By Sah Terence Animbom in Mbouda
After lying low for two months since his whopping election as the SDF flag bearer for the upcoming presidential election, Joshua Osih Nambangi has flung into action in a race to conquer the Etoudi palace.
Mbouda, headquarters of the Bamboutous division was the first stop of the SDF caravan which is expected to tour the 58 divisions of the country to present the SDF flag bearer for the 2018 presidential elections in Cameroon.
The SDF party insists that it is a presentation exercise to show their candidate to population but pundits posit that Osih, after being uncomfortably quiet has flung into full action.
This exercise in Mbouda gathering thousands of SDF militants who were in ecstatic mood as they welcomed both the national chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi and their presidential candidate, Joshua Osih.
Fru Ndi the drummer
The chairman of the Social Democratic Front party Ni John FruNdi while mocking at the deceptions of the ruling CPDM party under Mr. Biya said during the presentation; “I have come to present your presidential candidate to you so that you see him in person and not only in pictures as you will see with the CPDM of Mr. Biya during presidential campaigns. I have come to show you that it is true that I chairman Fru Ndi has decided to play the drum of the “Mangalum” dance with one hand in order to usher in the new drummer because I am tired.”
He regretted that so many people in Africa and Cameroon in particular do not know how to give up or when to quit the scene.
The Chairman, while presenting the young Joshua Osih said he regrets that he is handing over the baton to a child at a time when the country is in shambles. He reassured the population that the SDF party is a party of continuity and congratulated the people of the Bamboutous for their bravery to attend the last SDF national elective convention that held amidst serious threats on the life of Chairman Fru Ndi and his party militants.
He said it was a proof to those in the diaspora that the SDF party is too strong to be destroyed and cannot be destroyed by them and that if they have tried to handle Mr. Biya and he is above them, they should come ask him Fru Ndi how he handles such a man and that they should not dictate to him how he fights the battle they are fighting for he gave them voices to be where they are and to speak as they so do.
Responding to questions as to why he is quitting the scene at such a time when the SDF has a greater chance of winning the 2018 presidential polls, he said the Biblical Moses led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt but did not set foot in the Promised Land though he could see it from a distance and that he has given Cameroonians a voice and will continue to support the younger generation of the party.
Osih pushes for massive registration
Joshua Osih, on his part, addressing the crowd from a podium that chairman Fru Ndi could not mount due to the steep nature of the stairs, added his voice to that of his political father Chaiman Fru Ndi. He reiterate that they have not come to launch presidential campaigns but to present the flag bearer of the party to the population and to push them to get themselves registered in the electoral lists with Elections Cameroon and secure their voters’ cards so as to be able to make their voices count in the October elections.
He said the problem of Cameroon is Mr. Biya in Etoudi and the population must prepare their most fatal weapon which is their vote and give it to the right person when the time comes for they cannot have a voice if they are not voters. He cautioned them to stay away from deceptive CPDM party big wigs who come to them making many fake promises that they have never been fulfilled like the agricultural basin project of the Bamboutous that was promised decades ago and the many projects whose foundation stones were laid but never inaugurated.
He urged the population to count on him as he too will count on them, telling them the journey to Etoudi begins now.
Welcoming the Chairman and presidential candidate, the secretary general for the SDF, former Senator Tsomelou Jean congratulated the militants for coming out in their numbers and reiterated the need and importance of getting themselves registered in the electoral lists so as to vote massively in October 2018. He cautioned them to be vigilant and watch out for the kind of fraud that the CPDM played in the last elections that gave them the false victory they had.
He went on to promise the chairman 20 Members of Parliament and 30 councils from the west in the next municipal and legislative elections.
Most intriguing was the revelation of a fraudulent affair of a number of registered voters in Bamesso, the village of Public Works Minister, Nganou Njoumessi , a village of just about 2,000 inhabitants and at most 1,000 of voting age but already having a figure of 3,000 registered voters with ELECAM. He cried foul against the impending fraud and said he will not allow all of these acts of cheating by Mr. Biya and his ministers to bring them down again in the West region.
Present were members of the association for support to Joshua Osih from Yaounde and a delegation that accompanied him from Douala.