Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Former Presidential Aide and constitutional lawyer, Okoi Obono-Obla, has declared that the Bakassi Peninsula cannot be reclaimed by Nigeria, warning that any talk of review is legally futile and politically misleading.
In a bold intervention titled “Law in Practice: Beyond Academic Rhetoric,” Obono-Obla stated unequivocally that the 2002 International Court of Justice, ICJ, judgment, which ceded Bakassi to Cameroon, is beyond reversal, as the 12-year window for review expired on October 12, 2014.
Obono-Obla also referenced the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, which upheld that Cross River State lost its littoral status as a result of the ICJ decision, transferring ownership of 76 oil wells and coastal access to Akwa Ibom State.
“We cannot reclaim Bakassi. The judgment of the International Court of Justice was delivered in 2002. Under the Statute of the Court, we had a twelve-year window to apply for a review of the judgment, which lapsed on 12 October 2014.
“The littoral part of the Bakassi Peninsula belongs to Akwa Ibom State. The Supreme Court Justices are fallible, but their judgments are infallible,” he said.
The legal heavyweight took aim at what he described as “academic pedantry and intellectual gymnastics,” insisting that law in practice is not about media posturing but about the firm application of judicial pronouncements.
“Law in practice is what the judges say it is, nothing else. It has nothing to do with hypothetical issues, but with the resolution of live questions,” he maintained.
While recognising the sentimentality attached to Bakassi, Obono-Obla called for forward-looking development efforts focused on agriculture, tourism, and forest resources to drive prosperity in Cross River State.
“Let us move forward. Japan and Singapore do not have oil, yet today they are among the wealthiest nations in the world.”
He also urged the National Assembly to intervene legislatively if Cross River State is to regain any littoral status, stressing that only legislation can alter the effect of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“Only through legislation can we alter the infallible status of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” he said.
Drawing on his 34 years of experience in law practice from Magistrate Courts to the Supreme Court, Obono-Obla reminded the public that he speaks not as an “academic lawyer,” but as one deeply rooted in legal realism.
His remarks, which have stirred fresh legal and political debate, signal a turning point in Nigeria’s long-standing territorial and resource disputes, particularly in oil-rich coastal zones.
