By Clarkson Fongang
Kum Odette Ekah, purportedly abducted on July 20, 2023 at her room in Molyko Buea by unidentified gunmen and released three days later, is believed to be the logistician of some armed groups in Fako.
The Defense and Security Forces believed that Kum Odette Ekah was one of the ladies who supplied armed groups within Buea Subdivision with basic food items.
Her kidnapped was gang-staged so as to divert the attention of the military but in all of this, she is now traumatized as she narrates her ordeal few days after being released by her kidnappers.
“My worst nightmare happened On the 20 of July 2023. I was in my room in Molyko and it was pouring outside, when I heard a heavy knock on my door. I looked at the time and it was just a few minutes after 8pm. I asked who it was, but no one identified themselves then I heard a second knock instructing me to open the door otherwise I would be shot if they have to force their way through. Other students in the same vicinity were ordered to stay indoors as they warned that anyone who tried to cause an alarm would be killed. I quickly remembered what had happened to me and my cousin the day the military pulled us out of our room in our nightwear holding guns and taking us to the police station. At that moment I was so scared, and I was shaking because I was alone. I opened the door, two guys walked into my room, and one stayed outside with a gun yelling at the top of his voice warning anyone who made an attempt to call for help will be killed. They brutally pulled me outside in the rain with a gun pointing at my stomach and forced me to get into a car which was packed by the side of the secondary road. I was taken to an unknown destination and brought into a house. While in the house they told me they were going to use me to set an example to others who disobeyed their orders by going to school. I was extremely frightened and thought of the worst scenarios of other young people who were found dead after they were abducted or taken for interrogation just like Linus Fonteh, a student in the Department of International Relations, who was taken by the military for interrogation and later found dead in March 2023. I was locked up in a small room and asked to sit on the floor. After being in that room for some time two of the guys opened the door, came into the room and one of them started touching me. I tried to stop him and he slapped me, pulled my hair, tore my clothes and the two guys sexually abused me. They raped me that night and while at it they told me they were going to use me to set an example to others who are stubborn and still going to school against their orders of school boycott. I could not fight back because they were way stronger than me. That was the worst night of my life, and the slightest movement got me frightened throughout that night. I was held up in that place for three days and those three days were hell because I was helpless and depressed. I would cry throughout the day and could barely stand up or walk because I felt dizzy and weak. Nights were even worse because I couldn’t fall asleep, and any noise or movements got me panicking and scared. I would have flashbacks and nightmares of a guy molesting me each time I lay down and felt like my world was crumbling. While there I could hear the guys making negotiations with my parents demanding 1 million CFA for my release, threatening them that if that amount is not paid within three days, they would kill me. I was so scared and felt I would not leave that place alive because I knew my parents don’t have that amount of money. My parents pleaded with them to reduce the cost and that they shouldn’t hurt me promising them they will look for the money. After spending three days in their custody on July 24, 2023, I was blindfolded out of that house, put in a car and the guys started driving. They didn’t offer a word to me, so I had no idea if they were going to kill me somewhere or if my parents had paid the said ransom. They drove for a while then stopped, pulled me out of the car and drove off. I was so scared because I still had the blindfolds on, and I had just been dropped off not knowing if that was where I would be killed or if I was being released. I slowly took the blindfolds off and didn’t see anyone. It was still dark, and I had just been dropped off on a quiet street. Then I realized I was at mile 16 which is 9km from Mutengene where my parents lived. I sat by the side of a house which was adjacent to the road because I could not continue walking as I was in so much pain and was very weak. I sat there for about one hour and it was dawn. The occupant of the house, a woman who was dressed for sports that morning, opened her door and saw me seated. I asked her to help me, and she took me into her home. I told her what had happened to me, and she called my parents and told them to pick me up at mile 16. Thirty minutes later my parents were at the woman’s house as she had directed them. It was 6:30am and they took me to the police station in Mutengene. When we got there that morning and met the officers on duty, I tried to explain what had happened to me, but they didn’t even care to listen to me and sent us away because I am an Anglophone saying to me “tu dit quoi” (meaning what did you say) “je ne pas le temp” (meaning I don’t have time). I tried insisting to talk to them, but they ordered me and my mom out of the police station. Frustrated, I left the police station with my parents and went to the Tiko District Hospital. While in the hospital on July 24, 2023 the Doctor gave me post exposure prophylaxis and advised me to come back one week later to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases since some of these diseases manifest 7- 21 days after exposure. Five days into waiting to go back to the hospital for the test I started feeling feverish and nauseous, pain while urinating and on the sixth day that is the July 30, 2023 I went back to the hospital and did the test. I was diagnosed with Chlamydia and placed on medications. I was advised to come back after one week and on August 7, I went back for retesting and the results were negative. After my ordeal of being raped and infected with chlamydia, I was seriously traumatized that I stayed at home for two weeks without leaving the house and barely leaving my room. I would lay on my bed struggling to sleep and have flashbacks of what happened to me. I am still traumatized and frightened when a man approaches me even just to ask for directions. There are nights I still hear the echoes of the guy’s voices in my head and I can’t sleep. I fear being sexually molested and raped and i believe the Ambazonian fighters will harm me if they see me. They kidnapped and raped me because i was a young woman who wanted to be educated against all the threats and warnings of no school in the English speaking regions of the country.”
Kum Odette Ekah, is just one of so many young girls who are bearing the brunt of the Anglophone crisis that has metamorphosed into an armed conflict for close to a decade now.
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 6,000 civilians have been killed by both government forces and armed separatist fighters since late 2016 in the North-West and South-West regions, as armed separatist groups seek independence for the country’s minority Anglophone regions.