Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State has expressed dismay over the ongoing crisis in neighboring Cameroon, which he said had led to a refugee population of over 15,000 people in the state.

Five out of the 16 local government councils in the state, as observed by The Guardian share common boundaries with the Cameroon Republic, which have being bedeviled by leadership tussle. The situation has led to massive destruction of lives and property, and compelled several persons that fled the country to reside in Taraba.

Worried by the influx of the refugees into the state, Ishaku, while playing host to leaders of the various international agencies, pleaded with them to assist the state in tackling refugee problems it is presently contending with.

He informed the group that the crisis in the Cameroon had forced a refugee population of over 15,000 on the state, and has complicated the burden being borne by the state arising from Internally Displaced Persons, being a fall-out of the Boko Haram Insurgency in the North East part of the country.

Governor Ishaku requested other agencies of the UN to assist the state in the areas of housing and shelter, a problem, which a rapidly growing population has created. He said the state was doing its utmost to re-settle and rehabilitate those that were displaced by crisis in Southern Taraba, particularly in Chonku and Asa, adding that security was also being beefed up in those areas to encourage those who fled as a result of the crisis to return.

Listing tourism, agriculture and security as critical areas where the state would need the assistance of the UN agencies, Ishaku also used the opportunity to brief the UN officials on the achievements of his administration.

According to him, women and youth empowerment has been a critical area of focus for the administration and noted that thousands of people have benefitted from the programme.

In a paper presented during the session, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Edward Kallon said a UNDP-UNWOMEN-FAO inter-agency project supported by the UN Peace Building Fund was already going on in Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa states

He said: “In support of a harmonious and peaceful relationship between farmers and herders, the intervention would promote dialogue and proactive engagement for the mutual economic benefit of the two groups.” The UN, he said, “would also support the Taraba State government to minimise post-harvest losses through public-private partnerships and investments.

Using the occasion to remind state governments in Nigeria that COVID-19 would remain a major health challenge until the vaccine was found, he urged the government to take responsibility and lead by example in containing the virus.

Source: The Guardian

CROSS River State government on Wednesday urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to find a lasting solution to the increasing number of Cameroonian refugees in the state.

Commissioner for International Development Cooperation, Dr. Inyang Asibong, spoke yesterday in Calabar, the state capital, when a team from UNHCR visited her.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the visit was to discuss the state of response on Cameroonian refugees and to seek collaboration with the Ministry.

Asibong stressed that there was need for urgent actions to address the disturbing situation.

She added that the state government had continued to be a “bed net” for both Cameroonian refugees and other migrants in neighboring countries that have a common border with Cross River.

The commissioner assured the team of the state government’s continued support for Cameroonian refugees and immigrants in spite of its lean resources.

“Cross River under Governor Ben Ayade has continued to provide support for Cameronian refugees and immigrants in spite of the state’s lean resources and these responsibilities should be supported by all institutions involved,” she said.

Earlier, Ms. Janet Okello of the UNHCR had praised Ayade for providing an enabling environment for the commission to operate effectively over the years in the state.

Okello noted that the stepping up of engagement with International partners through the establishment of Ministry of International Development Cooperation to coordinate their activities was highly commendable.

She assured the state government of UNHCR’s commitment to find long term solutions to the problem of Cameroonian Refugees in due course.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Multinational Joint Task Force has approached the Cameroonian military structures for support in its ongoing fight against Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement by the Chief of Military Public Information for MNJTF, Col. Muhammad Dole, on Saturday.

The statement disclosed that the Force Commander, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Yusuf, made the call when he paid a courtesy call on the Governor of the Far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakari, while on a 3-day operational visit to Cameroonian formations and units in Maroua on Saturday.

Yusuf appreciated the political support and goodwill extended to Sector 1 of MNJTF, adding that the support had facilitated the smooth execution of non-kinetic operations, leading to the surrender of several insurgents.

He stated that winning public support was a strategy for successful counter-insurgency operations in the region.

The Force Commander, therefore, urged both the national and MNJTF forces Commanders to sustain regular operational visits for better understanding and mutual benefits.

The statement partly read, “It is pertinent to note that the operations of Sector 1 MNJTF (Cameroon) are closely linked with the operations other formations of the Cameroonian Defence Forces. These include Operation EMERGENCE by the 4th Joint Military Region and the 4th Gendarmerie Region as well as Operation ALPHA by the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) all located in Maroua.”

Earlier, Bakari commended the MNJTF for stabilising and restoring relative peace to the Lake Chad Basin.

Bakari appreciated the sacrifices of all the soldiers from the MNJTF troops and assured that the ongoing military operations would ultimately bring peace and security for sustainable development in the region.

Source: Punch Nigeria

The Biafra Nations Youth League, BNYL, has formed an alliance with Southern Cameroon’s separatist group, Ambazonia, in pursuant to secession from their respective countries to become independent nations.

Arising from BNYL’s convention in Enugu, during the weekend, attended by representatives of Cameroon’s Ambazonia, BNYL leader, Princewill Chimezie said that the collaboration of the two agitating groups had been on for a long time but was being re-engineered to give stronger voice for their self-determination pursuits.

Chimezie disclosed that the Enugu convention was predicated on how to re-strategize and encourage self-defense mechanisms for Biafrans and Ambazonians in the escalating security challenges facing the people of Eastern Nigeria and Southern Cameroon.

