5 Nigerian pastors and others residing within the Idabato II neighborhood of Cameroon, previously often known as the Bakassi Peninsula, have been arrested and detained by the Cameroonian authorities.
Their detention adopted the kidnap of the neighborhood’s Divisional Officer, Ewane Roland, by armed males in early October.
A former chairman of the Yoruba neighborhood within the defunct Bakassi Peninsula, Eniola Alabo, disclosed this to Saturday PUNCH throughout an interview on Tuesday.
Native media had reported that Roland, alongside one other official of the council, Etongo Ismaeil, was whisked away on October 1, 2024, by gunmen who used a flying boat within the coastal space.
In accordance with Alabo, the Cameroonian authorities blamed Nigerians within the space for Roland’s abduction and deployed troopers to arrest them.
“The Gendarmerie got here to the neighborhood and began taking pictures sporadically into the air on the day they arrested a few of these Nigerians,” Alabo mentioned.
The person defined that his compatriots within the troubled neighborhood known as and defined that the incident had plunged them into panic and nervousness within the border city.
Throughout the raid, some Nigerians, together with Iseoluwa Eniola, Feran Ajimosun, Idowu Ajimosun, Abiola Ajimosun, Blessing Ajimosun, Sunny Bassey, Feran Samagbeyi, and Godwin had been detained in Idabato II.
Governor locks down neighborhood
Saturday PUNCH gathered that Cameroon’s South-West Governor, Bernard Okalia, visited Idabato on October 8, 2024.
He was mentioned to have declared a complete lockdown of the world, which had principally Nigerians who had been fishermen.
Okalia was mentioned to have issued a 72-hour ultimatum to each Nigerians and Cameroonians locally to supply Roland alive.
A clip of the go to, obtained by our correspondent, confirmed him saying, “All retailers are closed…the church buildings are closed until additional discover. No exit, no entry on this complete Idabato.”
Alabo mentioned Nigerians locally had been rendered economically handicapped, resulting in starvation and frustration.
Residents, nevertheless, reportedly defied the governor’s order within the first week of November to go about their fishing enterprise.
“They stayed at house doing nothing for 3 weeks. The folks had been hungry as a result of their supply of livelihood was placed on maintain. They needed to exit to eat,” Alabo mentioned.
The motion was mentioned to have angered the Cameroonian authorities, who deployed troopers in Idabato on the tenth and eleventh of November 2024 to arrest Nigerians locally.
In accordance with Alabo, the troopers invaded the neighborhood and began taking pictures sporadically within the air, which made many Nigerians endure various levels of damage.
Pastors arrested
Throughout the lockdown imposed on Nigerians in Idabato II, church buildings had been additionally locked.
However when Nigerians started attending to their regular actions, church buildings additionally opened on Sunday to Christians.
“Some troopers invaded the Meeting Church of God within the space and arrested the Nigerian pastors there as a result of they had been informed to not interact in any actions,” the Bakassi Peninsula ex-leader mentioned.
“The names of the pastors arrested by Cameroonian troopers that day had been Adeleke Omoniye, Cascar Ubom, Etim Asuquo, Olamide Ayeye, and Umoh Atete.”
Buttressing the claims, one of many Nigerian leaders in Idabato, who recognized himself as Johnson for safety causes, mentioned the lives of the pastors had been at risk.
Johnson mentioned the pastors had been whisked away by the Cameroonian troopers to unknown locations.
“The Cameroonian troopers took the pastors away,” Johnson mentioned. “Just a few days later, we heard that they’ve been launched, however we’ve not seen them.”
The supply additionally mentioned the incident pressured many individuals to relocate to neighbouring communities in Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
“We’re in panic,” the supply revealed. “The Cameroonian authorities have made life insufferable for Nigerians in Idabato. We now have all the main tribes of Nigeria right here. We now have Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Efik, and different folks.”
Lady died
Throughout the lockdown, a Nigerian girl, Esther Okon died after giving start to a child on the twentieth of October, 2024.
Okon reportedly bled to loss of life after giving start as she couldn’t obtain any medical remedy from the hospital.
One of many executives of the Nigerian Union in Idabato, who spoke on situation of anonymity, disclosed this, including that the girl had been in labour since nineteenth October.
The supply mentioned Okon wouldn’t have died if she had been transported to Ibaka in Mbo native authorities space of Akwa Ibom State however there was no motion.
“It takes solely two hours by a speedboat but when we see a flying boat, it’s simply 45 minutes to get her to Akwa Ibom,” the supply mentioned.
Confirming the incident, one other Nigerian man, who claimed to be Okon’s husband’s pal and didn’t disclose his identification for safety causes, mentioned her corpse was repatriated to Nigeria after some paperwork had been signed with the Cameroonian authorities.
“The corpse was taken to Ibaka in Nigeria after her husband signed some papers with the Cameroonian authorities,” the supply mentioned.
Tax funds
One of many issues inflicting conflicts between the Cameroonian authorities and Nigerians in Idabato is the fee of taxes.
The authorities had accused Nigerian nationals in Idabato of evading taxes however proof of adherence to the fee of taxes was proven to them on many events, Johnson mentioned.
“We now have paperwork like receipts issued to us as proof after the funds of taxes. It’s known as world tax collected yearly,” the supply added.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that among the taxes may not have been remitted to applicable quarters.
Failed interventions
When requested concerning the potential intervention of the workplaces of Consulate-Generals of the 2 West African international locations, the Nigerian nationals mentioned their efforts had not yielded outcomes.
“I’ve gone to the workplace of the Consulate-Common of Cameroon in Nigeria, however nothing occurred. I used to be not allowed to see the girl. I discovered that she is a brand new individual appointed,” Alabo mentioned.
All efforts to succeed in the Consulate-Common of Cameroon in Nigeria had been futile as each numbers and electronic mail addresses on their web site appeared dormant as of the time of submitting this report.
NiDCOM response
In the meantime, the Nigerians in Diaspora Fee disclosed to Saturday PUNCH that the matter was for the consular division of the Ministry of International Affairs to deal with.
Whereas explaining why it was not within the jurisdiction of the NiDCOM, the fee’s Head of Media, Abdur-Rahman Balogun mentioned the difficulty now concerned Nigeria and Cameroon.
“NiDCOM solely engages in issues referring to Nigerian people within the diaspora,” Balogun mentioned. “This case is between two governments. It needs to be dealt with by the consular workplace.”
“Furthermore, I’m not conscious of the incident,” NiDCOM spokesman added.
The efforts to succeed in the Ministry of International Affairs regarding the problem didn’t yield end result because the quantity was not connecting.
A message was despatched to the e-mail deal with of the ministry however there was no response as of the time of submitting this report.
In 2002, the Worldwide Court docket of Justice awarded the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
On June 12, 2006, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Cameroonian President Paul Biya signed the Greentree Settlement, which outlined the withdrawal of Nigerian troops and switch of authority.
Some Nigerians left the neighborhood to maneuver to the coastal areas belonging to Nigerian states specifically Cross River and Akwa Ibom.
In the meantime, about 50,000 Nigerians are nonetheless residents of the Bakassi Peninsula, claiming that the now Idabato neighborhood stays their ancestral house regardless of being beneath the management of Cameroon.