Family decries arrest of teacher accused of associating with separatists

John Moses Sama, a teacher at Government High School New Bell, Douala has spent a second night behind bars.

Arrested on Tuesday, he was jailed for one day and then transferred to the capital, Yaounde.

He is accused of complicity with separatists in the country’s North West and South West regions.

Sources close to the father of four however deny the allegations, as they hold that he was arrested on campus after reportedly being framed by his colleagues.

A source said “when he was arrested, they asked him why he is following Amba activists on Facebook, but he said he knows none of them.”

The source adds that the teacher’s “… android phone has not been functioning for months now …”

” He has been a government teacher in Douala for over 20 years,” narrated a relative in tears.

Yesterday, the victim’s relatives say they discovered that Moses Sama suddenly disappeared from the Judicial Police in Bonanjo where he was being held.

“We were told today that he has been sent to Yaounde after he was severely tortured,” they told MMI.

John Moses’ arrest, alleged torture

Family sources say he was picked up by six policemen in civilian attire while meeting with the parent of a student at the institution where he teaches.

“They asked him to present himself. He presented himself as a teacher and they told him they were from the judicial police and he was under arrest,” the source explains.

Mr Sama was then taken to his house at Ndogbon where they searched all his property but found nothing. They also took him to his sister’s place at Bonamousadi and conducted a similar search but found nothing.

“They then took him into custody at Bonanjo … They opened his Facebook page and asked what he had been discussing with a certain Nkem Ashu.”

The source adds that “despite denying, they opened his WhatsApp account which had not been functioning for several months now and continued questioning him.”

He was then detained, and later transferred to Yaounde. Our source says a police officer hinted that he was tortured before being transferred to the Delegation General for National Security in Yaounde.

Though officials have made no statement about the arrest and detention of John Moses, he adds to hundreds of Anglophones arrested and detained in connection to the crisis.

With many languishing in cells under poor detention facilities, the snail pace of trials have not made matters any easier.

Mimi Mefo Info