There are currently massive military raids across Cameroon as the country prepares for the declaration of falsified presidential election results.

In Douala, Anicet Ekane, a leader of UPC Manidem, was arrested in his home without a warrant of arrest. Many say it was a kidnapping orchestrated by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, who thought threats could cower the people of Cameroon into submission.

Since the arrest of Mr. Ekane, other politicians are being picked up in night raids. The writing is on the wall. The 43-year-old dictatorship is crumbling. Many Biya regime hawks are desperate. The tides are turning and power is slipping through their fingers.

But the arrest will not change much. Monday will reveal the extent of the people’s determination to bring down a system set up by the country’s president, Paul Biya, to oppress his people and spread corruption and nepotism across the country like an out-of-control fire.

Cameroonians across the world have made up their minds to stand firm. Biya and his group of kleptocrats must leave power for Issa Tchiroma, a man who has promised to clean up the Augean Stable created by the brain dead dictator, Paul Biya.

Mr. Tchiroma also known as Hurricane Tchiroma beat Mr. Biya in the 2025 presidential elections, exposing the incompetence of regime hawks to even fraud thought they claim they are expert at it. Polling station after polling station revealed how Cameroonians hate Mr. Biya and his regime which has brought death and hardship to the population.

The Biya regime noted for its exceptional manipulative and corruption ability is not convincing anybody, not even the international community which has seen the fall of a man who had the best opportunity in the world to immortalize his name by developing his country but decided to elevate corruption and intimidation into a political system.

Today, the ruling party manipulators are at work, demonstrating and calling for peace as if there is war in Cameroon. They claim they have won the presidential election but they are shutting down bars, banning gatherings and arresting ordinary citizens as part of their intimidation strategy. How do you win elections and you are afraid of war? How do you shut down bars and night clubs when your victory is supposed to be celebrated?

The die is cast. Mr. Biya has lost the election and his time at the Unity Palace is up. The arrests and intimidation are simply the kicks of a dying horse.

The people are determined and they are standing with Issa Tchiroma every step of the way. The government’s intimidation is not diminishing the people’s determination to call for change. The time for change is now. The government has a choice. Acknowledge defeat and make the transition smooth or keep on playing old tricks and incur the people’s wrath. The trend of change is irreversible.

For Mr. Biya, he has an opportunity to clean his image or whatever is left of it. He should call Tchiroma and congratulate him and work towards a peaceful transition or stick to his old ways which will only lead to a disgraceful exit from the political scene. Mr. Biya has hurt Cameroonians and many have been pushed into an early grave by the Biya-engineered poverty.

For 43 years, he has unleashed poverty and death on people he is supposed to serve and protect. Death is a common occurrence in Cameroon today. Many Cameroonians are dealing with financial stress. Their kidneys are blowing up due to stress. Their livers are being boiled in alcohol due to frustration.

The people need change. The era of the Internet has brought enlightenment to the people and Atanga Nji’s intimidation cannot reverse the movement that is currently underway.

Biya must salvage something. He has lost trust. He has lost his reputation. He has lost his dignity. Under him, Cameroon has become an Augean Stable. He could however help himself by demonstrating that he is a man with the fear of God in his mind by doing the right thing that might change perceptions in his favor. A word to the wise is sufficient.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

A stolen election, dressed in constitutional formality, is broad daylight robbery sanctified by cowards.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” When Thomas Paine wrote those immortal words in the winter of revolution during the American war of independence, he was not speaking to soldiers alone; he was speaking to every soul faced with tyranny and called to courage. Today, that call echoes across Cameroon. The ballots have been cast, the people have spoken, and now the nation stands on the precipice of history. Shall we stand upright as citizens, or bow once more as subjects? The hour for cowardice has passed. History will not absolve those who championed loyalty to a dying monarch against fidelity to a living nation.

Cameroon stands at the threshold of deliverance or damnation. Every Cameroonian, from Maroua to Bamenda, from Mamfe to Bertoua, from Buea to Ebolowa, must understand this truth: freedom is never granted; it is won. As Nelson Mandela reminded the world, “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Today, to defend your vote is to defend your neighbor’s dignity, your child’s future, and your nation’s soul.

