The events that have rocked the Ikome Sako-Chris Anu gang lately in the US and the fall back from the leaked audio indicates that Vice President Dabney Yerima is nearly as powerful now as he was at many other points in the Southern Cameroons revolution history. But the newly appointed Ambazonia Vice President is still nowhere near as powerful as he has the potential to be.

But yes, Vice President Yerima now has an inherent power than allows him to punch French Cameroun and the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime way above his weight class politically. There are reasons why we of the Cameroon Concord News Group think the choice of Dabney Yerima as Vice President remains one of the best things that ever happened in the Southern Cameroons struggle.

The one thing that history shows about Vice President Yerima is that no matter how down and out you think he is, he will rise. And when he does, it’s not just as a strong personality, but a legal frame work for leadership excellence.

Remember the profound effect the failed 8 months of Sako Ikome’s leadership had on the Southern Cameroons revolution. Today, Ambazonians are donating money to support the struggle and their leaders in jail. Under Vice President Yerima, Ambazonia Restoration Forces who are poorly equipped have been ordered to stage a kind of tactical withdrawal and in areas like the Manyu County, road mines are now being used against the enemy.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government under Mr Yerima has mastered modern communication cycle and Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero are now part of the strategic calculations. Despite its limited resources, the Interim Government under Yerima has also become more organized and the Vice President is expected to step down from his influential role in the SCNC soonest.

Give Vice President Yerima and his team your support!!  Next, give him your money and to top it all, Yerima will infuse Southern Cameroonians with a culture that will see them rise not only as Africa’s newest nation, but give them the fortitude to rise again to become a super powerful force despite suffering some of the most crushing genocides any people have had to suffer.

Another secret to Yerima’s strength is that his detractors do not bother about Ambazonia casualties in Ground Zero and the former crooks in the IG and the Restoration Council keep underestimating the strength of the Ambazonian people and Yerima again and again. This is a singularly bad idea, as Sako, Chris Anu and Irene Ngwa have come to find out to their detriment after they announced the so called impeachment of the leader.

Today, the IG is at its absolute weakest but Vice President Yerima is delivering.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The appointment of a Vice President by the Southern Cameroons leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe pre-dates the infighting deep within the Ambazonia Interim Government. To be sure, it has strengthened the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and will likely endure in the post-war years.

Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe ever since his arrest and extradition to Yaounde has played a careful long game in the war in Southern Cameroons. One component of his game has been to outsource leadership. By doing so, he has successfully minimized Ambazonia casualties. Another component is to work with the Southern Cameroons Diaspora to train and fund Ambazonia Self-Defense Forces into a military structure.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the Ambazonia Interim Government do not need the disgraced former Acting President Sako or the now very unpopular Communications Secretary, Chris Anu to solidify his hold on leadership. Having emerged victorious from the Ambazoniagate in Abuja, Nigeria, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe now leads over a destroyed Southern Cameroons nation, a deeply polarized Diaspora population, and a Self-Defense Force that will need millions of dollars to strengthen its capacities.  The appointment of Vice President Dabney Yerima was simply in line with Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s ambition to restore and hold control over all of Southern Cameroons territory which requires sustained financial support from the Diaspora.

Moreover, Sako and Chris Anu including some of the corrupt criminal cabals of the Ambazonia Restoration Council do not have European or South African allies they can trust.  Unlike SCBC, ABC TV is not the reliable and trustworthy channel that Southern Cameroonians rely on for news.

Vice President Yerima’s prioritization of the IG’s relationship with Europe, the US and South Africa has also been very productive. While maintaining the need for the IG to regain control of the revolution structures, Yerima has been engaging in talks with the leadership of other Ambazonia groups about future governance arrangements.

A claim by some frustrated exile leaders that Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has been removed from office is a double-edged sword for the leader’s detractors. On one hand, it denies Sako and Chris Anu the argument justifying the raising of funds for the war in Southern Cameroons.  On the other hand, it has made Chris Anu to become very irrelevant to the struggle.

Vice President Yerima’s Olive Branch operation to Chris Anu and Sako reflects the Interim Government’s intention to play a central role in shaping the future of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The failure of Sako and Kometa pushed many Southern Cameroons leaders into a scramble about who will get to decide the future of the revolution and eventually destroyed Barrister Fru John Nsoh.

The so-called impeachment of the Interim President has instead give Sisiku Ayuk Tabe all the cards. There are indirect talks between the Vice President and other Southern Cameroons groups for a negotiated endgame that will ensure that the struggle is won.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

This is not a celebration of a tragedy. It is about the lessons to draw from the capricious nature of fire as a weapon of war. Impunity plants the seeds of tragedy in the soul of humanity. The symbolism of fire as an official weapon of war and atrocity crimes against Southern Cameroonians is evident in the fire that gutted the SONARA fire resources bank of the war against the Southern Cameroons. How can fire be this capricious?

