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The 10 illegally abducted Ambazonians from the English speaking Southern Cameroons unjustly detained in the Republic of Cameroon have shifted the venue of their battle for justice and freedom to the floors of Nigerian National Assembly in Abuja.
Their lawyers have written petition to the Committee on Public Petitions of the House of Representatives in Abuja seeking the intervention of Nigeria in the matters.
The 10 petitioners, through their lawyers, presented their petition before the House Committee on Public Petitions, expressing confidence and faith in Nigerian institutions to dispense justice, fairness and equity in conflicts.
The petitioners among whom are prominent Professors, academics, and professionals include;
(1).Sisiku Julius Ayuke Tabe.
(2).Professor Awasum Augustine Cheh.
(3).Dr. Henry Tata Kimeng.
(4).Dr. Cornelius Kwanga Njikimbi.
(5).Dr. Fidelis Ndeh Nche.
(6).Dr. Egbengu Ogork K.
(7). Barrister Eyambe E Elias EBAI.
(8). Shufai Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy.
(9). Mr. Nfor Ngala Nfor.
(10).Mr. Tassang Wilfred Forbang.
The Government officials absent include officials of the National Intelligence Agency(NIA), the Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Coordinator of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees(UNHCR) and the Cameroonian High Commissioner.
Their lawyers recently issued a statement, ‘’ On behalf of the Ten Petitioners and all the other abducted and refouled , we Lawyers, for these same Petitioners, are issuing this Press Statement against a background of encouragement and hope’.
”We are encouraged because these Petitioners, who are university Professors and lecturers, have sustained the academic pyramid in Nigeria for the last thirty years – and that is a whole generation and counting. Beginning as students, excelling in their various fields and then ending up at the highest levels of academia in their various fields, wherein they crystalized innovation, industry, entrepreneurship and promise in all sectors of natural and social sciences”.
”As a result, the number of undergraduate students that these university Dons have graduated is innumerable, as a broad base of an expansive academic pyramid. The pyramid arrows towards the top, with the number of graduate students and then ends up with the cream of hundreds of PHD graduates whom these Professors have nurtured and trained”.
”This alone has undoubtedly had an immeasurable rippling effect on the life of the Nigerian Nation that cannot be quantified and qualified only in economic, social, political and cultural terms. The work of these Professors and Professionals has forever changed the generational landscape of Nigeria. This knowledge base has had a sustainable impact that is just as important as the very great lives and existence of the students and knowledge that these Professors have shaped as a foundational engine to this great and beautiful country – Nigeria”.
”The ingenuity of these Professors and Professionals does not end with academia – as a direct fruit of the excellence that has been cultivated by the Petitioners, Nigerian industry and the labor market has benefitted tremendously – a case in point is the company Quantec founded by Dr. Fidelis Ndeh Cheh (one of the Petitioners, profiled in the Petition) which employed more than 150 Nigerians, on a full-time basis, at the time of their abduction on January 5, 2018”.
”So, whether in Amadu Bello University, the American University of Nigeria, Bayero University in Kano or in the IT industry (with Quanteq), these Petitioners have brought academic luxuriance and vegetational greenery to the Nigerian workforce and economy. It is this luxuriance and greenery that is and will be the engine of development and transformation for the New Nigeria that President Tinubu and all patriotic Nigerians are sacrificing and yearning for”.
”It is this Nigeria that these Professors envisaged and worked for all their productive years. It is this same Nigeria that must stand up for them with the Resolutions that are expected from the House Committee on Public Petitions .
”These Petitioners have faith in Nigeria and her institutions. It is this faith that brought them to Nigeria as students and retained them in Nigeria as Professors and Professionals. It is this same faith that gives us encouragement and hope in the deliberations and Resolutions of this House Committee.It is this faith, hope and encouragement that is the strength of this Petition by these Professors and Professionals”.
”It is the same strength that reinforces the Judgments of three separate Judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja in 2019 and Opinion 059/2022 of the UN HRC WGAD of October 2022 asking that these Professors be released by Nigeria because they were illegally abducted, arbitrarily detained and unconstitutionally deprived of their fundamental human rights in very unconscionable circumstances”.
”It is with this faith and strength that these Professors, Professionals and all other illegally abducted and arbitrarily held refugees in Cameroun are asking the People of Nigeria, through their duly elected Representatives, to grant the Prayers outlined in their Petition now before the House Committee on Public Petitions of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
”The presence of the absent officials is critical to ensuring transparency and allowing them to present their side of the story.
The Committee Chairman had pledged to explore further legal actions, including contacting the Solicitor General, to address these delays.
”The Federal High Court of Abuja, in its judgment No FHC/ABJ/CS/85/2018 dated March 1, 2019, and the UN Human Rights Committee’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) in its Communication 59/2022 on October 14, 2022, have both called for the release and compensation of the detainees. Despite these rulings, the professors remain in custody”.
”Petitioners have urged Nigeria to take legal action before international forums, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to hold Cameroon accountable for their actions. They also call for Nigeria to use its regional influence to mediate the Southern Cameroons conflict, aiming to restore peace and stability to the Gulf of Guinea region’.
”The detained professors, have significantly contributed to Nigeria’s academic and professional landscape,their work has had a profound impact on education, the workforce, and the economy in Nigeria”.
”These detainees maintain their faith in Nigeria’s institutions and hope for their release. The judgments from the Federal High Court and the UN HRC WGAD support their plea. The Nigerian government is urged to act in accordance with these rulings and uphold their fundamental human rights.
”We, the lawyers representing these professors and other abducted and arbitrarily detained refugees in Cameroon, firmly call for justice and ask the people of Nigeria, through their elected representatives, to support the prayers outlined in the petition before the House Committee on Public Petitions of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. The statement was signed by Joseph Awa Fru