When Issa Tchiroma Bakary declared victory; not as an act of arrogance, but as an affirmation of the people’s will; he summoned the deepest chords of our collective conscience. “The people have chosen. And this choice must be respected.” His words were not mere rhetoric; they were a covenant, a reminder that sovereignty belongs not to palaces, nor to the aged throne of Paul Biya, but to the millions who braved sun, fear, and intimidation to cast their votes.

For 43 long years, Cameroon has been imprisoned in a gilded cage of stagnation. Paul Biya’s rule has become, in the haunting words of Václav Havel, “a system so entrenched in its own lies that it no longer knows the truth.” Our youth flee across deserts and seas because home has become a waiting room for the future that never arrives. Our economy drifts, our voices are muted, and our dreams deferred – all while the machinery of state rusts under the weight of arrogance and decay.

Yet in this moment, something ancient and indestructible has stirred: the will of a people who have had enough. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, “There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression.” That time is now. Let us be clear: any attempt to annul, distort, or hijack the verdict of the ballot is not politics; it is treason against the republic. To steal a people’s mandate is to desecrate the sacred altar of democracy. As Abraham Lincoln said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” But only if it is defended. For when the ballot is betrayed, the bullet is emboldened.

The Biya regime and its instruments must hear this clearly: legitimacy does not flow from decrees or uniforms. It flows from the consent of the governed. And consent withdrawn cannot be reimposed by force. If the Constitutional Council becomes the handmaiden of fraud, it will not be an arbiter of justice but a gravedigger of the republic. To the military and the security services; remember your oath. You swore loyalty to the flag, not to the man who hides behind it. “When injustice becomes law,” as Thomas Jefferson warned, “resistance becomes duty.” You are protectors of the nation, not the enforcers of one man’s vanity.

To civil society, to journalists, to the clergy: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke) Now is the time to speak truth with fire, to write with courage, to march with peace, and to refuse the narcotic of silence. Your pens, your pulpits, your cellphone cameras – they are the weapons of light. Use them. And to the international community; neutrality in the face of theft is complicity in the crime. Let no one pretend that the “electoral process must take its course” while the process is strangled in its cradle. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded us, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

This is not about Issa Tchiroma alone. This is about every Cameroonian who still believes that tomorrow can be different from yesterday. It is about the farmer in Mayo-Louti who voted for a fairer market, the teacher in Bamenda who voted for peace, the student in Yaoundé who voted for a future, the mother in Douala who voted for dignity. The world is watching. History is recording. And generations yet unborn will ask: When the moment came, did we stand or did we shrink?

So, rise Cameroonians! Stand tall as guardians of your own destiny. Defend your votes with discipline, with courage, and with peace. Let your voices be firm but your hands be clean. For as the great poet Maya Angelou said, “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” The verdict of the people is not a rumor to be silenced; it is a revelation to be respected. No hand, no power, no decree must be allowed to steal this victory. The time for fear has passed. The time for courage has come. Let every heart echo this truth: Cameroon shall not sleep through its revolution. The people have spoken, and their voice must stand, sovereign, sacred, and unbroken.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Presidential election campaigns are underway in Cameroon and from every indication the results of the elections are a foregone conclusion.

Elections in Cameroon have never been free and fair and this year’s election will certainly not be an exception. There is a lot of excitement in Cameroon about the possibility of change coming to Cameroon. Have regime hawks become saints or have Cameroonians forgotten the past and has ELECAM, the country’s election body and the constitutional council changed their ways?

Cameroon is a country wherein there are no political miracles and the same personalities who robbed John Fru Ndi, the premier SDF chairman of blessed memory whose party beat Cameroon’s ruling party, the CPDM in 1992 in an election whose results could have transformed Cameroon’s political landscape in 1992 if John Fru Ndi had been given a chance.

