Timfuchi Aaron
Separatist fighters have imposed fresh lockdowns on parts of the restive North West regions. In Bambui, Mezam division, the fighters are said to be claiming the action is based on the military having recently executed a man and his two sons Bambui.
Bambui it should be said, is a university town with thousands of students.
Sources say, the man was setup by his brother following a family land quarrel.
Since the start of the crisis in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, one of the things that have kept the crisis relevant especially in the North West region is the persistent and numerous luck downs in several parts of the region.
Bali, Mbengwi, Batibo, Kumbo, Belo, and recently Ndop, have suffered and witnessed the consequences of the separatist lockdowns. Now and then, lockdowns are announced and implemented by separatist fighters who are fighting to implement their authority and supremacy in some areas.
The lockdown has seen all businesses around the area closed, and the various motor parks also not functioning. The usually vibrant Bambui is now ghosted in the name of lockdown.
The soldiers according to reports forcefully accessed his house around 3 a m last Thursday, March 31, 2022. The heavily armed soldiers later executed the man and his two sons at close range. Their bodies were later discovered around the Tubah Council premises. It is still to be determined why the man, a worker with the Presbyterian Rural Training Center, and his sons were killed.
The issue of lockdowns is now a normal phenomenon and the population of some of these areas is getting used to it.
Ndop, the chief town of the Ngoketunjia division is currently under a lockdown imposed by the separatist fighters. The armed men said they have declared an indefinite lockdown in protest of the killings of innocent civilians by government forces in Ndop.
To implement this, the separatist fighters recently set some vehicles ablaze and kidnapped three persons. The indefinite lockdowns have brought businesses and other economic activities to a standstill. It is definitely causing more harm than good to the already suffering population.
