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Thursday, 4 October 2012

Jonathan sets up committee to review judgment on Bakassi

President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to look at the option of appealing the judgment of the International Court of Justice on the Bakassi peninsula.

The decision was reached at a meeting between the President, the leadership of the National Assembly and other stakeholders at the State House in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting which started late Wednesday night ended in the early hours of Thursday.

Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, told State House correspondents after the meeting that the committee would also consider how to take care of the displaced people of Bakassi.

Imoke, who did not disclose the composition of the committee, said it would work within a specified time.

NAN reports that Nigeria has an October 10 deadline to appeal the ICJ ruling which ceded the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to neighbouring Cameroon in 2002.

Imoke said Jonathan had shown great leadership quality by convening the meeting and standing firm on some of the decisions taken.

Speaking also, the Senate President, Senator David Mark, said the executive arm of government and the lawmakers were now on the same page on the Bakassi issue.

He said they would work together to achieve results.

A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola, who was at the meeting, said the federal government had shown candid concern on the Bakassi issue.

He commended the move by government to follow dialogue, the rule of law and diplomacy in ensuring that Nigeria gets justice and the people were not wrongly dealt with.

Ajibola expressed optimism that the committee set up would handle the matter accordingly and in good time.

NAN reports that the meeting was attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, and some other principal officers of the National Assembly.

Also in attendance were Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of Justice and AGF, Mohammed Adoke.

Some leaders and representatives of selected groups from Bakassi, as well as presidential aides, were also in attendance.

culled from (the Nation news paper)

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