A person on the driver seat of impunity loves being worshipped and glorified. He is worshipped as a magician of time, possessing absolute power of life and death over his people. Some called him a god, others a messiah and others, the master and controller of time. He accepted all the and rewarded the blasphemers with political and administrative positions to encourage others to join the sycophantic train. He is feared and revered not for his good services to humanity but for the impunity and ruthlessness with which he compels allegiance.

His ability to mystify and magnify his temporal and spiritual domination of the souls of ordinary frail humans is wrapped in a mythical flag of impunity. With this, he wages war against peaceful, armless people in need of peace and justice. Two grand masters of the mystical world were invited to re-enforce these powers in the full glare of all and sundry. , To his dismay, the 57 years colonised and dominated people of Southern Cameroons, with profound faith in God and the justice of their case, like St Paul, took the bait, confronted and rebuked the driving spirit of Bar-Jesus that empowers and directs his policies of impunity and criminality. In anger, he declared war against the Southern Cameroons. Fire was then decided by the civilian and military commanders under his supreme command to use fire as a cost-effective weapon to enforce the planned genocide on the Southern Cameroons. The policy was to execute the genocide against the owners with the proceeds of the oil wealth plundered from the territory and refined in SONARA. Bar Jesus was a counsellor to Sergius Paulus, the Roman Proconsul on Cyprus whom St Paul who was full of the Spirit, accused of trickery, deceit, and perverting the ways of the Lord and rebuked.

Hell is real so the Holy Bible says. This biblical truth is sacrosanct. The reality of life in hell purposively keeps the individual and collective excesses of humanity in check. Has it?

Playing a costly trick on history, the Republic of Cameroon chose the colours of its flag to be green, red, yellow with a single star conspicuously on the centre on the red. Whatever the symbolism of this flag as currently laid out, the truth that the soul of the lone star on the red is terminally disturbed, cannot be disputed. This fact is obvious even to the jaundiced eye.

A quick google search of the symbolism of the red colour, reveals that red is a colour of extremes; from the passionate to the atrocious. Within the context of many cultures and traditions, red is seen as the colour of fire and blood. In this contextual crime environment or polity, Cameroun, where an official policy exists for the perpetration of atrocity crimes with impunity, the two extremes may complement each other. In that context, atrocity crimes are committed with passionate zeal and reckless arrogance.

There is a strong symbolism about the fire which has gutted down the installations of SONARA in the town of Victoria, Southern Cameroons, Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. The economic cost of the damage caused by the fire has not been assessed yet. It is projected to be monumental.

Because this fire has torched the political and economic nerve centre of the petrol-dollar economy of Cameroun, and its affiliated partners, its occurrence no matter how, will be strongly felt. The loss suffered may be regretted by its beneficiaries and its impact strongly felt. For a while, the government of Cameroun will feel the painful impact of fire on its war economy. It will feel the loss of one of the wealth generating channels which sustained its war economy. SONARA is perceived by Southern Cameroonians as a cash-cow and symbol of colonial rule over the Southern Cameroons.

The wealth procured from SONARA and the oil resources in the Southern Cameroons sustains the regime of personal power in Cameroun and facilitates the procurement of arms and ammunitions to prosecute a meaningless war of choice that Cameroun’s President declared against the then peace plant carrying Southern Cameroons armless civilian justice and peace crusaders. SONARA is an emblematic symbol of the political and economic staying power of the regime in power in Cameroun.

The fire of hatred, aggression and arrogance of power that a leader relies on to command and superintend the perpetration of atrocity crimes with passionate alacrity may not relent after the SONARA fire incident. Since the targeting of armless civilians, women, men, children, the weak and the vulnerable is motivated by the fire of impunity from the soul and the heart, the burning of civilian settlements will continue unabated.

This official policy of targeting civilian settlement with fire and the deportation of victims from their ancestral homes, came early shortly after the declaration of war against the Southern Cameroons. It was one of the first-choice weapons of war used by Cameroun soldiers to prosecute the genocide of the Southern Cameroons. The Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, one Oum II signed an order which was widely publicised over the radio and print media ordering the deportation of the civilian population of some thirteen villages in Manyu to make way for a scheduled military operation in those villages.

In the execution of the forced deportation order, thousands of Southern Cameroonians fled across the border to Nigeria for safety. The marauding soldiers pursued the refugees to Nigeria where many were slaughtered, and others abducted. A distinctive Cameroun government official war policy of torching civilians’ settlements was experimented through the burning down of the ancestral civilian settlements of the endangered refugees who were deported to Nigeria. By the last count, Human Rights organisations in published reports stated that about 207 towns and villages have been burnt down by Cameroon soldiers on the orders of their civilian and military commanders.

