- The Nigerian government has deported 12 Cameroonian separatist leaders
- The Cameroonian leaders were arrested at Nera Hotels Abuja earlier this month and were detained at the Defence Intelligence Agency
- According to Femi Falana who has been providing legal support for them, the Nigerian government was ashamed to announce the deportation
Nigerian government on Friday, January 26, deported Cameroonian separatist leader, Julius Ayuk Tabe, who is also the president of a self-declared breakaway state and 11 others. The leaders were arrested at Nera Hotels Abuja on Saturday, January 6.
Femi Falana who has been providing legal support for them said Tabe and the others were detained at the Defence Intelligence Agency, adding that the detainees were largely held incommunicado, which included denial of access to their lawyers, doctors and family members, Premium Times reports.
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The deputy representative of the office of United Nations Commissioner for Refugees to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, was however allowed to visit them in detention last week, Falana said.
The treatment prompted the lawyer to file a fundamental rights suit to enforce the rights of their clients.
Falana further said that the Nigerian government was ashamed to announce the deportation, which is being celebrated by Cameroonian authorities as a major victory in their clampdown on Tabe and other leaders of the self-proclaimed Ambasonia state in English-speaking parts of Cameroon.
The government of Cameroon also announced that 47 secessionists had been extradited from Nigeria.
Africannews reports that information minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, in a press conference at the capital Younde, said the extradited group “were handed to Cameroonian judiciary, before which they will be tried for their crimes."
"The government of Cameroon commended the excellent multifaceted cooperation existing between Nigeria and Cameroon, particularly with regard to security,” the statement added.
Ayuk Tabe is the leader of the Republic of Ambazonia - a group in Cameroon’s Anglophone region, pushing for a breakaway from French-dominant Cameroon. Its defense wing has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on security officials deployed to the region.
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In a previous report by NAIJ.com, the UN expressed concerns about the swelling numbers of people fleeing English-speaking areas of Cameroon for Nigeria, saying it is particularly worried over safety of women and children.
William Spindler, spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), decried the precarious situation of women and children, which made up about 80 percent of the approximately 10,000 registered refugees in Nigeria’s Cross River.
He said: “Some of these are boys and girls who fled to Nigeria alone. UNHCR has received numerous reports that children have to work or beg to survive or to help their families."
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Source: Naija.ng
