Bamenda bikers say killing of colleague by police truck was deliberate

By Soulemanu Buba

Bike riders in Bamenda, Cameroon’s Northwest regional capital, have described as “deliberate” the killing of two persons, including their colleague, by a police vehicle.

In the early hours of Wednesday, April 12, a police vehicle crushed a commercial motor bike that had three persons on board at fish pond hill around the Bamenda food market.

Two of them; the bike rider and a woman, died from the accident.

Shocking to many, the vehicle reportedly drove off without remorse, MMI learned.

‘Deliberate’ act!

“They have been hitting people with their cars and killing some, yet no one says anything,” a commercial motorcycle rider who refused to be named said in anger.

He added that, “This is a deliberate act and we can’t take it anymore. We will revenge in our own way.”

Massive protest

Irritated by the police’s nonchalance over the incident, hundreds of people, mostly bike riders, rose in protest, and paraded the streets with remains of their deceased colleague.

The protest paralyzed traffic for several hours in the city before the administration intervened to calm the situation.

The protest was sparked by months and years of accumulated grudges and victimisation by the police and the military.

Some months back, a soldier with the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, warned the population to always avoid military vehicles whenever they see them coming.

He told MMI in an interview, “…they should run when ever they see these vehicles approaching because mostly French speaking soldiers see all Anglophones as terrorists and are bent on spilling as much blood as possible.”

Not the first time!

In Bamenda, uniformed officers have knocked down countless number of civilians with their vehicles as they usually speed along the roads.

Two months back, a family head was knocked down by a reckless armored car at the Ntarinkon neighbourhood in Bamenda.

The old man later died in hospital but authorities never made a comment about it.

His family was reportedly threatened with arrest and sent away by soldiers of the Bamenda Gendarmerie Legion when they went to report the incident.

Amid these incidents, the administration has usually maintained suspicious silence, giving an impression that the accidents are usually done deliberately.

Mimi Mefo Info