Mohammed Shosanya
Six Nigerian professors and other refugees jailed in Cameroon have called on the government of President Bola Tinubu to deploy every legitimate means to secure their release from prison.
The Professors were deported from Nigeria to Cameroon on January 5, 2018, for allegedly plotting to destabilise the government of the Cameroonian President, Mr Paul Biya.
Sequel to their arrest and repatriation to Cameroon, they were subsequently tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment, at the Kondengui Maximum security detention facility.
In their petition,the asylum seekers pleaded with the lawmakers to prevail on the Federal Government of Nigeria to institute an urgent action to secure the implementation of Communication 59/2022 of 14th October 2022 of the UN-HRC-WGAD calling for their release.
They implored the lawmakers to “cause the government of Nigeria to take action and implement the rulings in the three judgments of the Federal High Court of Abuja in 2019, ordering the release and compensation of these petitioners.
“Call on the Nigeria government to leverage on the Abuja 2002 ruling in suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/30/2002 between the Southern Cameroons represented by Kelvin Ngumne et al vs the Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and intervenes to resolve the conflict between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun.
“Cause the Nigerian government to take action and urgently initiate proceedings before the International Court of Justice and other international jurisdictions citing la République du Cameroun to be sanctioned for fraudulent misrepresentation during the Bakassi Peninsula case in the ICJ.
“The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should take its rightful place as a “Big brother” and intervene as a mediator between the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun to resolve the ongoing conflict and restore peace and stability in the Gulf of Guinea region,” the petition reads in parts.
Addressing journalists on the petition in Abuja on Wednesday, a lawyer at Frulaw Chambers and a former member of the House of Representatives, Abdul Oroh reiterated the call on President Tinubu-led Federal Government to employ diplomatic and political measures to ensure the release of the detainees.
He said, “We realised that these people were not detained under the administration of Bola Tinubu. Tinubu is a human rights person. He was in exile, a former refugee in another country who was running away from tyranny. He fought tyranny and defeated tyranny.
“Now there is hope renewed so we want that hope that is renewed to engage our neighbours, to touch the lives of our neighbours, especially my clients.
“We want him to intervene with the Cameroonian authorities to release them. Even the United Nations Special Commission on Arbitrary Arrests made this appeal to the Buhari administration but you people know that the Buhari administration didn’t respect human rights. They didn’t listen to anybody.
“We are appealing to him, we are appealing to our parliament elected by our people, by the sovereign will of the Nigerian people to intervene with the Cameroonian authorities to release these people. Maybe they can go into a conversation to negotiate peace because these people are interested in peace.”