The same political actors are still in place in the country. In 1992, they were younger, leaner and hungrier. After thirty three years in power, many of them are older, bigger and even nastier and are even determined to mess up the country before quitting the scene. To them, the messier, the merrier!

The incumbent, President Paul Biya is very likely to win the election. He is a player, a referee and a match delay in a game in which he has no intention of losing. His desire to stay in power is even stronger than it was in 1992 and from every indication he is in no rush to leave this planet. Those who think Mr. Biya will leave power simply do not know the man’s mindset. Some people even think he should be tired of power but real political analyst with insight knowledge of the political game know that power only tires those who do not have it. Biya has been a steady fixture on Cameroon’s political landscape for forty-three years and he is determined to make it fifty as he believes that his ancestors will be proud of him.

Mr. Biya and his men have their game plan which is unfortunately unorthodox and they are counting on the fact that the CPDM is the only party with a national presence. The CPDM is not a popular party but the fact that it is in every nook and cranny of the country gives it a massive advantage in this election which is considered by observers as a two-race horse.

Mr. Biya and his men have already rigged the election to their advantage. By controlling ELECAM and the constitutional council, the ruling party has put the odds to its side.

The rigging does not start and end with controlling the election bodies. Disqualifying candidates with the potential to threaten the senile Biya was part of the game plan. Prof. Maurice Kamto, the main opposition leader who many thought could topple Biya in the election was surgically removed from the election by a constitutional council led by a Biya protégé. Atanga Nji Paul, the country’s territorial administration minister, a man noted for his ruthlessness and uncouth behavior, was responsible for kicking Prof. Kamto out and since poverty hardly breeds virtue, Atanga Nji found a hungry and desperate person in Manidem, the political party which endorsed Kamto’s candidacy, to challenge Prof. Kamto’s candidacy and this trick worked like a charm leaving Kamto with a bloodshot eye and his supporters with broken hearts.

With Kamto out of the way, the ruling party felt the election would be a walk in the park. Little did the ruling party know that there could be another dark horse in the race and the dark horse which has turned out to be Issa Tchiroma, a man who has held many ministerial portfolios in the Biya government. Issa Tchiroma, the northerner who had been imprisoned by Mr. Biya after the April 6, 1984 coup d’etat in Cameroon has triggered a wave of insomnia among CPDM supporters.

Currently, Cameroon has run out of sleeping pills as Issa Tchiroma is rally Cameroonians. His program includes a three-year transition which will engineer a new constitution and a total revamping of the malicious system Mr. Biya has set up in his own interest.

Yaoundé has been caught up in whirlwind of fear as Issa Tchiroma knits effective alliances. Tchiroma is even prepared to sign a pact with the devil. He has already reached out to secessionists in the country’s two English-speaking regions and his visits to Bamenda and Buea over the last week have put the government in a talespin.

Tchiroma is apologizing to the country’s English-speaking citizens for all the humiliating and mendacious statements he made at the peak of the crisis when he was Biya’s communication minister. Tchiroma is even prepared to ally with the dead. He understands that a snake which does not cast its skin will not live long. His objective is to win power and pull Cameroon from the brink although many Biya supporters see him as a man full of vengeance. They suspect that if power falls into Tchiroma’s hands, he might take his pound of flesh and he will surely look for that which is closest to the heart.

The Biya regime has exhausted all its tricks. The public is aware what Mr. Biya and his ruling are capable of. Their tricks know no bounds and since the ruling party controls the country’s national assembly, it used the parliament to delay council and parliamentary elections to ensure Prof. Kamto’s party, MRC, which did not any parliamentarians and councilors did not qualify as a presidential candidate.

Despite all these tricks, the truth is that the Biya regime is on its last leg. Its free fall has commenced and its life span is maximum two years. All the numerous political maneuvers, including the SDF senator joining Atanga Nji in a CPDM campaign in Up-Station, Bamenda, are all vain attempts to postpone the CPDM’s agony.

Akere Muna and Joshua Osih, well known French Cameroon surrogates who have a track record of obstructing the Southern Cameroons cause have been told to take part in the October 12 election to give legitimacy and a semblance of Southern Cameroons’ participation. This is also failing and will certainly give the government and the elections a very bad name.