In the face of this heart wrenching record of atrocity crimes, the civilian and military commanders of the Cameroon soldiers deployed to prosecute the war have publicly praised the professionalism of the marauding soldiers in the implementation of the scorched earth policy. The charred bodies of helpless old, weak, sick, vulnerable victims of the fire devastation in villages torched by Cameroon soldiers have shocked the conscience of humanity. Far or near, we are all primary or secondary victims of the trauma of this culture of impunity, and the policy of devastating fires used by the government and army of Cameroon as weapons of war.

The world must therefore not analyse the SONARA devastating fire no matter the cause, in the abstract or as an isolated event in its symbolism. The fire and devastation of the atrocity crimes that are consuming the lives and property of Southern Cameroonians carries the same symbolism as the fire that has gutted down SONARA installations. The fire of hatred and criminal arrogance that Satan has planted into the hearts of men and women of power to enable them play “three cards” with the lives of the weak, the powerless and the vulnerable will consume them and their colonial power architecture in the Southern Cameroons and beyond. People who have chosen fire as a weapon to prey on the Southern Cameroons victims of genocide, have a lot to learn in the SONARA fire disaster, about the capricious nature of fire, its symbolism and its unbending exclusive loyalty to nobody.

Lest we forget, Mami Apey’s hut in which she was burnt to death was valuable to her far more than SONARA. Indeed, the villages and ancestral lands and property that have been devasted by the fire and impunity of atrocity crimes are more valuable to every victim dead or alive than SONARA. Theirs was their legacies and their humanity. The SONARA fire disaster is a painful symbolism that highlights the less reported or less recognised but more significant symbolism of the devastation caused by every fire and the accompanying atrocity crimes on victims and generations unborn.

For the Alices in Wonderland of one and indivisible Cameroon, the symbolism may be a strong signal and symbolism that, at long last the soul of the lone star on the central red of the Cameroon flag is irredeemably on fire. The symbolism is a rude reminder to those who have overplayed and manipulated the fire of impunity, that the moment to account for the painful reality and responsibility for the devastation they have caused or are causing is almost here.

The use of fire as a weapon of war and the devastation it has caused could have been avoided. Rather it is praised. With its security apparatus in place and a President with near omnipotent powers of impunity, could the fire have been prevented? The fact is that it was not. Indeed, the worldly power of impunity has limit. If anyone doubts, read again the encounter between St Paul and Bar Jesus.

In conclusion, I hope that the international community with the UN leading, will not wait until the entire Gulf of Guinea is on fire before they intervene. With their slow to intervene policy, this fire may ignite an inferno whose impact may be felt in all parts of the world. That will be an unpardonable betrayal of the pledge which the civilised made in 1945. In that eventuality, the pledge of “Never again” will be an empty slogan deriding the foibles and follies of a world at war with its very soul.

By Chief Charles  A. Taku

Has any Southern Cameroons lawyer “back stabbed” their client? Have they started to try and get the client in prison and convict them of their crimes? We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are not aware of any particular instances. However, we do know that this kind of stuff is seriously unethical and is frowned upon by the entire profession and legal community.

So we don’t imagine that any lawyer is bragging about it. Although this has not come as a surprise in the Barrister Fru John Nsoh-Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Affair, almost all lawyers actually take those ethical considerations seriously.

Barrister Fru John Nsoh has followed a number of other Southern Cameroons elites in destroying his credibility in front of the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Barrister Fru as leader of the Ambazonia Nera defense team proclaimed himself a personal lawyer to Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and observed that the Southern Cameroons leader has been compromised.

Southern Cameroons Interim Government recently dismissed as fraud the Barrister John Fru’s indictment of the Ambazonian leader. In a statement issued exclusively to the Cameroon Concord News Group, a senior aide to Vice President Dabney Yerima pointed out that former Acting President Dr Samuel Ikome Sako while in office had ordered Barrister John Nsoh to liaise with Prof. Maurice Kamto’s team of experts and help push the Southern Cameroons case internationally.

Correspondingly, the Southern Cameroons Interim Government sponsored Barrister John Fru Nsoh’s trip to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In line with Sako Ikome’s directives, Barrister Fru met with the head of the Southern Cameroons legal team in Nigeria, Hon. Barrister Oroh and during that trip shared a telephone conversation with the renowned Barrister Falana in Lagos.

Barrister Fru upon his return to Cameroon reported the success of his Nigerian mission to the Ambazonian Interim Government and a cabinet meeting chaired by Sako Ikome received a briefing from John Fru Nsoh. (Attached here is a screen shot of what Barrister John sent to former Acting President Ikome Sako.

The IG statement further stated that “We of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government join other Ambazonian citizens in acknowledging and supporting President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, as President Interim of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, in order for him to lead the people of Southern Cameroons to Buea and free our homeland.”

