By ERNESTINE NGUM
A group of soldiers are reported to have recently swooped on Wotutu village in Buea subdivision, Fako division of the South West region, whisking away the family of one Endoh Norbert Enko to an unknown destination.
The storming of Wotutu came following an inter-quarters competition organised by Mr. Etumbo Eselem Edwin, which ended in pomp and fanfare.
The inhabitants of the Wotutu locality had all been happy that things were gradually returning to normalcy. They were thus taken aback when the defence and security forces stormed the area to pick up the family members of Endoh Norbert.
It should be recalled that Wotutu had at one point been a hotbed of secessionist activities as a fallout of the armed conflict raging in the North West and South West regions. Several Ambazonia separatist fighters had been operating in the area. The forces of law and order had often engaged in gun battles with the separatist fighters, sometimes leading to many deaths and others injured.
But for a while Wotutu had been peaceful, with many residents hoping that normalcy had finally returned to the area. However, barely a few days after the end of the football competition dubbed Ewongo-Wotutu Summer Football Tournament, the forces of law and order stormed the residence of Endoh Norbert Enko. The soldiers are said to have surrounded the whole house, brandished a search warrant and later took the entire family into their truck and ferried them away.
Neighbours asserted that the forces of law and order came in search of Endoh Norbert who had been declared wanted for years now. Not finding Endoh Norbert, they decided to take his family members away.
It is not clear what Endoh Norbert has been accused of. But if he is implicated with the activities of separatists and arrested, he will be tried in a military tribunal under the anti-terrorism law, whose maximum punishment is the death penalty. That is if he is not killed outright like many others who have been victims of extra-judicial killings.
By press time we could not ascertain if the family members of Endoh Norbert had been released or not.
Meanwhile, as the crisis in the North West and South West regions, which has escalated into an armed conflict, rages on, the government has stepped up its crackdown on all those suspected to be activists or sympathisers to the Anglophone cause.
In this light, security operatives have been indiscriminately arresting Anglophone activists and suspected activists. This has caused many of them to flee into hiding and the whereabouts of many is not known.
Sources say the arrested activists are being tortured and detained under horrendous and inhuman conditions. Some have reportedly died in detention.
It is also worth noting that many people, both civilians and security forces, have been killed in the crisis, many more internally displaced and over 60,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria where they are living as refugees.
The government, in 2019, organised what it christened Major National Dialogue to seek solution to the Anglophone crisis. But with the development in Wotutu, analysts are wondering of what essence was the much heralded Major National Dialogue. Many observers say they thought this process should start with reconciliation and a peace truce before proper dialogue can take place.