Thousands of eligible voters were reluctant to register, citing fears of election rigging or retribution from soldiers loyal to the regime in Yaoundé.

ELECAM has excluded candidates without providing clear reasons. The process for candidate vetting is shameful, disgusting and disgraceful.

The constitutional council is a Beti/Bulu tribal institution seen by critics as insufficiently independent and only makes decisions that favour the 92-year-old Biya.

There are concerns that elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) often used to suppress dissent, protests, or opposition activities are no longer willing to play the nasty role they have been playing.

The deployment of gendarmerie officers to protect ELECAM officials and prominent judges of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Council has already taken place, signaling the Council’s readiness to declare Biya the winner.

Millions in French speaking Cameroon now see the outcome as a foregone conclusion, voter apathy in Southern Cameroons is very high, which tends to favour President Biya now known as the picture candidate.

Mr. Biya’s use of state resources to shape public perception, limit opposition campaigns, and control the flow of information has pushed Cameroonians to the brink.

Interfering in vote counting during this October election and using the Constitutional Council to declare Biya as the winner might be a grievous mistake that might trigger the end of a regime which has overstayed its welcome.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Presidential elections in Cameroon are scheduled for 12 October 2025 and 92-year-old President Biya who returned yesterday to the country after a 12-day health tourism in Switzerland remains the leading candidate. Mr. Biya has been in power since 1982 and for 43 years, the country has witnessed an escalation in corruption and poverty.

Following the introduction of multiparty politics in the country, the country’s political environment has been dominated by  the ruling CPDM which has total control over the country’s electoral institutions.

Biya is frail, unable to walk and most of his recent pronouncements have been through social media platforms. In a recent tweet, the man who has nothing to show for his long stay in power, pointed out that much remains to be done, an indictment of his government and testimony to the fact that he has failed the country.

Biya’s ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement has strong control over the government treasury and control over major media houses in the country. His rivals are disqualified, blocked, or weakened while he goes abroad during election campaigns to enjoy the sweat of other countries. Holiday InterContinental Hotel in Geneva has become Mr. Biya’s office when he issues his infamous and ridiculous high instructions.

Campaigns have started and CPDM militants are holding rallies parading Biya’s photos and some dying in accidents while the old CPDM chairman enjoys himself out of the country.

Issa Tchiroma who successfully emerged as Biya’s main challenger is already speaking of systemic bias while local and international media organizations are already treating Biya as the likely winner not because he is popular but because he is popularly unpopular.

Whatever Biya wants, Biya gets!! He is not involved in any campaign but simply enjoying his private trip in Europe. Cameroon is the only country in the world where if you want to lose an election you campaign but if you want to win, you leave the country while your picture represents you in rallies.

Biya’s complete absent from the campaign trail raises serious doubts about fairness in the electoral process. It also calls into question his patriotism and physical ability to rule a country he has willfully destroyed.

As credible opposition figures continue to face institutional barriers, Biya’s picture on seats during rallies is now set to win the presidential election in Cameroon. Mr. Biya has reduced Cameroonians to desperate clowns who even worship the picture of a dying scammer.

The election governing body, ELECAM, is at the mercy of Mr. Biya and his appointees, with opposition parties citing lack of transparency in the electoral processes.

The electoral drama in East Cameroon is not drawing attention in the two English-speaking regions of the country where Ambazonia Restoration Forces have reportedly shut down the English-speaking regions. Boko Haram has increased its violent activities in the north and there are reports that citizens in this areas will not be able to vote.

Biya’s advanced age and health are a matter of very grave concern. This explains why only his picture has been used to represent him in all CPDM rallies. Senior political figures such as Barrister Akere Muna have pointed out that in the current “set to win” picture situation, Biya may not be able to serve his full term and this may end up creating instability.