We gathered that the Southern Cameroons leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe would speak to Mr Fru John Nsoh in person to communicate the Interim Government position on his ABCTV comments.  The Fru Nsoh interview on ABC TV has been criticised by several Southern Cameroons groups, who accused the man of law of supporting a bad precedence in Southern Cameroons, with some saying that it is a worrying development in Southern Cameroons revolution policy.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Dear senior colleague, I am Barrister A P Asafor formerly Secretary/founding member of Meme Lawyers Association (MELA).Presently I am the President of Southern Cameroonians in Los Angeles (SCILA) California. We met several times during Cameroon Bar Association meetings in Yaounde,Douala and Bamenda mostly in the 90s.

I remember you running for a Bar Council seat during one of these meetings. I was impressed by your contributions during discussions at the General Assembly. In the recent past when you propounded and defended the SC/Ambazonian position in Equinox TV and various other media outlets, my admiration for your fearlessness grew. You spoke with a boldness and candour,that could not but convince your listeners that you knew what you were talking about. Our people say that “when I do well no one remembers, but when I do something bad, everyone remembers!“

As lead counsel for the SC/Ambazonian Leadership in French Cameroun jails, I observed that you and your team of lawyers have done a commendable job so far. Ambazonians cheered for you and your colleagues. They saw you as “knights in shining armor“, who would ultimately rescue our Leaders. Now, permit me to fast-forward to your recent utterances on ABC AMBA TV, and other media.

You unleashed a bomb by your various utterances. Due to time constraints, permit me go into just a few and make my observations as your keen admirer. The most outstanding revelation you made was that Sissiku AyukTabe Julius, imprisoned Ambazonian Leader is compromised (by French Cameroun officials ostensibly.) You offered as evidence, the possibility that Ayuk Tabe met with the Director of Cabinet of Paul  Biya,and also with Kamto Maurice (the acclaimed winner of French Cameroun’s last presidential elections) who happened to be in the same jail (Kondengui) as Sissiku.

You also alluded to documents being released by Sissiku AyukTabe without consulting you. And finally there was the reference to Sissiku stating that you are no longer his Attorney.  Sir, the evidence you presented to buttress your allegations that Sissiku Ayuk Tabe is compromised, are so circumstantial, frivolous, and totally lacking in relevance, that no one except the gullible public would even consider it. For such serious accusations as you’ve leveled against Sissiku, the requirements must be concrete, compelling irrefutable evidence as proof. What you offered as best is mere speculation, which anyone with a healthy imagination can concoct. “Sissiku met with Biya’s Director of Civil cabinet. Biya declared war on Ambazonia. Therefore, Sissiku’s meeting with that gentleman can only mean that: Sissiku is compromised!!” 

Again, Sissiku met with Maurice Kamto,who claims to have won presidential elections, and has been imprisoned by Biya in Kondengui. Sissiku’s meeting with Kamto,to you has only one reason. He is compromised! Is that the only conclusion that can be drawn from Sissiku’s meeting with those 2 individuals, if at all, he did? How many apartheid leaders did Mandela meet while incarcerated? Almost all of the last four! Did that make him compromised? Sir, with your 30 years experience as a practicing Attorney, it’s my humble opinion that you can do better than this.

Senior Colleague, we were taught in the Nigerian Law School, during Professional Ethics, that there is client/lawyer confidentiality. All information that a client discloses to his Attorney, or that the Attorney comes across, in the course of his retention by the client is protected by attorney/client confidentiality. That said, your disclosures on public media, of information that you acquired as Lawyer for the SC/Ambazonian leaders has seriously breached the rule on confidentiality. Not only that, your exposures portray your client in bad light, and amount to character assassination  defamation and exposing his life to risk! Think carefully about your words Sir, and the timeliness of your so-called revelations. The social media has exploded and is abuzz in the past couple of days with your allegations.

As someone who believes in the Struggle of Ambazonians to throw off the yoke of neo colonialism,it is my humble submission that your revelations have done more harm than good to our Struggle. You have “washed our dirty linen in full view of the entire world”! Are you happy now?  Even if Sissiku AyukTabe is guilty of all the crimes you accuse him of, is the world stage the best forum to seek for redress? Do you seriously believe in this fight? Or is it merely an opportunity for you to build your popularity, and amass wealth at the expense of our suffering masses and leaders?  Could you not have approached a select group of SC/Ambazonian “elders/wise men” to look into and resolve these issues without resorting to this drama of yours?

Finally, would it be true that your public outrage is mere vengeful payback at Sissiku over his reduction of the monies you were getting from this “brief”?   The other Lawyers who are involved in defending our leaders (Hon Barrister Oroh of Nigeria, Barrister Yong etc, why haven’t they raised the same concerns as you have?   If,Sissiku Ayuk Tabe has been compromised, how come just last week he released a powerful letter to the UNO and the world, stating conditions under which Ambazonians will negotiate? Were the contents of that letter, evidence of a man who is “compromised?” Doesn’t the Bible say that “by their words we shall know them?”

