By Ofonime Umanah, Calabar
Published: Wednesday, 23 Aug 2006

Our correspondent learnt that Nigerians who resided in the settlements that form the Bakassi North, now being administered by Cameroun, were being harassed over the tax arrears.

Worst hit are the fishermen, whom our correspondent learnt had been told to stay off the waters of Bakassi if they could not show evidence of their tax payment in the last 14 years.

The fear of the gendarmes may force many other natives to flee the area for Abana, the headquarters of the local government area still being administered by Nigeria.

The Chairman of the Bakassi Council of Traditional Rulers, Etim Okon Edet, who confirmed the tax demands to our correspondent said, My people have just called me to inform me of the new developments in Archibong and the adjoining settlements.

The gendarmes are asking Nigerians to pay 14 years arrears of tax. We are really in trouble. That is why I keep begging the Federal Government to resettle us immediately so that we will be free from these harassments.”

The representative of the Cross River South in the National Assembly, Senator Bassey Henshaw, said it was an unfortunate development because the demand was not part of the agreement between Cameroun and Nigeria.

The senator said he believed President Olusegun Obasanjo would fulfill his promise to protect the lives and property of Nigerians living in the peninsula and urged the people to remain calm.

Meanwhile, there are signals that members of the National Assembly, particularly those in the Senate, are not comfortable with the Federal Governments decision to cede the Bakassi peninsula.

Henshaw told our correspondent on Tuesday that his colleagues felt bad about the development.

The Senator said, I believe that whatever the National Assembly does will be in the interest of the Nigerian people. I believe ultimately, what is in the best interest of this nation will prevail.

I am speaking to them, I am speaking to my colleagues. The pain of the people is my pain. My colleagues also feel this way. They do because I have spoken to them,” he said.

The Senate will be expected to ratify the agreement for it to have the full force of the law. The natives have already expressed the hope that the legislators would be able to stand by them and jettison the pact. Moreso as Cameroun has already failed to keep its part of the deal.