Dayspring is a community in Cross River State, Nigeria, West Africa. It is located on the Dayspring Peninsula (sometimes called Dayspring Island) between where the Little Kwa River and the Akpa Yafe River enter the Cross River from the east, near the mouth of the Cross River. Dayspring Island was the only portion of the Bakassi Peninsula that was not ceded to Cameroons by Nigeria.[1][2]
Dayspring was established in 2014 by the Nigerian government to house the people displaced from the Cameroons Bakassi Peninsula[3][4] when it was turned over to the Cameroons under the accords.[5] The people were primarily fishermen, and two earlier locations, one inland[6] and the other at Ikang turned out to be unsuitable.[7] Despite delays,[8] however, now more than 5,000 people reside at Dayspring,[9] and the residents have a new town hall.[10]
Bakassi is a peninsula on the Gulf of Guinea. It lies between the Cross River estuary, near the city of Calabar and the Rio del Ray estuary on the east. It is governed by Cameroon, following the transfer of sovereignty from neighbouring Nigeria as a result of a judgment by the International Court of Justice. On 22 November 2007, the Nigerian Senate rejected the transfer, since the Greentree Agreement ceding the area to Cameroon was contrary to Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution. Regardless, the territory was completely ceded to Cameroon on 14 August 2008, exactly two years after the first part of it was transferred.
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages.
Cameroon's noncontentious, low-profile approach to foreign relations puts it squarely in the middle of other African and developing country states on major issues. It supports the principles of non-interference in the affairs of third world countries and increased assistance to underdeveloped countries. Cameroon is an active participant in the United Nations, where its voting record demonstrates its commitment to causes that include international peacekeeping, the rule of law, environmental protection, and Third World economic development. In the UN and other human rights fora, Cameroon's non-confrontational approach has generally led it to avoid criticizing other countries.
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated former Eastern Region of Nigeria. Biafra was established on 30 May 1967 by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor C. Odumegwu Ojukwu under his presidency, following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 massacres of Igbo people and other Eastern ethnic groups living in northern Nigeria. The military of Nigeria proceeded to invade Biafra shortly after its secession, resulting in the start of the Nigerian Civil War.
Cross River State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named for the Cross River, the state was formed from the eastern part of the Eastern Region on 27 May 1967. Its capital is Calabar, it borders to the north through Benue state, to the west through Ebonyi state and Abia state, and to the southwest through Akwa Ibom state,while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. Originally known as the South-Eastern State before being renamed in 1976, Cross River state formerly included the area that is now Akwa Ibom state, which became a distinct state in 1987.
Calabar is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and creeks of the Cross River.
The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical zone, one state (Ondo) from South West geopolitical zone and two states from South East geopolitical zone.
The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory claim there was no legal document in accordance to UNGA RES 1608(XV) paragraph 5, and are seeking to restore statehood and independence from the Republic. They renamed the British Southern Cameroons as Ambazonia.
Chief Tony Ene Asuquo was a leader of the Bakassi Movement for Self-Determination, which seeks for the independence of Bakassi. He came to international knowledge after his group announced its intention on August 6, 2006, to seek the independence of Bakassi from Nigeria, which had recently lost an International Court of Justice case over the territory to Cameroon and was preparing, under then-president Olusegun Obasanjo, to hand over control of the territory to the Cameroonian military per the Greentree Agreement.
The Bakassi Movement for Self-Determination (BAMOSD) is a militant organization that seeks for the independence of Bakassi, a territory of Cameroon and formation of the Democratic Republic of Bakassi. The movement played a leading role in the Bakassi conflict.
Relations between Cameroon and Nigeria were established in 1960, the same year that each country obtained its independence. Since then, their relationship has revolved in large part around their extensive shared border, as well as the legacy of colonial arrangements under which areas of Cameroon were administered as part of British Nigeria. The countries came close to war in the 1990s in the culmination of a long-running dispute over the sovereignty of the Bakassi peninsula. In the 21st century, however, a return to conviviality has been achieved, partly because the demarcation of their border has been formalised, and partly because the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad basin has necessitated increasingly close cooperation in regional security matters.
Florence Ita Giwalisten is a Nigerian politician, who was the Senator for the Cross River South Senatorial District of Cross River State.
Bassey Ekpo Bassey II is a Nigerian journalist and politician
Bassey Edet Otu is a Nigerian politician who represented the Calabar Municipal/Odukpani constituency of Cross River State, Nigeria in the Federal House of Representatives from 2003 - 2011. He was elected Senator for Cross River South in the April 2011 elections, running on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He later defected in 2016 to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and emerged the Cross River South Senatorial flag bearer of the party in the 2019 election.
The Greentree Agreement is a formal treaty which resolved the Cameroon–Nigeria border dispute over the oil and natural gas-rich Bakassi peninsula. The dispute had roots as far back as 1913; 1981, 1994, and 1996 armed clashes between Nigeria and Cameroon took place in Bakassi. The dispute was referred to the International Court of Justice and on 10 October 2002 the ICJ ruled in favor of Cameroon.
The Bakassi conflict is an ongoing insurgency which started in 2006, in the Bakassi Peninsula of Cameroon waged by local separatists against Cameroonian government forces. After the independence of Cameroon and Nigeria the border between them was not settled and there were other disputes. The Nigerian government claimed the border was that prior to the British–German agreements in 1913, and Cameroon claimed the border laid down by the British–German agreements. The border dispute worsened in the 1980s and 1990s after some border incidents occurred, which almost caused a war between the two countries.
The Cameroon–Nigeria border is 1,975 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Chad in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.
The insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria is a military conflict that broke out in the city of Orlu, Imo State, Nigeria on 22 January 2021, when the Nigerian Army moved to crush the paramilitary wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Eastern Security Network (ESN). The conflict escalated after the ESN managed to repulse the initial push by the Nigerian Army, but IPOB ended the initial crisis by unilaterally withdrawing the ESN from Orlu. After a few weeks of quiet, Nigeria launched a military offensive in the area to destroy the ESN. On 19 February 2021, IPOB declared that as of the day before, a state of war existed between Nigeria and Biafra. Three weeks later, another separatist group declared the formation of a Biafran interim government which was subsequently endorsed by IPOB. Since then, the Biafran separatists have begun to form alliances with other separatist groups in Nigeria and Cameroon. Despite these developments, the separatists claimed that their militant operations were mainly aimed at defending local communities from armed herders and bandits instead of fighting the Nigerian government. In late June, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by Interpol and handed over to Nigerian authorities.
The 1999 Nigerian Senate election in Cross River State was held on February 20, 1999, to elect members of the Nigerian Senate to represent Cross River State. John James Akpan Udo-Edehe representing Cross River North, and Matthew Mbu representing Cross River Central won on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, while Florence Ita Giwa representing Cross River South won on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party.
Biafra Nations League initially known as Biafra Nations Youth League is a secessionist group in Nigeria's eastern region with operational headquarters in Bakassi Peninsula. The group was established in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on the 3rd August, 2013.
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