The House of Representatives ad hoc committee on International Boundary Disputes has halted plans to cede Sina in Michika Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State to the Republic of Cameroon.
Beni Lar, chairman of the committee, delivered the ruling in Abuja on Tuesday at an inquiry hearing into the border disputes between Nigeria and Cameroon.
Lar said the border demarcation should be suspended until the disputes are resolved, adding that the committee will visit Adamawa for a full report.
“We will recall that we did the first phase of this, similar to the DANARE-BIAJUA Axis of Cross River State and as a consequence of that, the Speaker, through a request by Representative Dauda Nyampa, included the Sina area in the terms of reference of the committee. ,” she said.
Lar said the committee would visit Adamawa on a fact-finding mission, adding that he had already notified the governor of the visit.
He said the committee found that there was a lack of security posts and barracks on the country’s land borders, while such were visible on the Cameroonian side of the borders.
According to her, this necessitated an interactive session with the security units to assess the role of security agencies in safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country.
The Director General of the National Boundary Commission, Adamu Adaji, said the demarcation was being carried out in accordance with the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
He said the demarcation sub-commission had so far placed a total of 2,214 pillars on the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
“The Adamawa State sector of the Nigeria-Cameroon border, as decided by the International Court of Justice, is based on treaties and agreements entered into by the colonial masters.
“The courts upheld these treaties and agreements and ruled that they be used to restore the border. It is not a new frontier.
”It is a border that has existed and there are documents that demonstrate that these borders have existed.
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“What the court ruled was that this document be used to restore the limit as it has always been recognized,” he said.
The representative of the Sina community, Adamu Kamale, stated that the disputed area was Nigerian territory and was never a settlement, adding that the community was never considered in the entire demarcation process.
“From Lake Chad to Bakassi, the ICJ ruled on various communities based on different criteria. The criteria used for Bakassi are not the same as those used for Michika LGA.
“In our case, the ruling clearly established that it is the basin and if the basin is to be used, it means that any territory that is on the left flank from Lake Chad falls into Cameroon.
“And any right-wing community falls on Nigeria because both countries had an agreement on the ruling,” he said.
He said Cameroon’s position was that the foot of the mountain should be adopted as the boundary line, adding that Nigeria claimed it should be the watershed and Nigeria won.
He said the court ruled on Nigeria’s submission that it was the basin that should be used.
(YAYA)