By By Talla Agha Christopher
A long and arduous search for persons alleged to be backing the Anglophone crisis is underway as the situation in the restive North West and South West Regions of Cameroon worsens.
Faced with adeteriorating socio-political climate in the two English-speaking regions, and other security concerns in the Far North, Adamaoua and East regions, Government, in a desperate attempt at calming the troubled waters, has multiplied efforts towards apprehending those considered as the masterminds behind the crisis.
Common Law Lawyers in Cameroon went on strike in October 2016 to protest government’s attempts to annihilate the Common Law practice in a constitutionally bilingual and bi-jural Cameroon. The strike lasted for over a year.
Anglophone teachers in the country joined the strike on November 21, 2016 to uphold Anglo-Saxon values under threat in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions. Same day, ManchoBibixy staged a coffin revolution at Liberty Square in Bamenda to protest against the marginalisation and economic deprivation of Anglophones.
Matters came to a head on Thursday, December 8 when the population of Bamenda took to the streets to denounce the politicisation of a strike action they consider genuine and borne of longstanding grievances.
Days of ghost town have since been observed throughout the South West and North West Regions of the country.
On January 17, 2017, Barrister Nkongo Felix AgborBalla and Dr.FontemNeba, leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) were arrested moments after the consortium had been banned along with the SCNC.
SisikuAyukTabe, president of the self-styled state of Ambazonia was arrested in Nigeria on January 5, 2018 along with nine other members of his cabinet including Tassang Wilfred, NforNgalaNfor and Barrister EyambeEbai.
As we went to press, a trusted source in the police informed us that plans were far advanced for the arrest of two alleged activists – AkoFormenRandolf Maxwell and Denning EpieNjumbe.
The duo, our source said, have been earmarked for arrest as a result of the crisis as both national and regional search warrants have been issued against them with their photos to be dispatched to relevant quarters to ensure they are arrested.
There is apparently no hiding place for the activists of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC and separatists of the Ambazonia self-proclaimed state. The regime in power is bent on arresting them and to a greater extent hand them heavy jail sentences for acts of treason, terrorism, secession, propagation of false news, rebellion against the state and sponsoring of the Anglophone crisis.
The Sun gathered that AkoFormenRandolf Maxwell and Denning EpieNjumbehave since gone comatose apparently benefiting from security tip off after having been declared wanted by the Yaoundéregime for their alleged role in the on-going social political impasse rocking the North West and South Regions of Cameroon.
AkoFormenRandolf Maxwell’s ordeal with the regime started in 2017 after thousands of protesters went across the streets in Anglophone Cameroon, demanding for independence of Southern Cameroons better known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. This protest demonstration landed Ako in numerous detention cells as many protesters were arrested including Denning EpieNjumbe. Reports hold that AkoFormenRandolf Maxwell and Denning EpieNjumbewere among those subjected to inhumane treatment at the Mobile Intervention Unit (GMI5) of the police in Buea. It has since been a tale of intimidation and arrests.
The government crackdown on Anglophone activists has since intensified with arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and extra-judicial killings becoming the new normal.
The fate of many remains precarious as security forces battle separatists. President Paul Biya has since taken a tough position on the crisis in the two-English speaking regions. Guns have since taken the place of dialogue and peace.