The team which is currently carrying out the demarcation exercise has no official from the Cross River State Government and has allegedly shifted some of the 1913 Anglo- German beacons and effectively included Obudu, Boki, Ikom and Obanlikwu, home of the famous Obudu Ranch Resort in Cameroon.
A petition by the village head of Danare, Chief K K Mbia and two other community leaders to the Cross River State governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, said the retracing of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon as contained in the Green Tree Agreement signed by Nigeria’s President at the time, General Obasanjo and Mr. Paul Biya of Cameroon is illegally being turned into boundary demarcation.
According to the Village Head, the surveyors who are carrying out the retracing of the boundary “Started the job in the axis of the boundary from pillar 113 which is some metres away from the primary school Danare 1 in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State and effort at locating pillar 113 A which distance is 6 miles has proved abortive”.
Chief Mbia and other community leaders said consequent upon the inability of the surveyors to locate 113 A beacon, the surveyors have taken the path of demarcation from pillar 113 upward “Contrary to retracing of boundary as specified in the Green Tree Agreement entered by Nigeria and Cameroon and by this they have strayed and are demarcating a new boundary contrary to what is specified in the Agreement”.
The chief told the governor that by demarcating the border from pillar 113, the surveyors are demarcating the border anew and consequent upon this, “Nigeria will suffer loss of not only thousands of kilometers of age long cash crop land but also more than twenty communities stretching through Obudu, Boki, Obanlikwu and Ikom”.
The community leaders called on the government to intervene immediately and stop the illegal demarcation exercise and the surveyors made to study the 1913 map that spelt out the Anglo- German Agreement.
A government official who still prefers anonymity told CrossRiverWatch that government is aware of what is going on “But we are surprised that the people are here now; actually we were expecting them in later in February”.
Another government source who also preferred to stay anonymous because he is not authorized to speak on the matter told our reporter that: “They people are actually not on site this week but the state government having got the report of what transpired is making effort to get them back to location to ensure the right thing is done.”
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