AKPABIO DEMANDS REPRIEVE FOR BAKASSI RETURNEES

During an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Treaties and Agreement led by its Chairman, Honorable Dayo Bush-Alebiosu.,  at the Banquet hall, Uyo, yesterday, Governor Akpabio who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Umana Okon Umana, expressed dissatisfaction at the maltreatment of Akwa Ibom indigenes who reside and carry out their fishing businesses in the Bakassi Peninsula  by the Cameroonian authorities.


He said that Bakassi Peninsula is about people who lost their land, property, territory and means of survival following the Intenational Court of Justice judgement, and not about oil as touted in some quarters. He, however, called on the Federal Government to address the ugly development.

Governor Akpabio described as frustrating the continued suffering experienced by returnees from the state who looked up to Akwa lbom State government for shelter, means of livelihood and survival.

He noted that Akwa Ibom state has been a victim of the entire Bakassi saga since its communities were affected by executive fiat without any provision for their welfare.
He told the fact-finding committee that the real owners of Bakassi were yet to be compensated by the Federal Government, adding that those who benefitted from the compensation were not the real Bakassi owners.
The governor expressed hope that their visit would bring to rest series of stories and fabrications that had been peddled against the innocent and law-abiding Akwa Ibom people resident in the peninsula.