In summary, I would opine that casting aspersions on Sissiku AyukTabe’s name and person has not portrayed you in the best of lights. You have accused a man (your client,) tried him, and sentenced him to condemnation, all this while he is incarcerated without the opportunity to reply. Boxers would say you “hit below the belt!” Others less polite would say: you stabbed your client in the back, in the dark!  And in trying to exact vengeance you caused untold havoc to the SC/Ambazonian Struggle! Think about it as you enjoy your new-found fame on social media. “He who throws up gravel in the market place, should not be surprised if his wife returns home blind”. The cockroach says that it does not talk much, not because it is dumb, but because its words, if carelessly released, have the potential of scattering the market place!

By Barrister Asafor

Ellie Smith is the Southern Cameroons journalist who wants too much from the Ambazonian leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the Interim Government.  He is currently equipping Southern Cameroonians with a sense of victimhood and rhetoric of hate against President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. Correspondingly, a cult of violence is slowly but surely generating from the former Acting President Dr Ikome Sako and Communications Secretary, Chris Anu that is ultimately putting Ellie Smith’s objectives beyond reach.

A long standing Southern Cameroons media guru, Ellie Smith is also a master of maneuver.  There are suggestions that Ellie Smith has been shrouding his personal biography in myth. (We shall come back to this later). His time at Canal 2 TV portrayed him as a skilled practitioner of “lose-win”-that is serving the regime in Yaoundé and pretending to be talking tough. Ever since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons revolution, Ellie Smith has always been up for rent but never for sale.

Ellie Smith is a refine Southern Cameroons journalist.  His real forte, however, is something else:  lies, the use of Ambazonian civilian casualties to position himself in Yaoundé and the US.  His recent blackmail campaign of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is an indication that Ambazonians will never know peace unless Ellie Smith is placated.

Two years into the Southern Cameroons struggle, Canal 2 TV’s patronage, and a series of sensational interviews with so-called movers and shakers in French Cameroun, propelled him to the Premier League of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, the most recognized structure for the Ambazonian cause.  From his time at Canal 2 TV, one can date Ellie Smith’s ability to address several audiences simultaneously.

Ellie Smith is citing with Sako Ikome and Chris Anu and he is opposed Sisiku Ayuk Tabe for the simple reason that the Ambazonia leader’s power (in his view) remains the main obstacle to his goal. He is currently spreading lies that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has been compromised and underneath his lies is a diabolic harsh scheme Yaounde has implanted to sell the policy for a return to federation.

In several public outings, he promised to visit the Southern Cameroons leaders in Kondengui but has never been seen 50 meters to the prison gate. Interestingly, Ellie Smith is in constant communication with Chris Anu and the disgraced Chairman Kometa Elvis.

Cameroon Concord News Group sources recently raised a finger against his numerous trips in and out of Cameroon without challenges from the Biya Francophone regime. We have also opened an investigation on his ties with the Yaounde regime and about his CPDM connections.

He now claims to have spoken to a CPDM Director of Cabinet who confirmed to him that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime had paid money to President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.  However, claims that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has received money from Biya will knock any Ambazonian down with a feather. Our findings on this dangerous man shall be published next week.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

From the very beginning of the Southern Cameroons revolution, the Ambazonian Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe neither looked nor sounded like a born leader. However, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is still directing the Southern Cameroons resistance and quest for independence from the Kondengui High Security Prison in Yaounde! This begs the question:  How is he doing it?

The Ambazonian leader is indeed hated and venerated in equal measure and he is currently dominating the Southern Cameroons landscape, and with it, much of the Southern Cameroons resistance map.  His abduction in Abuja, Nigeria and subsequent extradition to Yaounde, almost signaled the beginning of the end of the Southern Cameroons revolution that reawakened the national consciousness of Anglophones in Cameroon and allowed them the possibility of determining their own fate on their own land.

Frankly speaking, authentic national leaders do not arise often. They are forged more by fate and circumstance than by human design.  This is how Sisiku Ayuk Tabe came to the lime light as the Southern Cameroons leader. He has been leading Southern Cameroonians slowly but surely out of the material, political and moral devastation orchestrated by French Cameroun for 57 years. The fact that the United Nations Security Council accepted that the crisis in Anglophone Cameroon today occupies a central place in world affairs is thanks to Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his leadership style.  His removal of Dr Samuel Ikome Sako as Acting President and appointing a Vice President in the person of Dabney Yerima may be open to dispute and it may also be too early to pass a final verdict on them.

