The Cameroonian government has asked “all foreigners” living in Bakassi peninsula in the southwest of the country, predominantly Nigerian nationals, to “abide by the laws and regulations in force in the Republic of Cameroon,” APA learned on Saturday from an official source.
This appeal follows the “unacceptable refusal” of some Nigerian nationals who reportedly openly refuse to pay their taxes, citing a border “dispute” between Cameroon and Nigeria.
“In the last few days, the locality of Idabato is at the heart of fiscal disobedience and disinformation,” the source said, adding that the municipal authorities have undertaken to recover taxes and duties owed to them by the various economic operators in the locality.
The source revealed that the routine tax collection operation “bumped into the refusal of some Nigerian traders, who even assaulted the public officials and threatened to destroy public buildings in the area.”
This was followed by a media campaign accusing Cameroon of “abuse against these people displaced who are, however, outlaws in their host country.”
The Cameroonian authorities recall that their administration of the Bakassi peninsula was recognized by the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on 10 October 2002, and endorsed by the “an agreement reached on 12 June 2006 in Greentree, USA, between President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, then Nigerian President Olusegun Obasandjo, and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the presence of four state witnesses.”
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