A chieftaincy dispute has been raging for the past four years in Bangolan, a village in the restive North West region of Cameroon.
The dispute erupted during an attempt to unseat Fon Chafah Isaac who is also a politician and member of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement-CPDM party.
Persistent calls for peace and the intervention of some government officials have not been able to bring lasting peace to the village. Not even the over three-year-old Anglophone crisis that has morphed to the full blown out war in the country’s English Speaking regions has been able to put the issue to rest.
In the latest turn of events, some notables from Bangolan were arrested by the forces of law and order. Allegedly ordered by CPDM baron Fon Chafah Isaac, they were detained for three days in a local church premises-turned military barrack before being transferred to the Bamenda Central Prison yesterday.
Women in the village on Sunday launched an appeal for the release of the notables whom they said are their husbands and brothers.
In a video circulating on social media, they are seen pleading for the men be brought back.
“They broke our door, searched the house and took my husband out naked” one of the ladies laments.
“They have been coming to take food from me, but I don’t even know if they give the food to my husband… What has he done that the gendarmes have taken him away?” she cries out.
Prior to the notables’ transfer to the Bamenda central prison, locals had decried the conditions under which they were held in the military barracks. They stated that despite being old men, they were denied access to adequate feeding, medication – with family members not allowed to visit them.
Since the arrest of the notables and their eventual transfer to the Bamenda regional headquarters, Fon Chafah, who is accused of masterminding the actions has made no official statement regarding the accusations against him.
Mimi Mefo Info