However, without the Ambazonian Interim Government and the coming of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Southern Cameroons issue would have remained no more than yet another minor internal conflict alongside the many other crises lingering on the periphery of the United Nations’s conscience. His detractors have opined that the dismissal of Sako Ikome marred his reputation, and that directing the revolution from a French Cameroun prison is not in the best interest of Southern Cameroonians.  It is now evidently clear that Sako’s departure has paved the way for an unwavering commitment to financing Ground Zero and  diplomacy have substituted Chris Anu’s noise making ethos. The appointment of a Vice President has also proven to be a more successful path for fulfilling Southern Cameroons aspirations.

The future of French Cameroun’s union with Southern Cameroons appears bleak. But Southern Cameroonians have not been able to take advantage of the situation for the simple fact that the Ambazonian Interim Government’s authority was depleted by a period of failed Sako leadership and corruption.  The Southern Cameroons diaspora has never been so frustrated with the irresponsible leadership of Sako Ikome until recently that they faced a kind of denial and deprivation led by the man they once referred to as their powerful Communications Secretary, Chris Anu. The new Vice President has within a short period of time cut across the Southern Cameroons political and geographical boundaries and Vice President Dabney Yerima now embodies the will and aspirations of most Ambazonians.  The assertion that there are two parallel Ambazonian Interim Governments has limited credibility.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s untiring work ethic remains one of his most powerful assets that pushed Southern Cameroonians to rally behind the Interim Government. This is a man who took no break or time off from the struggle until his abduction in Nigeria when compared with Sako who including his so-called lieutenants and associates appeared with a generally more relaxed pace wasting Ambazonia money in hotels, restaurants and renting luxurious cars. Dr Samuel Ikome Sako will be remembered as a leader who manipulated his time to suit his purposes. Sako thought about nothing of summoning cabinet ministers, members of the Southern Cameroons Restoration Council and Ground Zero commanders.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who had no traditional tools of power or control over Ambazonia land and resources used his working habits as an essential part of his influence and moral persuasion. From its very early beginning, the Southern Cameroons struggle was complicated by the North West/South West Divide that separated the clusters that constituted the Ambazonia political universe. Welding these disparate elements together and maintaining them till this day is one of the greatest achievements of the Ambazonia Interim Government under Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. Southern Cameroons liberation movements such as CAM, SCNC, SCYL never acquired an independent base or long-lasting territorial haven. But Sisiku Ayuk Tabe provided one in Nigeria which still operates after his abduction in Abuja.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

For many months now, there has been speculation about the health of Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, who is hardly seen in public these days. There was even rumour that Mr. Biya, also known as the “monarch”, had died.

But Monday’s celebration of the country’s national day did not only confirm that Mr. Biya was still alive, it also proved that the monarch was in bad shape and was rapidly losing his mind.

Though a source at the Presidency had informed the Cameroon Concord News Group that he was gradually losing his mind, there were doubts as to the authenticity of that information.

However, a short video of the “monarch’s” wife forcing him to wave at the crowd during Monday’s event clearly confirmed that the man who once thought he was only second to God was clearly suffering from Alzheimer- a progressive mental deterioration that occurs in middle or old age, due to generalised degeneration of the brain. It is the commonest cause of premature senility and it is without a cure.

On the surface, Mr. Biya looked radiant, but underneath the foundation that had been applied to his face, is a huge story of agony, sorrow and pity. Mr. Biya who is also battling prostrate cancer and a failing heart is going through the toughest moments of his life. His failing health is affecting those around him and this has hit his wife like a ton of bricks.

She too is rapidly going down the hill. Over the last six months, she has lost more than 50kg and her hair has been falling off at a breath-taking speed. There are speculations that she could be suffering from a more dangerous form of cancer and her rapid weight loss seems to buttress this allegation.

Many of Mr. Biya’s close collaborators hold that the Southern Cameroons crisis that has resulted in the death of some 3,000 civilians has had a huge impact on Mr. Biya’s declining health.

A source close to the Yaounde strong man alleges that he regrets lots of things and he holds that the issue could have been handled differently if he had not listened to hawks in his government. The regrets are made all the more challenging by the increasing pressure from the United States, Canada and UK who are working behind the scenes to ensure that the monarch yields to their demand for the creation of a federal system in Cameroon.

Also, another source at the Presidency that elected anonymity has also said that Mr. Biya’s health is a major concern not only to his relatives, but also to his collaborators.

He added that the ailing monarch was supposed to go to Switzerland for proper treatment last month, but the information was leaked to the Diaspora and the plan was sabotaged, as members of the country’s Diaspora had announced that they would be disrupting things in Switzerland if he showed up in any of the Swiss hospitals.

“Mr. Biya is down. His health is failing him very fast. He does not even recognize those around him and this is causing many members of his government to be concerned. They know the end is near,” he said.

