Bakassi Students Storm Cameroun Consulate

[Richard Akindele]

Members of the Association of Bakassi Students have invaded the Cameroun Consulate on Marian Road in Calabar, Cross River State protesting the ceding of the peninsula to the Camerouns.

The placard carrying students had come to the Consulate flaunting placards with such inscriptions as: "We shall defend our ancestral home with our blood, Bakassi cannot be sacrificed on the altar of the craze for the Nobel Peace Prize, Bakassi: We refuse to be used as sacrificial guinea pigs for UN policy, Florence Ita-Giwa is from Mbo in Oron, Akwa Ibom and the paramount ruler of Bakassi should go back to Akpabuyo LGA: He is not from Bakassi".

According to an eyewitness when the students arrived the Consulate they attempted to pull down the towering Cameroun national flag that stands in front of the Consulate before the Nigeria Police came to the scene. When Vanguard arrived the scene, three police vans were parked in front of the Consulate and while some armed policemen were sitting inside the vans the vicinity around the Consulate was crawling with armed policemen and the protesting students were nowhere to be found.

Vanguard gathered that the students also presented a position paper to the Cameroun Consul-General before things went out of hand. In the paper entitled: Our Resolve, Our Demand, the students noted: "It is with high sense of patriotism, dignity and self esteem, we have resolved to disgrace and frustrate those greedy, heartless and devious potentates who have abandoned our struggle for self-determination.

Source: Vanguard