The Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged annexation of the country’s mangrove islands and maritime territories by the Republic of Cameroon. The committee is expected to report back with necessary recommendations in the next two months.
As part of its resolutions, the Senate has urged President Bola Tinubu to take immediate steps to safeguard Nigeria’s territorial waters, including securing over 2,560 oil wells identified within the disputed mangrove islands in Akwa Ibom State.
The Senate leadership has also committed to engaging directly with President Tinubu to explore diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
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Lawmakers during plenary on Tuesday, underpinned the need for urgent action to prevent further escalation of what they described as a “provocation by the Republic of Cameroon”.
Leading the motion under Orders 41 and 51, Senator Aniekan Bassey had raised an alarm over the economic and territorial implications of Cameroon’s encroachment into Nigerian territory.
Senator Bassey said that the affected mangrove islands, located in Efiat, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, were not part of the territories ceded to Cameroon under the 1913 Anglo-German treaties or the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling of October 2002.
He lamented that Cameroonian security forces, known as the Gendarmes, had imposed foreign laws on Nigerians living in 16 ancestral villages in the affected areas, a situation he described as a “monumental national embarrassment”.
The motion also highlighted that the illegal annexation violates multiple international agreements, with lawmakers advocating for a review of the ICJ judgment and calling for the matter to be reported to the United Nations Convention.
