BY ATIA TILARIOUS AZOHNWI
Joshua Osih, Member of Parliament (MP) for Wouri has condemned the curfew, restrictions on movement imposed on the population and all forms of violence perpetrated in the North West and South West Regions of the country.
In a communiqué titled ‘Declaration of Hon. Joshua Osih,’ the Vice President of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) clearly spelled out that “Paul Biya is entirely responsible for the social deflagration observed so far because of his monarchical condescending manner and autism towards the people.”
According to Hon. Osih, applying too much military force against the people is a restriction to their universal rights. He said too much militarization in the two Anglophone regions of the country give the people an inferior standard of living, hence, provoking the people to emancipate themselves from any form of slavery, and revolt against the regime.
“Freedom of movement within the national territory is a constitutional guaranteed right. Prohibiting the mobility of citizens from division to another in the Northwest Region, which by the way, is heavily militarised, transforms our compatriots living there into second class citizens, which in turn generates new frustrations and therefore gives credibility to those who espouse secession. Even at the height of the war against Boko Haram, no such extreme measures were ever applied,” lamented Joshua Osih.
“Biya is not ignorant to the fact that the desired de-escalation is severely compromised as long as he is in power. This is evident in the fact that he considers Cameroons as beyond him, and cannot therefore be bothered to meet the people, since the beginning of this crisis, or at all,” the September 22, 2017 letter reads.
Osih in his letter said “the SDF has repeatedly made it clear that: bad governance, archaic state institutions lacking meritocracy, non-application of the 1996 constitutional dispositions dealing with decentralisation and state institutions, state sponsored electoral fraud, refusal to institute reforms and an obstinate refusal to open an inclusive, frank and sincere national dialogue; would inevitably lead to an irreversible escalation of violence in our country.”
The letter reads on: “the divorce between Mr. Biya and the people of the North West and South West Regions is irretrievably consumed. It is up to him to draw the necessary conclusions.”
Hon. Osih concludes that Cameroonians now have a choice to make between Cameroon and Mr. Biya. “The SDF clearly chooses Cameroon and we should never forget that people come and go but Cameroon will always remain.”