Gunmen in Bamenda attacked and killed US-based Cameroonian scholar, Dr. Chaibi Emmanuel, on Wednesday, March 16, just as he was planning to return to the US.
The armed men stormed his house in Bamenda, and one of them shot him in the leg. He died at the hospital a few hours later due to excessive bleeding.
“Dr. Chiabi had just returned from getting fuel when the armed men made their way into the compound. As they were talking, one of them shot him in the leg and he fell and hit his head on the ground,” said a source who claimed to have witnessed the incident.
He further told MMI the rest of the gunmen killed their colleague for shooting Dr. Chaibi and carried his corpse with them.
“One of the shooter’s colleagues shouted saying they were not there to kill anyone. That was when he shot at the guy and they carried him away leaving behind his shoes and cap,” the source added.
Dr. Chiabi died at a hospital in Nkwen, Bamenda, and his body was transferred to the Akum hospital mortuary.
Dr. Chiabi was the pioneer president of Afo-a-kom USA, an association that groups natives of Kom ethnic group from the Northwest Region in the United States.
The association’s current president PK Yong, in a condolence message, described the late Dr. Chiabi as a ‘baobab that has fallen’.
“It is a sad day for Afo-a-kom USA,” PK Yong said.
“While we struggle to swallow this bitter pill of the tragic exit of someone who was literally, ‘the Father of Afo-a-kom USA,’ we plead on everyone in our entire Afo-a-kom community, to put his family in their thoughts and prayers,” he added.
Meanwhile, human rights advocate, Barrister Agbor Nkongho condemned his killing as despicable and unacceptable in a message published on Friday.
By Soulemanu Buba