He noted that BNYL was a multi-national pro-Biafra group whose membership were drawn from all the ethnic nationalities in the former Eastern Nigeria that were parts of the defunct Republic of Biafra led by General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu between 1967 and 1970.

Chimezie said: “We resolved to defend ourselves by any means possible and we are not afraid to say that because we can’t continue to sit down and watch enemies massacre our people. I am afraid we may resort to guerilla movement. We have been most prominent in the Bakassi areas where we developed partnership with Ambazonia because we found out that Biafra has a similar problem with southern Cameroon.

“Ambazonia needs our help just as we need theirs. We have both had affinity to achieve independence in different ways and the collaboration is meant to hear one another’s cry.”

One of the Ambazonia’s representatives and President of Universal Negro Improvement Association, UNIA in Calabar Cross River state, Comrade Enow Arrey said he was a refugee in Nigeria because of the horrible killings of Ambazonians in Southern Cameroon.

Arrey said: “I found out that my brothers in Nigeria have the same problem with Southern Cameroon people. My mission is to speak that Africa has the right to decolonize their place. We’ve decided that our people must be one as they were before colonization.

“UNIA will support the Biafra movement before we can deserve respect. We are fighting for peace in Cameroon and if that peace needs a separate state, we will do that. The peace is either for federalism or separation, just like we are in support of self-defense.”

Source: Vanguard

A group, Save Nigeria Movement (SNM), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to, as a matter of urgency, set up a judicial commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances that led to the decision of ceding the oil rich Bakassi peninsula to neighbouring Cameroun.

Convener of the group, Mr. Solomon Semaka, also stressed the need to revisit several unresolved incidents, including the tragic 1992 Airforce military aircraft C-130 Crash in Lagos State in which over 160 senior and middle level military officers and the entire crew died.

The group is seeking probe into the 2006 tragic occurrence of an airforce donier 228 aircraft crash in Benue State that killed about 15 senior military officers and the entire crew, as well as the sad incident of Boeing 737 plane crash that occurred in October 2006 in Abuja, which claimed the lives the late Sultan of Sokoko, Alhaji Maccido, his son, Senator Maccido, grand son, as well the then deputy governor, Alhaji Garba Muhammad, as well as 98 others.

Other probe requests, include the need to unravel the circumstances of the tragic crash of a naval helicopter in 2012 in Nembe, Bayelsa State, which claimed the lives of Governor Patrick Yakowa and Gen. Andrew Azazi, the circumstances surrounding the bombing and subsequent murder of the famous journalist, Dele Giwa, through a parcel bomb.

It also includes the need to unravel the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Gloria Okon and her subsequent mysterious death, “the circumstances surrounding the murder of Chief Bola Ige in 2001, the burning and killing of the Resident Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Commissioner and his family in Kano in 2015, the 2011 bombings of the INEC office in Suleja, which killed over 25 people and the annulment of June 12 election, among others.”

The group in the statement signed by Richard Oduma of Coalition of Minority Tribes in Nigeria and Dr. Ndubisi Okon, Center for Advanced History and Civil Right contended that the issues if left unchecked could pose grave danger to the corporate existence of Nigeria.

Source: The Guardian

The clan head of Eket Offiong in Esi Eket Local Government area of Akwa Ibom State HRH (Nsoduok) Chief Eteudo Ikot has called on the United Nations to intervene immediately in the ongoing crisis that has rocked the English speaking regions in Cameroon.

Speaking on Wednesday 1st of July 2020 while receiving the representative of Ntombi Foundation UK for Akwa Ibom, accompanied by the Zonal Coordinator, National Commission for Refugees Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons for the South – South Mr Efoghe Innocent, the Nigerian traditional ruler observed that the Southern Cameroons crisis came as a result of the absence of equity, peace and justice.

The Nsoduok of Eket Offiong furthered that only the United Nations Security Council can bring a lasting peace in Southern Cameroons. Chief Eteudo also disclosed that Southern Cameroonian refugees in his area of jurisdiction are friendly, hard working and law abiding.

The traditional leader was full of praise for the Ntombi Foundation UK for reaching out to the Southern Cameroons refugees in Akwa Ibom and made a passionate appeal to Ntombi Foundation UK to help the refugee community in Akwa Ibom State in areas such as skill acquisition and empowerment.

By Tina Nganda in Nigeria

Operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have intercepted seven Cameroonians at the creek of Ikot Obong in Cross River.

This is contained in a statement by the Service Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, and issued on Friday in Abuja.

The statement said the Marine Patrol officers of the Command in Cross River intercepted the foreigners on the Ikot Obong creek in Akpabuyo Local Government Area (LGA), while attempting to enter the country in a boat.

The statement added that the seven Cameroonians were denied entry and returned to their country through the Ikang Control post, while their boat was impounded.

“The arrest is among the series of interceptions by the command, between Cross River and Akwa Ibom States respectively, bothering Cameroon in recent times, amidst the Federal Government’s directive on border closure,” it stated.

The Controller General, NIS, Muhammad Babandede, had directed Commands at the borders to intensify patrol and reconnaissance along the flanks.

He had added that they should also intensify patrol at the creeks, waterways, and in-roads into the country, in order to frustrate the attempts of irregular migrants.

(NAN)