Bakassi indigenes on Wednesday appealed against the dismissal of their suit to void the Green Tree Agreement, by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The plaintiffs had in a motion ex-parte, sought for an order voiding the controversial Green Tree Agreement (GTA), Nigeria entered with Cameroon in 2006 as they applied for an order of mandamus that would compel the Federal Government to by any means available to it, repossess, occupy and take full legal and administrative control of the Bakassi Peninsula.
Presiding Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole however dismissed the suit for want of jurisdiction, noting that the plaintiffs, failed to file an affidavit in support of their suit.
Justice Kolawole stressed that a careful perusal of the processes before the court, showed that the plaintiffs only filed a verifying affidavit; an action he said was contrary to the rules of the court.
Justice Kolawole added that the court lacked the jurisdiction to delve into the substantive matters that were raised in the suit, saying the issues were “political and highly volatile.
Nigeria lost any chance of appealing the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun on the 10th 0f October 2012, following the refusal of the Federal Government to appeal the ruling delivered a decade ago.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke,a day to the expiration of the appeal deadline, announced that Nigeria will not apply for the review of the judgment of the International Court of Justice, ceding the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