The legitimacy of the election has already been questioned by commentators both at home and abroad with many condemning the process as unfair. If Biya’s picture ends up winning the election, his victory will be the first of its kind in the world. Pictures have never won elections in any part of the world but it is becoming clearer everyday that Cameroon is well on the path to setting a new political record.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The escalating tensions surrounding separatist movements in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon have raised alarming concerns regarding national security and political stability. On 10 September 2025, along Mile 14 Munyenge on Muyuka Road, a rural stretch in the country’s Southwest region, a routine patrol by Cameroonian soldiers turned into a deadly ambush.

Six soldiers were killed in a single morning without any warning or prior threat, just a flash, a blast, and then silence. Similarly, on 5 September, an incident in Malende, Muyuka, claimed the lives of seven soldiers.

This was not just another isolated act of violence in a forgotten war. Rather, it was a high-profile attack occurring just four weeks before the Cameroonian presidential election, an election in which the 92-year-old incumbent, Paul Biya, is seeking an unprecedented eighth term in office. While the political elite in Yaoundé prepare for the election, the war in the Anglophone regions is also evolving, becoming more sophisticated and deadlier than ever before. The use of advanced explosives demonstrates a level of technical skill that marks a significant escalation from the simple ambushes and kidnappings that characterized the early days of this rebellion. These actions, well executed by the separatists, are not merely acts of violence; they are calculated efforts to undermine the state’s authority and assert a narrative of resistance.

How did the conflict arise? In 2016, lawyers, teachers, and students later joined to take to the streets in towns such as Bamenda, Kumba, and Manfe, among others, to protest the appointment of French-speaking judges and teachers who could neither express themselves in English nor function in their common law courts and English-speaking schools. The Anglophone protesters perceived this as a slap on their identity. The government’s response was to deploy military personnel instructed to use tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the protesters. Unbeknownst to the government, what began as a peaceful protest quickly escalated into a full-scale war and a demand for secession. This brutal crackdown radicalized an entire generation, transforming a moderate call for federalism into a full declaration of independence for the Ambazonia state in 2017.

The attacks on the government military reveal the dangerous reality of state failure brewing in Cameroon. A country already on the edge, these attacks signify that the old guard of power is losing its grip, creating a vacuum where new, more radical forces are now emerging.

The implications for Cameroon are profound, especially during election cycles when political discourse is highly sensitive and can significantly influence public perception. The attacks may trigger a surge in nationalistic sentiments, potentially further polarizing voters. While some individuals might unite in solidarity when facing perceived threats, there is a real concern that the ongoing violence will lead to disillusionment, fear, and apathy among the electorate. When citizens feel unsafe, they are less likely to participate actively in the democratic process, which could result in lower voter turnout, a troubling scenario for any government. Additionally, political opponents may exploit the attacks and the heightened insecurity in conflict-affected regions as a strategic narrative to strengthen their platforms, presenting themselves as agents of change capable of restoring safety and stability. This could foster a chain reaction of political shifts, leaving the current government on the defensive and struggling to maintain the support of its base amid growing public anxiety.

As we approach October 12, 2025, in just a few weeks, the Electoral Committee must develop a framework to ensure the safety of citizens as they head to the polls. Again, leaders should take the initiative to recognize the urgency of addressing the underlying issues fueling separatism while simultaneously reinforcing the pillars of democracy.

Failure to do so could not only jeopardise the upcoming elections, especially in the Anglophone regions, but also lead to an election marred by chaos, further destabilising the nation and undermining confidence in the democratic process.

Culled from Mail/Guardian

In a move that epitomises a reign defined by staggering detachment and brutal repression, Cameroon’s octogenarian dictator, Paul Biya, is preparing to abscond to the luxurious confines of a Swiss palace, a mere three weeks before a presidential election engineered to grant him an eighth term. This trip, a private vacation to Geneva’s Intercontinental Hotel, is a slap in the face to a nation buckling under the weight of his nearly four decades of misrule, a bloody conflict, and a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Biya, a leader often criticised as a reclusive and out-of-touch figure, submitted his candidacy on August 25th for an election he has no intention of contesting fairly. Instead of engaging with the electorate, he is scheduled for a ten-day sojourn in Switzerland, a country where historical records from Le Temps newspaper show he has squandered over 55 million Swiss Francs (approximately 34 billion CFA francs) of state funds on extended stays between 1982 and 2009. His return, just days before the campaign’s start on September 22nd, reveals a man confident that the electoral process is a mere formality, to be rigged by his stooges and clansmen while he enjoys European luxury.

