Nigeria may be heading for a major diplomatic collision with UN on the Bakassi peninsula controversy following recent public statements by top Nigeria federal government officials during the Senate hearing on the Greentree Accord reached between Nigeria and Cameroon, the Guardian newspaper reported Saturday.
The Nigeria federal government had described the accord signed by the last administration as illegal, and the military chiefs said it was security risk, according to the report.
The UN Secretariat has said it expects Nigeria to honor the agreement as it remains valid and in force.
The UN said any attempt by the Nigerian government to renege on the pact might be diplomatic blunder for Nigeria at the world body.
A senior UN official said the accord still stood and that Nigeria was still required and expected to follow through on its dictates, according to the report.
Nigeria agreed in June 2006 to withdraw troops from the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to settle a long-standing border dispute with Cameroon.
Under the agreement signed by President Paul Biya of Cameroon and Nigeria’s then president Olusegun Obasanjo at the Greentree estate in Manhasset, New York, Nigeria has agreed to withdraw troops from the peninsula to fulfill a ruling in 2002 by The Hague-based International Court of Justice, which said the area belonged to Cameroon.
The then UN chief Kofi Annan watched the signing.