Refugees from Southern Cameroon, a region regarded as an English
speaking part of Cameroon, on Tuesday, staged a protest against the
refusal of the Nigerian government to implement the judgment of Justice
Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court in Abuja who ordered a reversal
of the forced deportation of the 10 separatist leaders who had applied
for asylum in Nigeria.
It was gathered that the judgment was secured
through the help of a team of Nigerian lawyers led by popular human
rights’ lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN.
The refugees made the demand during a protest rally held in Abuja to commemorate the four years’ anniversary of the arrest and extradition of their over 49 leaders and many others.
They were said to have been
reportedly arrested by security agencies at the Nera Hotel in the Jabi
area of Abuja and other cities in Nigeria.
The arrested persons
included the Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Recruitment at
the American University of Nigeria, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe; Assistant
Professor of Computing and Director of the Office of Institutional
Research and Effectiveness and Vice Chair of the Institutional Review
Board of AUN, Dr Fidelis Ndeh-Che; Head of the Surgery Unit of the
Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof.
Augustine Awasum and Associate Professor of Geology in ABU Zaria, Dr
Henry Kimeng.
Others were; a senior lecturer in the Department of
Economics, Yar’adua University, Dr Cornelius Kwanga; Associate
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bayero University, Kano, Dr
Egbe Ogork; activist and leader of the Teachers Unions and the
Federation of Parent Teachers Union, Wilfred Tassang; human rights
lawyer, Shufai Berinyuy; human rights lawyer, Eyambe Elias; and civil
society leader, Dr Nfor Ngalla Nfor.
Justice Chikere had held in her judgment that the forced deportation of the Cameroonians was illegal and unconstitutional.
She
had stated that irrespective of whether they posed a threat to the
Nigerian state or not, the Federal Government did not follow due process
and thus violated both the Nigerian constitution and articles 32 and 33
of the UN Convention relating to the status of refugees.
She then
also ruled that the government should pay compensation of N67.8million
to the deportees while ordering their return to the country.
Meanwhile,
the President of the Association of Southern Cameroon Refugees in
Nigeria, Ernest Cho, while speaking with journalists, decried the
non-implementation of the court judgment.
He said, “Let me use this
opportunity to appeal to the Nigerian government to please respect the
March 1, 2019, decision of a Federal High Court in Abuja and immediately
return AUN Vice President, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues to their
families and students.
“On this sombre anniversary, we demand that
the Nigerian government implements the judgment. The decision of the
court, if obeyed, could kick-start a national reconciliation process and
help to resolve the raging conflict in the English-speaking regions of
Cameroon.”
The Secretary of ASCRN, Eric Febsar, also called on human
rights supporters worldwide to take action to demand the immediate
rectification of what he described as “travesty of justice” in the case
of the 10 Ambazonian leaders.
He said such redress would help to
mitigate the brewing humanitarian crisis posed by the influx of
asylum-seeking Ambazonians in Nigeria.
“Presently, there are over
70,000 Cameroonian refugees registered with the UNCHR in Nigeria, and
tens of thousands more are been pushed across the border in Cross River,
Taraba, Benue, and Adamawa states by the raging conflict in the
English-speaking regions,” he said.
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