Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. John Paul Lebo, has faulted the federal government’s decision to cede Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, saying it was done in bad faith.

This came on the heels of a recent appeal by the leader of Bakassi Emancipation Movement, Elder Andem Antigha, to President Muhammadu Buhari to halt the ongoing demarcation exercise between Nigeria and Cameroon, expressing fear that Nigeria might lose more territories to the country.

While fielding questions from newsmen in his office yesterday in Calabar, Lebo also argued that the judgement of the International Court of Justice between Nigeria and Cameroon over Bakassi was given in respect of the maritime boundary between both countries, and not land boundary.

He said, “The House of Assembly has limited things to do in respect of the Bakassi judgement because it was a judgement between Nigeria and Cameroon; it’s only circumstantial that Bakassi is located in Cross River State.

“What the National Boundary Commission and the Joint Mixed Commission between Nigeria and Cameroon have been trying to do is to first provide the maritime boundary and later the land boundary, and they would have to meet us at that point.

“They have no right to demarcate the land boundary. They attempted to continue in Obudu, Oban, up to Etung but it has been resisted by Cross River people. That exercise has been inconclusive and will remain inconclusive.