Bamenda City Mayor tells Anglophone Crisis victims to stop seeking revenge in the name of justice

By Soulemanu Buba

The Mayor of the Bamenda City Council, Achobang Tambeng Paul, who doubles as a Pastor of a Pentecostal Church in Bamenda, has called on Churches and None Governmental Organisation NGOs to stop asking for revenge in the name of justice.

He made the statement on Wednesday, March 28, during the visit of the Head of the Steering Committee of the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development PPRD for the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

“We should stop counting our losses and asking for revenge in the name of Justice. I want to call on the Church groups and NGOs to refrain from the slogan, Justice and Peace Apparently, they place justice as a condition for peace. I differ,” said Mayor Achobang.

Talking about dialogue to end the ongoing Anglophone Crisis, the municipal authority said there is no need for an outsider to mediate in resolving the conflict.

He further criticised the Canadian dialogue initiative that was rejected by the government in January this year.

“Every house has its problems and it takes the family head to resolve the conflict within the confines of the family,” he said.

“Most families that have sort friends to help solve family problems have ended up with more problems than they initially had. We can handle our issues at home and not the Canadian way.”

The City Mayor’s has not gone down well with many a Bamenda resident, who insisted that peace comes automatically when there is justice.

“Justice is a path way to peace and anyone talking against justice is benefiting from the crisis and will not want it to end. If not of the crisis, Paul Achobang would have continued being a nobody. He should thank the Anglophone crisis for his achievements. He is just afraid of losing his position,” Fusi, a civil society member, told MMI.

Paul Achobang is one of many English-speaking politicians who came to power during the ongoing crisis.

He was elected in a 2020 election that was widely boycotted due to insecurity and separatist threats.

Mimi Mefo Info