Nigeria: Refugee Accuses Embassy of Frustrating Return Bid

A Cameroonian asylum seeker in Nigeria, Mr Mosina George Ikoe, who was allegedly forced into exile after being labelled by the home government as a revolutionist, has expressed desire to return to his country, but said his country's High Commissioner was not helping him in realising the goal.

Ikoe was granted asylum by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with registration number 9100011119 and that by the letterissued to him, he should be protected from anyunlawful treatment.

National Commission for Refugees also gave him approval to reside in the country via a letter with reference Number NCFR/LGS/309/2007 and it is with those two letters he had continued to enjoy his freedom in Nigeria for the past eight months.

In a statement issued in Abuja at the weekend, Ikoe said he had made several attempts at getting solution to his problems so as to free himself from the accusation against him by the Cameroonian government but to no avail.

He said he was a member of Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), saying he won election to represent Meme II and III, but was hunted out of the country with false accusation that he was a revolutionist from Southern Cameroon.

According to him, the fact that he belongs to the English speaking southern Cameroon does not make him a revolutionist, adding that he would no longerpersevere the unjust situation, because he was born to live and die as a Cameroonian."They succeeded in their plans and they have ruined mypeace, my hopes and my career, but presently, my desireis to return home safe and secured, because I left thecountry just as a step to free myself from the existing violence during that period."I presented all my documents to Cameroonian government representatives in Nigeria, showing that I am not a revolutionist but a well known member of CPDM. These documents are presently kept in the Cameroon embassy in Lagos, yet the authorities have deliberately refused to present my problem to leaders of the party and government, instead, they mount threats to my life, making me more miserable," he said

Funso Muraina
Abuja