Following the announcement of the death of Paul Ayah Abine, a magistrate and politician, on December 24, 2024, remarks from public figures flooded in. He passed away in the regional hospital in Buea after a prolonged illness.
“Tribute from some party representing authentic pan-Africanism; UPA conveys its warmest homage to a patriot passionately committed to an unyielding campaign for social justice, freedom, and dignity for the people of Cameroon,” wrote barrister Jean Guy Zogo, the party’s president.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Maurice Kamto, president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), hailed Ayah Abine as a “fearless fighter for freedom and human rights, a man of deep convictions who steadfastly believed in democracy until the very end.” Kamto characterized him as a direct victim of the civil conflict that has engulfed Cameroon’s Anglophone regions for the past eight years. He apprehended the late Ayah Abine “as a temperate voice for an inclusive dialogue with all parties to resolve the civil war imposed upon our country.”
Professor Edouard Bokagne, Historian and department head at the University of Yaoundé 1, said: “The death of Justice Paul Ayah Abine compels one to reflect on the potentials that were not applied so, and a man who, had his talents been applied, could have contributed significantly to Cameroon.” According to Bokagne, Ayah Abine had a thorough understanding of the problems facing the Anglophone regions, that provided him with a deep understanding of those societies and insight into resolving their challenges.