A Dirty War and a Daughter’s Damning Indictment

As Biya packs for Switzerland, the military force he commands continues a brutal campaign in the Anglophone regions of Ambazonia, a conflict accurately described as a “dirty war.” As reported by HumAngle Media, this brutal fratricidal conflict has thrown victims into a vortex of trauma, with widespread atrocities, disappearances, and killings occurring under the silent and complicit gaze of the international community. This is not a war but a genocide, state-sponsored terror aimed at subduing a population seeking autonomy.

The damning condemnation of this regime comes not just from external observers but from within the dictator’s own household. His daughter, Brenda Biya, recently broke ranks in a stunning act of defiance, urging Cameroonians to reject her father. “My Father has made a whole nation suffer, don’t vote for him,” she declared, a truth that echoes through the bullet-riddled villages of Ambazonia and the impoverished neighbourhoods of Yaoundé and Douala.

A Nation on the Brink

The security situation remains volatile. Recent attacks, including a deadly roadside ambush claimed by separatists that killed seven soldiers, as reported by CTV News, highlight a conflict with no end in sight. There is a palpable fear that Biya’s absence could trigger a violent power struggle or even a military coup, exposing the fragile and fear-based foundation of his rule. The nation is a tinderbox, and its absent president is playing with matches from a safe distance of 4,000 miles.

A Call to Action: For Justice and Liberation

This cannot stand. The international community, particularly Switzerland and signatories to the Geneva Conventions, must no longer be a haven for a man whose treasury-draining vacations are funded by the misery of his people. We call for the immediate arrest of Paul Biya for crimes against humanity and genocide upon his arrival on Swiss soil. The principle of universal jurisdiction must be invoked to hold this tyrant accountable for the blood spilled in the Cameroons.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Cho AYABA held in Norway, Mr Benedict NwanaKuah and Pascal Kikishy Wongbi, held in the United States and all Ambazonian political prisoners held in Cameroonian detention facilities, where torture and inhumane conditions are rampant.

To the brave fighters of the Ambazonia Defenceforces (ADf), we say: Continue your righteous struggle. Continue to protect the citizens of Ambazonia from the genocidal attacks of the Cameroonian military. Continue to inflict painful and heavy losses on the invading forces, particularly the notorious BIR (Rapid Intervention Battalion), the brutal spearhead of Biya’s repression. Your resilience in the face of a monstrous regime is the only shield our people have.

The world must open its eyes to the suffering in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). The time for silent complicity is over. The time for justice, accountability, and the liberation of Ambazonia is now.

By: Dr. Larry AYAMBA,

Cameroonians go to the polls in October 2025 in what some people hoped might be a break from the country’s troubled recent past. They thought that President Paul Biya (92) might stand aside to allow a transition.

Three years ago I was one of those who expressed optimism about the 2025 poll. But I was wrong.

Biya is set to run yet again for an 8th term. He is already one of Africa’s longest ruling presidents, behind only Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Nguema.

Biya is on the cusp of achieving lifetime presidency since taking office in 1982.

In July 2025, after months of speculation, he confirmed in a tweet that he would run again.

Having weathered coups, silenced dissent, defied death rumours, and outlasted generations of challengers, he reminded friend and foe alike that he remains at the centre of Cameroon’s political ecosystem.

I am a long time scholar of and commentator on African politics, regime transformation, democratic transition and broader governance. Given regional developments that have seen the military deposing long term leaders, one might expect Biya to superintend a managed transition. The intriguing question is: what is it about the situation in Cameroon that continues to defy logic?

There is evident restlessness and frustration among young Cameroonians as well as clear clamour for change. Yet, the incumbent remains the front-runner, supported by the ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, and his near-total command of the state’s political machinery.

