“…the boys ordered me to declare on camera that all municipal councilors, members of parliament and senators of the Social Democratic Front SDF should resign from their posts within the next 24 hours and support the struggle for the restoration of Ambazonia statehood”. Ni John Fru Ndi told the press at his Ntarikon residence in Bamenda Sunday June 30th 2019.
Kidnapped from his residence in Ntarikon Bamenda in the North West region of Cameroon Friday June 28th, the Chairman of the SDF explained how the boys interrogated him in their camp.
On why the fighters want elected representatives of the SDF party to resign,the fighters told Fru Ndi that the officials are disturbing their fight for the restoration of Ambazonia statehood by the mere fact that they are still in institutions of the republic of Cameroon.
“I will not ask SDF elected representatives to resign as a means of encouraging the fight because I believe in dialogue and not war.I will go to Yaounde, meet the MPs, Mayors and senators to discuss the issue and design our own approach to the problem. For now, I cannot respect your 24 hours ultimatum to call for their resignation.”Fru Ndi answered the boys with boldness and determination.
He enumerated several efforts made by SDF lawmakers since 2017 to get the Anglophone crisis discussed both at the National Assembly and the Senate. Efforts the SDF chieftain says have not been demonstrated by any other political parties represented in the law making houses.
To the emblematic leader of the opposition in Cameroon, holding guns and demanding a change of political happenings in a country is just “a weapon of the weak” and he will not succumb to that.
Questioning why there is a particular interest on the SDF municipal councilors, MPs and Senators to resign,the amba boys said they believe that SDF is representing the aspiration of the people and thus a collective resignation will be a big blow to the regime of president Paul Biya.
Besides asking the chairman to order the resignation of SDF elective representatives, the boys accused him of being ‘a black leg’ (betrayal). To them, they suffer in the bush fighting for the people while Fru Ndi is feeding fat in his palace. Allegations the chairman denied. He accuses the boys of betrayal too by calling them ‘dark legs’ ,meaning that they have betrayed the people of the north west and south west regions and not him.
The Maltreatment:
“I was taking a little rest in the house shortly after returning from the hospital. Suddenly I heard gun shots in the compound and in my parlour. Confused of what was happening, I step out to see. Its then that armed heavily build boys grabbed me by the neck dragging me from the parlour through the compound to their car”. Ni John Fru Ndi explained Sunday.
To the chairman,the boys hit him with the barrel of the gun several times on his head alongside punches on his stomach.
They drove him out of the town to their camp. Without shoes, the leader of the main opposition political party in Cameroon was forced to sit and sleep in rough surfaces by the fighters, he narrated.
Being hypertensive and a diabetic patient, Ni John Fru Ndi failed to take his drugs and did not eat. He regrets the adverse effect such a treatment has in his health.
The firm Stand of Ni John Fru Ndi:
The kidnapped of Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi on June 28th is the second in less than three months after a similar incident on 27th of April.
Despite all what the leader of the SDF has gone through, he told the press that he still believes in democracy and the rule of law.
He regrets the authoritarian and dictatorial rule of the Ambazonia fighters that does not accept any contrary opinion from what they believe in. He condemned the atrocities committed on the people in the name of fighting the war of independence.
On the part of the government, Ni John Fru Ndi frowned at the creation of commissions, committees and visits by state officials in the two restive regions without taking concrete steps towards resolving the crisis. He lamented that by creating the commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism, the committee of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, government has really demonstrated her poor mastery of ways to resolve the crisis.
Mimi Mefo Info
