By A.J.
As Cameroon gets closer to the October 2025 presidential election, the North West and South West regions are once again under threat from separatist fighters who have imposed a month-long lockdown.
These groups have announced a month-long lockdown, warning people not to go to school, work, or even vote.
While they say they are fighting for freedom, their actions are hurting ordinary Cameroonians the most, and may even make it easier for President Paul Biya to win.
We saw this happen in the 2018 election. Many towns in the Anglophone regions could not vote because people were too scared to leave their homes.
Polling stations were empty, and opposition parties lost support because their voters stayed away. Observers say this helped Biya win easily.
Now, the same thing is happening again. By stopping people from voting, the separatists are not helping their cause.
Instead, they are giving Biya an advantage. Every citizen who cannot vote is one more vote that goes unchallenged, making the election unfair.
The lockdowns also hurt schools and businesses. Children cannot go to class, traders cannot earn a living, and families are left in fear.
The leaders giving orders from outside the country make it worse. Sitting safely abroad, they tell people at home to shut down towns and use threats to control them.
Ordinary Cameroonians are the ones who suffer.
The Anglophone Crisis began as a fight for fairness, but these lockdowns have turned it into a situation where the people are the losers.
If separatist leaders really cared about their communities, they would not stop children from learning or prevent citizens from voting.
Right now, the truth is clear: these lockdowns help only one person, President Biya.
By keeping voters away from the polls, the separatists are giving him a free pass to power, while the people of the North West and South West lose their rights and their future.