“All tweets you have been reading from Mr. Biya are written by his wife. She thinks Mr. Biya needs some inner peace and that could come from Cameroonians whom he has hurt so badly. The Biya family knows that the President will leave the country in a mess and this will be his legacy. Many Cameroonians will only remember him for the corruption, inefficiency and chaos that have become the hallmark of his government,” the source added.

“Mr. Biya knows that many Cameroonians have lost their lives in a war that is not even necessary. He understands that the solution to the Southern Cameroons crisis can only be found at the negotiating table and not in a battlefield, but he does not know how to come back to his words. He had declared that the form of the state was non-negotiable and that was what caused the situation to escalate. This is his greatest undoing and this is destroying him internally,” the source stressed.

“Cameroonians were right when they suspected that there was something cooking when Mr. Biya signed a presidential decree granting the Secretary-General at the presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the right to sign any documents on his behalf but they simply did not know that the president’s health was fast deteriorating,” he pointed out.

“These days, it is hard to even see the president. He now lives like a recluse and his wife is the one issuing instructions on his behalf. Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh is simply the president and this has been decided by the president’s wife who is the face behind the mask. The choice of Ngoh Ngoh is not in error. He is Mrs. Biya’s relative and he is prepared to bend over backwards just to please her,” the source said.

“The president’s wife is keeping an eye on everything and she is ensuring that those she does not trust are elbowed out of the president’s inner circle. There are internal fights among those close to the president. It is obvious that a power struggle is in the offing in Cameroon. The Betis are scared of losing power. They are aware of the mess they have created in Cameroon and their fear is that the next president will not be from their ethnic group and he might come after them. This, to them, is very unsettling,” our source concluded.

Cameroon is at the crossroads. The multiple conflicts that are tearing the country apart might only get worse over the next couple of months. Boko Haram is intensifying its attacks in the north, Central African rebels are keeping the country’s army soldiers in the east of the country awake all night while Southern Cameroonians are not buying anything the country’s Prime Minister, Dion Ngute, is selling.

They argue that the government can never be trusted and that though Mr. Ngute is from Southern Cameroons, he has lost his credibility, as he has neither acknowledged the killing of fellow Southern Cameroonians nor even expressed regret for the government’s irresponsible actions.

His trip to the two English-speaking regions has not borne any real fruits, as the killing has continued and the burning of houses by government troops has intensified.

Besides, his call for dialogue and peace is clearly falling on deaf ears and he had announced that the government could discuss with all factions in the conflict except separatists. This has offended many and from the look of things, many Southern Cameroonians hold that any dialogue that does include separatists will be a total waste of time.

The Prime Minister’s trip does not seem to receive much support from outside. The Prime Minister did not offer much in terms of how the dialogue would be conducted and where it would be held. The Diaspora will be excluded from any dialogue if it will take place in Cameroon. The country’s Diaspora, especially Southern Cameroonians living abroad, does not trust the government. The arrest of some members of the country’s Diaspora at international airports in the country has given the government a very bad name.

Besides, the repatriation of many Cameroonians with dual nationality to countries whose passports they hold has upset many and made it hard for the government to be forgiven.

The government simply has a bad relationship with its Diaspora and if the Prime Minister is serious about holding a dialogue, his government must first release those in jail and then grant a general amnesty to all those who have played a rule in the crisis that has given the government a bloodshot eye.

While the Prime Minister is giving the impression that the Southern Cameroons crisis can be addressed, members of Mr. Biya’s inner circle are more concerned with a power struggle that is hurting the country’s economy and spreading corruption and intimidation.

For now, the “monarch” is more concerned about his health than that of the country. He has had many opportunities to exit the scene with pump and pageantry, but he has squandered every single opportunity and today, he is viewed by most Cameroonians as the villain that has brought untold hardship to his compatriots.

His war against Southern Cameroons is not popular with many East Cameroonians and this is gradually breaking the country along tribal and ethnic lines. If the transition is not properly handled, the country may implode when Mr. Biya exits the scene.

The world must keep and eye on Cameroon. A brutal inter-ethnic war is simmering underneath the surface. If Cameroon goes down that path, the entire sub-region will be brought down and the world will be left with a sticky situation on its hands. The time to arrest things is now. Postponing or pretending not to see what is happening in Cameroon is simply endorsing chaos that could be very expensive.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group with files from Bamba Gaoussou in Yaounde

Fellow Ambazonians,
My dear brothers and Sisters,

Today, May 20th, the French neo-colonial regime of La Republique du Cameroun celebrated their National day. The day before Yesterday, talking to someone on ground zero, I was told the luck down was already activated. I sat back and closely watched what will happen today and you did it. 20th May is no more.

What I deduce from that is;
You are telling the world that Restoration of our statehood is the dearest thing in your hearts.
You are telling the world that it’s independence or resist forever.
You are telling the world that we know who we are and we cannot be cheated once more.
We have our International boundaries;
We have our flag.
We have our anthem.
We have enough resources to do business on our own.
We got our independence on the 21st April 1961 to take effect on the 1st of October 1961.

