Is it time for president Paul Biya to recall Cameroon ’s High Commissioner in Nigeria in protest of the killing of Cameroonian officials there?
For the second time in eight months, we have lost another illustrious son of Lebialem in the name of Mr. Morfaw Felix Fonya . A couple of months ago, soldier Nkwetta Linus Tanyizi was also killed in Bakassi alongside other 20 Cameroonian soldiers defending their Fatherland. This time it is the brutal death of a man loved by all for his charms. I find it very difficult to refer to him in the past tense, but he was an aspiring governor in the making.
I am of the opinion that President Paul Biya should recall Cameroon ’s High Commissioner in Abuja and at the same time expel the Nigerian counterpart in Yaounde in protest of this horribly gruesome incident. We are told those responsible for these waves of terrorism are disgruntled militiamen from Nigeria ’s Cross River state bemoaning the `lost` of Bakassi to Cameroon .
The Nigerian authorities MUST rein in these heartless militiamen sooner than later if they have the will. Anything other than that will open up avenues for us to believe, as I strongly do, that these militias are armed,sustained and bankrolled by the authorities in Abuja . For now the Nigerian government is hiding behind claims that they do not know these militiamen.
Biya must act now because his direct representative dispatched by him to Bakassi has been killed in a chilling way that defies description. He must seized this opportunity to make it abundantly clear to Nigeria that enough is enough.One diplomatic way of doing this it to expell the Nigerian High Commissioner in Yaounde when this issue is still hot.I find the ministry of defence press statement officially announcing the death of our brother and co in Bakassi vage and one dimentional. Results of inquiries in Cameroon are never released.
This latest macabre event has placed questions marks over the kind of training Cameroonian soldiers get if at all they are trained. How can 21 soldiers all be killed in one swoop without any of them firing a single short? If the slained gendarmes who accompanied the D O were guarding him, how come that not even one of them opened fire in defense?
You only need to see them when they flex their muscles with their own civilians. I say this with experience. In 2004, I went to Bakassi as BBC Journalist to do some reports and interviews for the World Service and they (Cameroonian soldiers) arrested and torture me while I was only armed with my microphone and recorder. But when it comes to warding off external adversaries, they are no way near those called soldiers. I also discovered during the two days that I spent in Bakassi that over 80 per cent of both civilian and military personnel sent to work ithere are either Anglophones or those from outside the south and centre provinces. Only Biya and his cronies can explain this trend.
This ghoulish event touched me in a particular way, namely that Mr Fonya Felix sustained me in Yaounde when I missed out on the then student bursary fondly called “bourse” or “epssy”. Thanks to him I was able to feed in resto for three years. He also clued me when I was sitting for the Competitive Entrance Examination into the Journalism school, ASMAC . Soldier Nkwetta Linus Tanyizi, also fallen in Bakassi in November, was so closed to me. Besides the fact that he was from the same village as I, he was also my classmate in primary school.
Watch out for my Open Letter to President Paul Biya in The POST, The Herald and Le Messager captioned BEYOND THE BAKASSI MASSACRE.
Journalist
Former BBC World Service correspondent.
Member,Exiled Journalists Nework,UK
Member, National Union of Journalits (NUJ),UK
Member, International Network of Young Journalist, Switzerland
Founding m'ber, Cameroon Commomwealth Journalists Association.
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