Cameroonian Government Suspends Maritime Trade as Biafra Loyalists Abduct Division Officer
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Cameroonian Government has reportedly suspended Maritime Trade, Oil Activities as Biafra Loyalists allegedly abducted Idabato division Officer.
This is following escalated violence and pro Biafra Separatist from Nigeria.
Trade and maritime traffic between Cameroon and Nigeria nosedived this week after a Cameroonian state governor ordered a temporary trade ban Wednesday in the Bakassi Peninsula, in response to the abduction of two officials from the area.
Cameroon reports about 35 percent of Nigerian petroleum products and basic commodities imported by Cameroon pass through the peninsula. Nigeria also depends on Bakassi for most of its cocoa and fish imports from Cameroon.
On Wednesday, Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of Cameroon’s Southwest Region, ordered the suspension of trade and maritime activity with Nigeria in the peninsula because suspected gunmen from Nigeria believed be Biafra loyalists abducted Roland Ewane, the division officer (D.O.) of the Idabato district.
Ewane was abducted alongside Ismael Etongo, an Idabato district council staff member, and taken to Nigeria in a speedboat, Bilai said
Merchants say Cameroon has deployed troops to enforce tax payments, something that Cameroon officials deny.
Cameroon says it has written to Nigerian authorities to help secure the release of the two abducted officials.
Joseph Vincent Ntuda Ebode, an expert on international security at the University of Yaounde-Soa, told VOA by telephone that it would be helpful if merchants paid taxes to the Cameroonian government.
