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The denizens of Buea have reacted with mixed feelings over the landslide victory of the incumbent president, Paul Biya.
In a randomly sampled opinion polls, Tuesday, October 23, 2018, many opined that the longevity in power of the president coupled with the socio-political, economic and security challenges, Cameroon needed another leader to man the nation.
“I am not surprised by the result. President Biya is an ace-politician and so knows how to play his game well. However, giving the fact that he has been in power for like ever, I expected someone else to come to the scene. It is even more compounding with the so many challenges that we have at the moment in the country. Look at the economy; it’s on a nose- dive. Our security has been at the centre of deliberation since 2013. So, I really don’t President Paul Biya, the right person to bring this country back to its feet. It’s quite unfortunate that he shall be there,” lamented Mr. Issaac Ngoni, a resident at Buea town.
“I’m not happy neither am I sad. I’m simply shocked because to the best of my knowledge, there were several places where people could not exercise their civic responsibilities. Like in Buea for example, we could not vote; I did not vote because places were deserted; everyone was indoors. We equally bare aware that most person had evacuated their homes prior to the recent October 7 elections. The only thing that surprises and shocks me, is the vote statistics precisely in the SWR. I believe even if nobody had voted in Cameroon at large, Biya would have still worn,” Mm Lyonga Comfort, a resident of Sandpit elucidated.
Others posited that the drama that characterised Cameroon’s political scene, especially in the Constitutional Council (CC), exposed so many things in Cameroon’s politics.
“I’m surprised because from what we had observed throughout the debate period by various political parties at the CC, I for one didn’t expect these results to be in favour of Paul Biya. However, we shockingly heard the president of the CC Clement Atangana after the reading of statistics for the various regions made the final stand of the CC in favour of the president-elect. I believe that if he was re-elected, perhaps others wanted him to be there,” Raisa Chamdjou, a student of UB said.
“Actually, I was already discouraged from the beginning of election campaign to vote. It made me not to have the zeal to vote because I knew my vote would not be reflected on the candidate I would have loved to cast my vote for. So, I did not vote at all. But with the incumbent given another 7 years mandate and can also say God’s will must prevail,” Zele Vivian. a resident of Molyko added.
However, others expressed joy over Biya’s election, likening his re-election, to that of an experienced person, coming to resolve the problems that cropped up through his previous mandate.
“I think Paul Biya is the Force of Experience and as he has won, we expect him to use his experience and bring a long-lasting solution to the deepening anglophone crisis that has cost many their lives,” Monono Britz, a resident of Buea town said.
Meanwhile, the streets of Buea remain cautiously calm, as the celebrations for Biya’s re-election remain low profile.
