Nowa Omoigui

The Bakassi Story

By Nowa Omoigui

1. When the Obong of Calabar signed a "Treaty of Protection" with Britain on September 10, 1884 Britain agreed to "extend its protection" to the Obong and his Chiefs. The Obong agreed and promised to refrain from entering into any agreements or treaties with foreign nations or Powers without the prior approval of the British Government. That is, he signed away his Kingdom as a British protectorate. This type of subterfuge was carried out with many of our ancestors. All of this was before "Nigeria" was created. Note too that unlike agreements between metropolitan powers these so called protectorate agreements with African Kingdoms did not have precise definitions of boundaries. On November 15, 1893, Britain and Germany defined their boundaries in Africa, supplemented by another agreement on March 19, 1906. These covered British and German Territories from Yola to Lake Chad.

Bakassi: The Marston report, 1982

Forwarded By Dr. Nowa Omoigui

On May 12, 1982 Professor Geoffrey Marston, LLB, LLM, Ph.D., of Cambridge University, submitted a detailed report commissioned by Nigeria, to then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief ROA Akinjide.

Marston had been commissioned in November 1981 to advise the Shagari government on the onshore and offshore boundary between Nigeria and Cameroun - in the aftermath of the incident on May 16, 1981 when Nigerian soldiers in three canoes were ambushed and killed by Camerounian soldiers.

Did Gowon Give Away Bakassi to Cameroun?

Did Gowon give away Bakassi to Cameroun? In a letter sent to the Guardian newspaper back in 2002, Nowa Omoigui argued that this claim was "one of the bigger lies of the modern Nigerian generation - a lie which has affected Nigeria's approach over the years to the Bakassi dispute and has even unnecessarily cost the lives of Nigerian soldiers". Here is Nowa's rebuttal in its entirety:

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