokesman lamented.

Feeling utterly betrayed, the camp’s youth leader, Salvation Bob Feughbene said Bakassi youth were deceived by the federal government not to pick up arms and defend their ancestral home. “Till we left Bakassi, government kept sending people to us. They told us not to fight and that Bakassi will not be handed over. Now see what Yar’Adua has done to us,” he said, shuddering and concealing tears.

Besieged
In a sprawling bungalow hurriedly constructed by the roadside at Ekpiri Ikang, in Akpabuyo local Government Area, more than 5,000 refugees are crammed 30 persons in a room. When Sunday sun visited the camp a few days ago, they were seen milling around and huddled on mattresses in the rooms. The rain had just abated that day. A woman and some others were seen sweeping and bailing out water in the rooms. The roof obviously leaks.

The camp’s spokesman, Etim was visibly worried. His concern was based on the fact that more refugees were coming and the facilities in the camp were being over stretched. “As more people are coming out from Bakassi and coming here, it will tell on the toilets, bathrooms, sleeping space and so on. There’s little one can do,” he said, looking bewildered.

Exodus
Allegedly beaten, raped and robbed by Cameroonian gendarmes, Nigerians who were peacefully living in fishing settlements at Ine Unya ,Iborife, Nwatrikot, Ine Ekang Ukot, Ibaniban, Achibong, Akwa, Nwangyo, and Takara ran out to Ikang in droves. Carrying few personal belongings and clutching nylon bags containing snack as though they were coming for picnic, the group came ashore. Comprising of old men, women, children and pregnant women, the group had nowhere to go and nowhere to stay.

Save our souls
Tormented by hunger and the vagaries of nature, Sunday sun learnt a call was put through to Mrs. Ita Giwa – an indigene also – and former presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters. She good-naturedly contacted top officials of the state government who directed that the refugees be “temporarily quartered” at Ikang primary school. The date was Monday, June 9, 2008.

Dislocated
They squarted in the school and heckled the federal and state government to call the Cameroonian gendarmes to order. They still believed they would soon go back to their homeland and way of life-fishing. Even now that the place has been ceded to Cameroon, some of them are spoiling for “war” and hoping to reclaim their ancetral home by any means necessary.
Giving kudos to the former state governor of the state, Liyel Imoke, Etim said the governor visited them thrice on their first week of arrival and took good care of them. “when he came, he ensured that we had food to eat and the sick treated. A police detachment was sent to project us,” he recalled.

Tossed around
Like fish out of water, they trashed around for survival and lived in the school for two months. On Monday, August 4, they moved again. This time around, they were herded to another temporary building. Some of them are wondering how long they would wander around before they get a place they can call home. “we hear say dem dey build new Bakassi for us. Good. As we dey here, we no know where dem go carry us go,’ said Blessing, a nursing mother.
In the camp, Sunday Sun learnt the state’s emergency agency gave the refugees mattresses to sleep on and doles out a weekly ration of raw food to them. “They give us food twice every week. It could be rice, garri, beans and ingredients to cook. When it’s given, every family prepare its own dish,” revealed 35-year-old Etim, and father of four.

Missing persons
As the refugees revealed, life in Bakassi became unbearable. The Cameroonian gendarmes, according to them, swooped on them – killing, raping and forcefully seizing their valuables. “When they came to your house, they search the place, take whatever they like and before your own eyes, rape your wife and daughters. If you make noise, they kill you and walk away,” Etim revealed with bitterness.
In the camp, stories of missing persons abound. A woman who put to bed last week, Imaobong says she has not seen her husband since June when they relocated. The 20-year-old nursing mother told Sunday Sun that her husband took his boat for fishing one evening in company of three other Bakassians but none of them has returned or been seen since. “we don’t know whether they’re alive or dead. But God forbid, I can’t be a widow now,” she said, weeping.

Broken promise
Since August 2006 when the Nigerian government boasted to the world it would resettle Bakassi returnees in a place to be called “New Bakassi Local Government,” construction job in the site has been slow and dragging. Carved out of Akpabuyo Local Government, the buildings that would give the refugees a semblance of “home” are still under construction. When Sunday Sun visited there, a contractor who wants anonymity said the government should be blamed: when contractors are not paid and mobilized, what do you expect?, the contractor asked.

Waiting game
As though to beguile the time, the residents of the camp play games. The men play draft. Little girls and boys play cards. Unsettled and frazzled, the men lounge around all day waiting for the government and its promise.
The worst hit, are children who have lost months of school. Like their parents, they sit around and chat endlessly. With the handover completed, the refugees feel betrayed. “So, the big government lied to us. They kept us here to suffer us,” an old woman simply called Mma said, weeping.