By the late 1950s the British were leaving, and the Southern Cameroons were given two doors and no third: join Nigeria, or join Cameroon. Independence alone was not offered.
At the Mamfe Plebiscite Conference in August 1959, Fon Achirimbi II is remembered for describing that choice as one between "the fire and the deep sea" — a judgement on being made to pick, not on which was better.
The plebiscite came on 11 February 1961. In the Southern Cameroons 233,571 voters — 70.5 per cent — chose Cameroon; 97,741, or 29.5 per cent, chose Nigeria. On 1 October 1961 the Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun became one federal republic.
The phrase has outlived the vote. Anyone following the Northwest today will recognise why it is still quoted.