Now, we are asking the world that, what happened that we are where we are today? The UN, France and the United Kingdom should give us answers.
Fellow Ambazonians, We have seen our loved ones killed or torched, our homes, churches burned down.

My heart goes to you people of mile 8 Mankon and many who have lost loved ones and everything. Stay resilient because what the LRC military are doing can be summed up as the last kick of a dying horse. My team and I are willing to give any support we can at this time of crisis and will want to assure you that your homes will be rebuilt when this is over.

I want to commend the courage of the Christians of Ramah Church in mile 8, who despite the fact that their church building was burnt down, they held an open service yesterday and sang the song, higher we dey go. A song of hope for a better tomorrow May God bless you all.

My heart goes to that lady with 5 children that her late husband left her with. Their compound which was the only source of revenue for their sustenance was burned down completed. My fellow brothers and sisters, if you can offer her shelter or any kind of help, please do. I want to extend our gratitude to the gallant men and women of our self-defense forces, whom less than 3 years ago were mere students, teachers, farmers, bike rides and simple citizens, but today you are risking everything to protect the homeland.

On behalf of the people of Ambazonian, I want to say thank you for your dedication to the struggle and your effort to completely put 20th May in the graveyard. It was buried today. You have shown the world you have total control of homeland. My team and I pledge our total support to you and will make sure that you have what is needed to defend homeland responsibly.

My heart goes to the family of the baby who was shot today in Muyuka while Paul Biya celebrates. Take heart. His blood hasn’t been spilled in vain. I will work hard to make Buea a reality. I pray the Lord comfort you and all the bereaved in our land. To our chiefs, I say, you must not take any of the humiliation from this regime anymore. We are almost there and when we are there you will take your seats in our house of chiefs.

To our refugees in Nigeria especially Ogaga where there is a food problem, you shall be getting some support soon.

Fellow Ambazonians, I want to caution you not be carried away by distractions but rest assured, we are working very hard for you. Hard work means prosperity.
We have work to do not blackmailing others.
We have work to do, not to slandering others and putting us in hate groups.
We have work to do, not leading with lies and half-truths to bring fear or worry about the state of our revolution. This revolution is sound and safe in our hands and my team and I will stop at nothing to deliver.

Our revolution is repositioning in the right direction. A direction full of hope and with a resolve to bring us together for this last push to Buea. I count on your support to help my team and I push through. Ambazonia is first.

This revolution is all about you, less about me, we are in this together, Ambazonia first.
Long live the FRA,
Short live the struggle.

Southern Cameroonians, I shall never stop reminding us, Southern Cameroonians what would happen should we surrender. Mind you that our boys called Amba boys have killed many French Cameroonians. Those killed are fathers, husbands, wives, mothers, uncles, etc to French Cameroon citizens. If we surrender, French Cameroon will say “Never Again”. How will never again be accomplished: they will make sure not one Southern Cameroonian on GZ shall live again to invoke this scene in the future.

 If the media is telling lies now, it would not need to tell any lie because there will be no need. The would have been fed up with people who were at the verge of getting their freedom but gave it up for stupidity or cowardice. Let me cite a true story: a Nigerian couple in the US, broke off; after some time the woman traveled to Nigeria. On her return, she called her mother requesting to be picked up at the airport; the mother who had reconciled with her son-in-law, sent the son-in-law to pick up the daughter who was the son-in-law estranged wife. The son-in-law went and picked up the ex-wife but instead of taking her to her home, he took her to his home and slaughtered her. I pray Southern Cameroonians don’t make that mistake. It would be the worst mistake ever made by a group of people.

 French Cameroon soldiers are still killing Southern Cameroonians civilians as I write. If people can go to a hospital and drag a wounded figher, pick up a baby and throw in a boiling pot of oil, break doors, meet an old woman and shoot her to kill her, etc those are not the type of people you want to reconcile and want to leave with them. God forbid, we accept to return to live with them, there will be total and complete Genocide! In the next two decades, there will be no Southern Cameroonian and no more English language in Cameroon. These actions will be silently implemented.

 No Southern Cameroonian in diaspora would ever step their foot in the Republic of Cameoon. Some people will classify me as a hard liner. Tell me if I am wrong, why would they burn almost 250 villages and are still burning more yet pretending to call for disarmament. Their soldiers parading the villages, towns and cities well armed to shoot and kill? Federalists and unionists shall not be spared in the massacre. Anything Southern Cameroon will be eliminated and French Cameroonians come over and take the land. After all, they have always considered us Biafrans who came and took their land. This struggle must be executed to its logical end – Restoration of Southern Cameroon independence. NO MORE NO LESS.