30, January 2017

Biya offers 40 million FCFA to man who foiled the April 6th Coup in 1984 1

The 83 year-old Cameroonian dictator has finally compensated the radio technician who helped in foiling the April 6th Coup in 1984.  Mr. Paul Biya recently offered 40 million FCFA to Gabriel Ebili, a technician with Radio Cameroon at the time of the events who reportedly deceived the vigilance of the coup plotters.

The Biya gesture comes after 33 years of misery and precariousness that Gabriel Ebili, the former technician with Cameroon radio in the 1980s had gone through life.   The former technician received Saturday January 27, 2017, 40 million FCFA in an emotional ceremony presided over by the Sub-prefect of Lolodorf which held in the Bibondi village (Bikoka). The occasion was actually the laying of the foundation stone for a house that will be constructed for Gabriel Ebili who is already 65 years old.

Aged 32 at the time of the coup, the young radio technician deceived the vigilance of the soldiers who had taken over the radio house and after his heroic act on April 6, 1984; the young technician was obliged to leave the Cameroonian Radio. Gabriel Ebili went on exile and had long wandered in the countries of the Sub region, notably Congo Brazzaville.

According to the Sub-prefect, Epenté Tazeu Adray, “this ceremony is intended simply for Gabriel Ebili, and for the people of this village, to say thank you to the President of the Republic for this act of recognition that leaves a hero out of misery.” By way of advice, the administrative authority suggested to Gabriel Ebili not to put all the 40 million in the house, but to consider creating a plantation and opening a small restaurant for his wife.

Overcoming his emotion, Gabriel Ebili expressed his gratitude for this gesture of the head of state. “I say thank you to the President of the Republic who has just put an end to my misery,” he said. This gesture by Paul Biya is undoubtedly the result of a fierce struggle led by several journalists and writers including Charles Ateba Eyené in his book entitled “Gabriel Ebili, the forgotten hero of April 6, 1984”.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN