Buea based pidgin news journalist, Samuel Wazizi was declared dead on June 2nd, 2020 after being kept for close to 300 days incommunicado.
The news of his death was made public by local media house Equinox TV, after it revealed that the Buea based journalist died on August 17th in military custody, barely 15 days after he was arrested from Muea in Buea by police and illegally handed over to the military who transferred him to Yaounde, where he was allegedly killed by Cameroonian authorities.
Government did not refute claims of the journalist’s death but said he died in hospital after suffering from severe sepsis.
The Ministry of Defence after huge pressure from the international community and locally and international media organs published a press release affirming the death of Samuel wazizi.
Stating that the journalist died of a severe sepsis, not of military torture like had been the word on all lips.
The defence ministry claimed it had informed Wazizi’s family of their son’s demise, saying the family did not come to take the corpse of Wazizi.
The family of the journalist however in strong terms refuted government claims of having been told of Wazizi’s death, saying the first time they knew of his death was when it was announced on mainstream media.
Four weeks after he was declared death with the confirmation of the government, the authorities have remained silent about what happened to his corpse.
Family members of the journalist have been seeking for answers from the state. Journalists too have been piling the pressure on the government to provide the whereabouts of Wazizi’s corpse, but everything so far has remained obscure.
What did they do with it that they cannot even give a clue about what happened with it? It is the question everyone wants to know the answer.
Was he like many others dumped in one of the numerous mass graves dotted around the country? Was his body cremated? Why does the government not want to let the public know what they did to the body of the Journalist?
It is logical for government to realise that questions over the death of the journalist will never die down unless full justice is done.
We will continue to call for #JusticeForWazizi
MMimi Mefo Info
