Bamenda: Government condemns separatist assassination of police officer, ignores military brutality on civilians

Cameroon’s Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi in a press release Friday, September 4, 2020, condemned the killing of a police officer in Bamenda, in the country’s restive North West region.

Joseph Bikoi Nlend was on Tuesday shot dead by separatist fighters, at City Chemist Roundabout.

Minister Sadi revealed that a specialised service is on a manhunt for the perpetrators of the murder.

The minister, who is also spokesperson for the government of Cameroon, ignored residents who suffered the impact of police brutality following the killing.

The aftermath of the shooting to death of the police officer of first rank was a brutal crackdown on the civilians by the military.

Bamenda was plunged into chaos. Gun battles scared many for four conservative days, amid destruction and torture of some civilians.

“The government condemns with utmost energy this act of cruelty committed by secessionist terrorists’ bands, which once again have violently taken the life of a representative of the police force,” read the statement from Minister Sadi of the Communication Minister in Friday’s communiqué.

The government’s reaction towards the murder of the police officer tilts opinion to the fact that some lives are more valuable than others.

Over the past months, there have been numerous reported cases of police and military brutality and even killings in the Northwest and Southwest regions of which the government spokesperson and the entire government authority have chosen to maintain silence.
Even at the aftermath of the murder of the police officer in Bamenda, the government forces went out on a rampage that saw people manhandled, with property destroyed and an unprecedented lockdown due to fear of the unknown by the raging government forces.

Most evident of military brutality that went under the radar was the killing of a bike rider by a military officer at Below Foncha due to a 500 FCFA scuffle.

Despite the uproar that was caused due to that, the government spokesperson made no condemnation of it.

The bike rider was buried and life has moved on. And now there is an official communiqué condemning the killing of one police officer in Bamenda by separatist fighters and a manhunt for the killers.

This pops up the question: Are some persons more human than others?

Mimi Mefo Info