By A.J.
Presidential candidate and leader of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), Hon. Cabral Libii, has narrated a chilling encounter with armed separatists in Batibo, North West Region, an experience which he said forever changed his perception of the Anglophone Crisis.
Speaking on MMI’s flagship program “Road to Etoudi” on October 1, the PCRN candidate shared details of the encounter, while outlining his plans to resolve the deadly conflict that has ravaged Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions since 2017.
Libii explained that he was in Batibo in 2017 to attend a ceremony when heavy gunfire suddenly erupted nearby.
“I was in Batibo in 2017 for a ceremony, and I tell you every time I think about what I witnessed, I get scared because it was the first time in my life to ever witness a war,” he said during the show hosted by MMI CEO, Mimi Mefo Newuh.
“During the ceremony, we started hearing gunshots at the back of the house. It was the first time I ever went under a bed,” he recounted.
The candidate said he was hosted at the time by Mr. Eric Mbah, now President of the Cameroon Bar Association, who insisted on taking him to safety.
“He told me ‘Mr. Cabral, you cannot stay here because it is too dangerous for you, let me bring you back to Bali.’ And we went out of this house just him and myself, leaving the others behind,” Libii said.
But the journey to safety was far from ordinary. “A few meters away, I saw Amba Boys armed. Mr. Eric Mbah went to them, saying I was a politician who had just come to see for himself what the situation was like. I was surprised when they told us to pass by the bush if we wanted to make it alive,” he revealed.
The PCRN candidate added that the encounter went beyond a brush with danger, as he eventually spoke with some of the fighters.
“When we passed through the bush, we saw fighters there, I discussed with them, they told me why they were fighting. From that day, something changed in me, and that is why when I get some of these Francophones talk about this crisis dismissively, I get upset.”
Libii further criticized the government’s response to the Anglophone conflict, saying that dismissive statements from officials only worsened the crisis.
“Many government members joked at the time the Anglophone Crisis began. One of them is currently a candidate today. We certainly remember when the massacre in Ngarbuh happened, the Minister of Communication (Issa Tchiroma Bakary) then said it never happened. These kinds of statements contributed in worsening the crisis,” he stressed.
For him, peace remains his primary objective if elected.
“That is why I say my first objective when I am elected is to be able to obtain a peace agreement. I think people have suffered a lot, and it is time for us to go there with the spirit of obtaining peace, even if it means going down on your knees as a president.”
Despite the risks, Cabral Libii braved it to Bamenda on October 2 where he held a rally ahead of the presidential elections.
His visit came at a time when separatists had declared a one-month lockdown across the North West and South West Regions in a desperate bid to prevent the elections from holding in the area they consider as the “State of Ambazonia”.
Nevertheless, the candidate was welcomed by scores of young people and commercial bike riders, who turned out to receive him as he braved the odds to campaign in one of the most insecure parts of the country.
He told residents in Bamenda the military solution cannot resolve the armed conflict, promising to organize an inclusive dialogue with separatists to resolve the crisis, once elected in office.
Libii also proposed instituting a federal form of government to give back power to the local population and resolve their governance and development problems.