Simply, the system has been designed to serve Biya’s interests. With government control of the media, resources, and judicial and electoral institutions, it is unlikely that the opposition can bring about systemic change.

Some things have changed, however. Biya’s previous wins were landslides that left no room for debate. This time things could potentially be different on account of high-profile defections from his party. These men will be challenging him at the polls.

The field

The last electoral cycle, leading up to the 2018 poll, was characterised by subdued challenges and a co-opted or deeply divided opposition. This time Biya appears to face a relatively organised opposition.

Initially, 83 candidates signalled their interest. In July the electoral commission cleared 13 to run. The commission controversially disqualified Maurice Kamto, a renowned legal scholar who performed respectably in the 2018 electoral cycle with 14% of the vote.

Human Rights Watch warned that this would cast a shadow over the credibility of the electoral process.

Nevertheless, several credible figures across the political spectrum remain in the race and present alternatives.

Biya faces two other former allies turned political adversaries.

One is Issa Tchiroma Bakary, his minister of employment and vocational training. A longtime insider of the regime, he served in various ministerial roles and was long considered a loyalist. Yet in June 2025, he resigned from the government, delivering a searing critique of the system he once represented.

He then launched his campaign, running on the ticket of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon.

The minister of tourism and leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari, still formally holding office, declared his intention in July 2025 to run against his boss in the October elections.

This announcement was especially striking given the deep political history between the two men. Maigari is not just any cabinet member. He is a long-standing confidant of the president, having been appointed Biya’s prime minister in 1982 and hailing from the vote-rich northern region. The decision to enter the race marks a shift from loyal lieutenant to presidential challenger, revealing the growing fissures within the ruling elite.

Others in the race worth noting are:

Akere Muna, the son of a former speaker who swore in Biya in 1982 and a tireless advocate for transparency and accountability. He ran for the top job in 2018 (but withdrew at the last minute).

Cabral Libii, from the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, a young and dynamic leader who also ran for president in 2018 and garnered 6% of the total vote.

Joshua Osih, a seasoned politician with a strong track record.

The issues

The nation’s pressing issues remain the same as they have been for a long while.

These include:

Endemic corruption. Cameroon is ranked 140 out of 180 countries by Transparency International. The reasons are systemic decay of state institutions and maladministration.

Economic stasis, including stubborn unemployment forecast at 7.34% by Statista; 23% live below the international poverty line and 3.3 million are food insecure.

The ongoing anglophone regional crisis pitting the English speaking regions against the dominant francophone centre.

Biya’s ability to govern and the succession question, given his very advanced age and the potential vacuum or infighting if he couldn’t complete his term.

The external dimension

Western actors have been consistent critics of Biya’s regime in the recent past. However, some have adopted a more cautious tone, balancing criticism with strategic interests.

The US, for instance, suspended some military assistance to Cameroon in 2019 over human rights abuses. But it continues counter-terrorism cooperation against Boko Haram.

The European Union, while pressing for peaceful resolution of the anglophone conflict, remains an important trade and aid partner.

China has become Cameroon’s largest bilateral creditor and a top trading partner. According to a report by Business in Cameroon, in 2024 Cameroon owed about 64.8% of its external bilateral debt to China. This is primarily for infrastructure loans that have funded projects like the Kribi Deep Sea Port, the Yaoundé-Douala highway, and hydropower stations.

For regime survival, Biya has pursued a pragmatic foreign policy. Beijing’s diplomatic stance of non-interference and respect for sovereignty resonates with Cameroonian political elites wary of western scrutiny and criticism over democratic backsliding and the anglophone conflict.

But Biya has not severed ties with the west. For example, the government maintains partnerships with France for security training, with Germany for decentralisation support, and with the US for counterinsurgency.

This balancing is not simply geopolitical. It is also deeply embedded in domestic patronage networks. Foreign aid, loans and investments serve as resources to consolidate elite power, strengthen the patronage system and suppress dissent.

The October polls are sure to reaffirm the status quo.

Culled from The Conversation