Obong of Calabar charges FG on quick resettlement of Bakassi IDPs, victims of communal clash

The Obong of Calabar, his Eminence, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu (V),  has called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the resettlement of the  the Internally Displaced people ( IDPs) of Bakassi whose ancestral homes were ceded to the Republic of Cameroon many years ago.

Abasi-Otu made the call at the weekend when the Federal Commissioner in charge of National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Mrs. Sadiya Umar Farouq and her management team, paid him a courtesy visit in Calabar.

He disclosed that apart from the displaced persons of Bakassi, there were quite a number of other IDPs’ without homes; spreading across the state, who also deserved the Federal Government’s intervention

The traditional ruler, however attributed  some of the displacements to communal clashes among communities in the state, adding that some were caused by inter-communal boundary.

This came as he applauded the Federal Government for distributing relief materials including food stuff, to some IDPs  in Bakassi, Cross River state.

Items distributed included; forty bags of rice, forty cartons of Indomie noodle, blankets, cutlasses/rakes, gallons of palm oil among others.

Abasi-Otu who recalled the recent bloody communal clash  between the people of Ikot Offiong community in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River and Oku Iboku in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State,  appealed that the FG’s intervention should go beyond the provision of food, to the provision of accommodation to victims of the recurrent clashes.

He explained how victims of the prolonged clashes had been hovering without shelter over the years, emphasizing the need for the FG’s urgent intervention.

“The Ikot Offiong people had been suffering for over seventeen years. We have been hovering and the people are scattered everywhere, even in Odukpani, at the LGA’s headquarters, New Netim.

“Now that you have come for Bakassi, there is hope. What we have here is an urgent situation that must be addressed.

“I thank you for coming on the rescue mission, but let the relief not just be food only; you know what I am talking about. Many of the refugees don’t have homes. They have lost everything”, he said.

While thanking the commission for considering Cross River State in the ongoing exercise, the monarch drew Farouq’s attention to the plight of other IDPs’ in the state, generally.

Earlier, in her remarks, the Commissioner told the royal father that the exercise was not a one off activity, but a symbolic one to let the people and the IDPs in the state know that the NCFRMI cared for them.

The Commissioner, who earlier visited the state governor, Ben Ayade, said she was in Calabar to flag-off distribution of relief materials (food and non-food) to IDPs in Cross River, hence, the need to pay homage to the royal father.

She said as part of efforts to reintegrate all classes of Nigerian refugees outside the shores of Nigeria, the FG recently signed a Tripartite agreement with the republic of Cameroun and the UNHCR, regarding their proper handling and safe return to Nigeria.