By Moma Sandrine
At least three persons are reported to have been killed in Bamenda, North West Region of Cameroon on Sunday October 7, as voters went to the poll to elect Cameroon’s next President. Security sources confirm two armed men were shot around the Hospital Roundabout and Commercial Avenue neighbourhoods in Bamenda at 6.30am. Also, it is alleged another man was burnt inside his residence.
Residents in Bamenda confirm heavy gunshots between security forces and armed men in parts of the city which forced many persons to remain indoors.
A resident around Sonac Street in Bamenda confirmed that they were all indoors for fear of the unknown and would not risk their lives out to go and vote.
Prior to the elections, separatist fighters had made a call for a ten-day ghost town starting from October 1 to October 10. During this period, some inhabitants within the region completely stayed off the streets and economic activities remain grounded. Mainly, only public offices were functional during this time frame.
On the eve of the presidential elections, series of gunshot exchanges were heard from different parts of the region causing severe panic amongst inhabitants.
At the start of the voting exercise in Bamenda on October 7, most polling centres could boast only of a handful of voters. However as time progressed, some devoted citizens summoned the courage to leave their houses and take to the polls.
Many polling centres were relocated, probably due to security reasons, such as that based at the regional delegation of public works changed to the regional delegation of water resources and energy.
At 9:40 pm, the Prime minister, Philemon Yang voted at the army camp polling station and twenty-six minutes later, the Governor of the North West, Adolf Lele Lafrique cast his at the same poll. This polling station and others that made up the polling Centre was crowded mainly with voters from the military. Speaking to the press, the prime minister called on all Cameroonian citizens to come out and cast their votes: “I have exercised my rights in voting and I am happy about that and I encourage all Cameroonians to do the same”.
In Legion A, B and C, out of a total of 1,022 registered candidates, only 389 cast their votes on the day of elections.
The election in Bamenda was not without some irregularities; in some polling stations, voters were allowed to vote in stations that they had not originally registered.
What was peculiar in most of these polling stations in Bamenda were the solar lamps that were kept on standby in case of power failure. It did serve the purpose during vote counting as most of these polling stations were not electrified.
It should be noted that NW Governor had issued a communiqué extending the time of curfew in the region from 6pm to 9pm on election day since vote counting had to begin at 6:00pm.
In total, the North West Region had 74 polling centers with over 2,343 polling stations spread across these centres. The security in the region was tight. Even in some villages like Mbengwi, Bafut and Balikumbat where some people least expected the voting exercise to be carried out there; ELECAM officials could record a few votes cast in these places. Most major roads in Bamenda had only stray animals parading the streets. The common sound that could be heard from some neighborhoods was the resounding echoes of gunshots. At the end of the day at least three civilians and two separatist fighters were reported dead, while it was rumored that two military officers had also been shot.