BY TALLA AGHAA CHRISTOPHER
As tensions in the North West and South West Regions rage unabated, government has embarked on a protracted mission to fish out sympathisers and activists backing what is now termed the Anglophone crisis.
Confronted with escalating tempers, a total breakdown of law and order, and worsening socio-political conditions, government has now decided to trail those considered as masterminds of the unrest. This move represents one in a series of measures that have been employed by the administration to calm the troubled waters amidst deteriorating security conditions and other concerns.
This hunt is in a bid to bring activists before the military tribunal for adjudication, as was the case with the likes of Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, and Penn Terence, who, upon their arrest in January 2017, subsequently stood trial before the military tribunal to bear the brunt of a failed system. They were each slammed maximum jail sentence to serve at the Kondengui maximum security prison.
Human Rights Watch estimates that close to 2,000 deaths have been documented as well as 500,000 persons internally displaced with about 50, 000 as refugees in Nigeria. The Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) says at least 206 villages have been burnt.
Extrajudicial killings by soldiers have soared, same with the excesses of the armed men fighting for the restoration of the independence of a country they call Ambazonia.
Just recently, the military raided Etoke Village in search of separatist fighters.
Several persons were killed including Bawack Sammy, Difang Priscilla Bahow and Magdalene Takang Bakor.
The SUN got it from a trusted security source that they were looking to “neutralise” the family of a certain Etchi Prisca Enow alleged to be providing financial assistance to the struggle.
While their family home was burnt down completely, the whereabouts of her family members remains in doubt.
Madam Nching Enow, her husband Ekine Enow Paul and children have since not been seen after the military raid and arson in Etoko village.
With the military finding it difficult to differentiate between innocent civilians and separatist fighters, many young people have been caught in the web. They have either been hit by stray bullets or mistaken for members of the gun-carrying-militia and killed in cold blood.
Several activists both home and abroad have been earmarked for arrest with regional, national and international warrants issued against them. Photos declaring them ‘Wanted’ have since emerged and many have been arrested upon their arrival at the country’s airports.