By BANNERNEWS Reporter, Calabar
Tension engulfed Danare community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State on Wednesday morning as heavily armed Cameroonian soldiers reportedly entered the border settlement and fired warning shots while confronting local youths who challenged their presence.
The incident, captured in videos circulated by residents, showed scores of youths and women blocking the advance of the foreign troops and insisting that Danare remained Nigerian territory. The soldiers were seen carrying sophisticated weapons and were heard ordering residents to stop recording them.
Eyewitnesses said the confrontation nearly degenerated into violence when the soldiers, said to be more than 50 in number, fired several shots into the air in an apparent bid to disperse the crowd and force their way through.
Former member of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Cletus Obun, confirmed the development, describing it as another episode in the long-running border dispute between communities in the area and neighbouring Cameroon.
According to Obun, the soldiers advanced into Danare I near a Catholic Church along the road leading to Budum before they were confronted by local youths.
“The Cameroonian soldiers shot several times to scare away the youths who blocked their further advance into Nigerian territory,” he said.
Obun blamed the recurring incursions on what he described as inadequate protection of Nigeria’s border communities, alleging that Cameroon had continued to challenge aspects of the United Nations-backed boundary demarcation arising from the International Court of Justice ruling on the Bakassi Peninsula.
He recalled that similar attempts were made in 2013 during the border demarcation exercise, adding that repeated appeals by community leaders, including former Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, for stronger security presence in the area had not yielded the desired response.
Reacting to the incident, the spokesman of the 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Major Yemi Sokoya, said military authorities were aware of the development and would issue an official statement after receiving details from personnel on ground.
Also reacting, Chairman of Boki Local Government Area, Mrs Beatrice Etta Nyiam, confirmed receiving reports from residents concerning the alleged unauthorized entry of Cameroonian military personnel into Danare community.
She assured residents that the matter was receiving the attention of relevant security agencies and government authorities, urging the people to remain calm, law-abiding and avoid actions capable of escalating tensions in the border area.
