Aondoakaa: Ceding Bakassi to Cameroon was in Nigeria’s best interest

Michael Aondoakaa, former attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, says the handing over of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon was done in the best interest of Nigeria.

During the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favour of Cameroon over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi — which was part of Cross River state.

Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua complied by handing over the administration of the area to Cameroon in 2008.

Speaking on Arise Television on Tuesday, Aondoakaa, who was the AGF in Obasanjo’s government, said there have been several misrepresentations regarding the issue.

“I believe in equity, and I believe that things should be done in such a way that the whole, the whole country, should be taken together,” he said. 

“I had sleepless nights when we handed over Bakassi, and when people insinuated that we made a wrong decision and endangered the security of the country, I have a duty to come to this forum and clarify that we did not.

“And if you go to the surveyor general’s office and look at the data again, you will realise that we acted in the interest of this country.

“President Obasanjo has been a very wise person. In trying to the GreenTree Agreement and implementation of the Green Tree Agreement, he made sure that the line of demarcation did not adversely affect us as Nigeria, and did not affect our security and did not affect Cross River state.”

Aondoakaa argued that the data available at the time showed Cross River state was not stripped of its littoral status.

He pointed out that the eastern naval command headquarters in Calabar, which was established in 1971, remained operational, proving that Nigeria’s coastal security was not compromised.

“So I don’t want anybody to accuse what President Yar’Adua did on this issue of Bakassi,” he said.

“If there’s a mix up and there’s an error, it’s a political decision. The current president can look at the map again and can invite the parties concerned. Even myself, who was a direct participant, we can sit down together and offer what happened.

”I don’t want the name of late President Yar’Adua to be tainted that he took a decision that affected the security of our country. We did not. We did not from the data available to us.”

In 2022, Nigeria and Cameroon agreed to return to the ICJ for clarification of some grey areas in its judgment on the dispute between both countries over the ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula. This agreement was reached at the 24th session of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) held between August 25 and 26, 2022, in Abuja.

However, in his memoir, ‘Burden of Service: The Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General’, Mohammed Bello Adoke said former President Goodluck Jonathan gave an “irrevocable assurance” to the UN that Nigeria was not going back on the issue of Bakassi.

Adoke also revealed that Cross River state got a compensation package of N12 billion from the federal government after the final implementation of the Greentree Agreement in 2012.