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12 Southern Cameroonians Arrested in Abuja for Demonstrating at American Embassy

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on October 4th, 12 individuals claiming their lives were in danger were apprehended while demonstrating and seeking political asylum at the American embassy in Abuja. The demonstrators carried placards with various inscriptions including: “Save Our Lives U.S. Government,” “The Southern Cameroonians Need Freedom,” “It’s Not a Crime to Seek Asylum.”

According to the Abuja Police Public Relations officer and Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mwaoha Uzoma, the demonstrators came from the UN refugee camp in Lagos. Uzoma was quoted neither saying that the action of the demonstrators posed a disturbance to the embassy and that the demonstrators did not seek nor get permission to carry out their demonstration. In his statement, Mwaoha Uzoma said the demonstrators will be charged with criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, inciting disturbances and criminal trespass. He said the demonstration was “a source of embarrassment to the US government and to Nigeria to whom the embassy owes its protection.”

The Southern Cameroons, as a former League of Nations Mandate and UN Trust Territory jointly administered with Nigeria by the United Kingdom from 1914 until 1954. In 1954, Southern Cameroonian representatives staged a walk out from the Nigerian Eastern House of Assembly based in Enugu and set up a government in Buea in what was considered as a determination of the people of the Southern Cameroons to assert their national identity and self-determination.

However, proximity of both peoples and the Anglo-Saxon values that a collective heritage of British colonial rule bequeathed has made Nigeria a natural destination for Southern Cameroonians who have found their association with French Cameroun Republic untenable.

In 2002, twelve Southern Cameroonians, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/30/2002, filed in the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Holden at Abuja, sought and obtained a favorable judgment on:

  1. A DECLARATION that under Articles 1 and 20 (1) (2) and (3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Right (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap 10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 the Federal Republic of Nigeria has a legal duty to place before the International Court of Justice and the United Nations General Assembly and ensure diligent prosecution to conclusion the claim of the peoples of Southern Cameroons to self-
    determination and their declaration of independence.
  2. AN ORDER compelling the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to place before the International Court of Justice and the United Nations General Assembly, and ensure diligent prosecution to conclusion the claim of the peoples of Southern Cameroons to self-determination and their declaration of independence.
  3. A PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria whether by herself, her servants, agents and or representatives or otherwise howsoever from treating or continuing to treat or regard the Southern Cameroons and the peoples of the territory as an integral part of la République du Cameroun (Republic of Cameroun)

    The executive branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria is yet to implement the ruling of her Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/30/2002.