Bakassi political leader, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa and Bakassi indigenes

Pro-National Conference Organization (PRONACO) Wednesday called on the Mixed Commission set up by Nigeria and Cameroon governments to stay action on its planned demarcation of Bakassi Peninsula billed to take place between October 19 and November 11 2012.

The group said it was already collaborating with Project Nigeria, a group it said comprised national consensus group of eminent political leaders in the country, with a view to engaging the displaced people of Bakassi and other concerned stakeholders on how best to find solution to raging crisis over the Peninsula.

PRONACO’s spokesperson, Mr. Olawale Okunniyi, said the coalition’s leadership had come under intense pressure to intervene in the emerging tension and tussle over the Peninsula, saying this tension was the fallout of current plight of Bakassi indigenes as well as the psychological torture which accompanied Federal Government’s refusal to appeal the 2002 judgment of International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Okunniyi also disclosed that given the group’s relationship with ethnic nationalities and indigenous groups, the last one week had been hectic for leadership of the movement, which he said had received strong overtures, emissaries and delegations from Bakassi stakeholders and indigenes.

He listed the stakeholders to include chiefs and Bakassi leaders whom he said denied participation in the 1961 plebiscite which resolved to cede Bakassi to Cameroon adding that Project Nigeria has also affirmed the need for both Nigeria and Cameroon governments to immediately attend to the socio-economic, humanitarian and security needs of the displaced and homeless people of Bakassi.

The group also said its secretariat was already talking with its allies in the Niger Delta region on the need to caution against the planned demarcation of Bakassi Peninsula since issues revolving around the rights and welfare of Bakassi people are yet to be resolved.