All Progressive Congress (APC) Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole has blasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo describing him as a traitor for ceding Bakassi to Cameroon. He claimed Obasanjo handed over Nigeria to Cameroon because he wanted to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Oshiomhole said: “Nigeria can never forgive Obasanjo. History will punish him if we are too weak to punish him. He separated fathers from mothers, brothers from sisters. The Nobel Peace Prize is not given to traitors.”
Nigeria handed control of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to its neighbour Cameroon 10 years ago despite fears the handover will provoke attacks by local armed groups opposed to the change.
The federal government at the time agreed to transfer Bakassi in 2006 during the Obasanjo regime in line with a 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) order but violence, political disputes and legal skirmishes delayed the handover. About 50 people were killed in border fighting in 2007 alone prior to the handover.
“We are saddled with the painful but important task of completing the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s judgment by handing the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon,” said then Nigeria’s Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa at the formal signing ceremony