My Bakassi People are Still Suffering, Ita Giwa Cries out to Buhari

Former Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters and the Political Leader of the Bakassi people, Senator Florence Ita Giwa, has hailed the visit of the Senate Committee on State and Local Government Affairs to Bakassi, led by Senator Abdullahi Gumel but argued that Bakassi is not only about Ikang but about the over 3000 refugees living in Dayspring Island where they were duly registered by INEC and where they voted.

According to Ita Giwa, the Bakassi rehabilitation she has been clamouring for is the Dayspring Island where the Independent National Electoral Commission registered them and where they voted for the President, their governor and other elected members in Cross River State adding that she is ready to lead the Senate committee members to the creeks so they can have firsthand experience of their plights.

In a statement signed yesterday, the Bakassi leader argued that her people are still languishing in poverty and hopelessness in Dayspring where there is no food, no water, shelter or healthcare facilities in any form. She noted that a real visit to Bakassi should be a visit to the creek where these vulnerable ones are camped without any government presence and that they are the reason why she has been campaigning and calling on the Buhari-led administration to come to their rescue and build schools and other social amenities that will benefit the people.

Ita Giwa added that her people are exclusively fishermen and not farmers and as such, the Dayspring Island is the right place that fits their lifestyle and that it is the poor living condition of her people on Dayspring Island that the Bakassi Strike Force are fighting for.

The statement reads in parts: “I welcome and laud the development in Ikang, our host community but that is not a true reflection of the condition of the people in Bakassi. Did the senate committee cross over to where Bakassi people voted in Dayspring? There is still no water or any social facilities there and my people are suffering. The federal government must not be deceived. “If monies have been appropriated, it should be extended to where my people are in Dayspring and I am ready to lead the senate committee members to the creek to see with their eyes what my Bakassi people are passing through. The over 3000 refugees are almost hopeless and they are dying everyday.“I am using this medium to call on President Buhari to ensure the complete rehabilitation of my people in Dayspring and restore hope to them.”