Professors in some Nigerian universities and other professionals who were working in the country but have been detained in Cameroon have written a petition to the House of Representatives, seeking its intervention for their release.
The petitioners who were registered refugees in Nigeria are also calling on the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to deploy diplomatic and other means to secure their release from detention by the Cameroonian authorities.
Their petition has been presented to the House Committee on Public Petitions by a legal firm, FRULAW Chambers: Barristers, Solicitors, Public Notaries of the Cameroon Bar Association.
The Cameroonian refugee Professors and professionals were arrested at Nera Hotel in Abuja on January 5, 2018 by security agents and later repatriated to Cameroon, tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment, at the Kondengui Maximum security detention facility.
In their petition, the asylum seekers in Nigeria pleaded with the House to among others cause the 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.
“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 Rep by Kelvin Ngwang Ngumne et al Vs the Attorney-General Federal Republic of Nigeria, and intervenes to resolve the conflict between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun.
“Cause the Nigeria government to take action and urgently initiate proceedings before the ICJ and other international jurisdictions citing la République du Cameroun to be sanctioned for fraudulent misrepresentation during the Bakassi Peninsula case in the International Court of Justice (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 part.
Addressing journalists on the petition, a lawyer at FRULAW Chambers and a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon Abdul Oroh, reiterated the call on the President Tinubu-led federal government to employ diplomatic and political measures to ensure the release of detainees.
“What we are asking the parliament to do, we realise that these people were not detained under the administration of Bola Tinubu. Bola Tinubu is a human rights person. He was a former exile, a former refugee in another country who was running away from tyranny. He fought tyranny and defeated tyranny.”
