The government of Cameroon has just realised, after almost two months, that President Biya’s representative, the Divisional Officer of Idabato, Ewane Roland, is in captivity.
In a press statement on Friday, November 22, Communication Minister and Government spokesperson René Emmanuel Sadi said the government is working to secure the DO’s release.
This is the first official communication from the Cameroon Government since Mr. Ewane Roland and a municipal worker in Idabato, Mr. Ismael Etongo, were kidnapped on October 1 by Nigerian pirates.
The government is reacting after opposition politicians, including Akere Muna of the Now Movement and Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement Party, criticized the government for not doing anything to secure the release of the administrator.
However, the Communication Minister, in his outing, condemning the kidnapping, labelling the pirates as “terrorists from a brother and neighbouring country.”
“The Government of the Republic strongly condemns this odious, cowardly, and despicable act perpetrated by lawless individuals against representatives of the state,” he said.
According to Emmanuel Sadi, the Head of State, President Paul Biya has expressed “his deep indignation at the extremely cruel physical abuse, the inhuman and degrading treatment to which this senior civil servant was subjected and which nothing can justify.”
He added that the government has conveyed to the members of the bereaved families, and beyond, to the populations of Idabato, the expression of sympathy and comfort of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Paul BIYA, stating that “the government intends to make it known that everything is being done to preserve the life of the D.O. of Idabato as well as his collaborator, and to obtain a happy outcome to this scabrous and unfortunate affair.”
Southwest Governor’s Efforts Fruitless
Before the official government reaction, Southwest Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai had been to Idabato with threats.
While in Idabato two weeks after the kidnapped, he accused the Nigerian community of complacency, which he said constitutes the majority there.
Okalia, at that time, gave a 72-hour deadline for the release of the DO.
However, it was never respected, as the DO and the municipal worker were still in captivity.
When the deadline elapsed without yielding fruits, he summoned with the Nigerian Consul General of the Northwest and Southwest to his office in Buea. Their discussions were held behind closed doors.
Pirates Demand for FCFA 1 Billion
About a month after the kidnapped act, the said Nigerian pirates demanded a sum of FCFA 1 billion and the release of their colleagues from the Buea Central Prison.
These were just some of the conditions for the release of the DO and the municipal agent.
After that, an image later surfaced on social media depicting the victims being maltreated by their abductors.
The minister said the government will do everything to secure their release but failed to say what strategy they will use. The South West Governor stated that, based on investigations, Mr. Ewane and Co. had been taken into Nigerian territory.
