Cameroonian intellectual and political activist Fridolin Nke has thrown down a gauntlet to the heart of power, publicly demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of two of the country’s top state officials, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and Galax Étoga, over the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo. In a series of forceful posts on his official social-media page, Nke insists the two men must be removed from their positions and interrogated, signalling that the probe into Zogo’s killing remains incomplete and that the regime’s powerful inner circle still shields the real culprits.
Nke’s words leave no room for interpretation: “The Secretary of State to the Ministry of Defence, Galax Étoga, MUST BE ARRESTED! Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh MUST BE REMOVED from his SGPR post and interrogated!” he wrote. He further affirmed that during the presidential campaign, he personally warned Paul Biya that Zogo’s murderer was at the Unity Palace, even claiming he provided a name. With blunt clarity, he argued that the president risks reinstating assassins if he shuffles government posts before fully clearing the swamp. “We cannot ride the President into filth and murders,” he declared, adding that his demand applies Chantal Biya, Paul Biya’s First Lady
This unprecedented targeting of top officials underscores a dramatic shift in Nke’s public stance. Recently regarded primarily as a controversial academic and regime-aligned intellectual battling opposition figures, Nke now casts himself as a moral vigilante willing to challenge the political establishment from within. His transformation from regime sympathizer to outspoken critic reflects a deep realignment of his political identity, raising the stakes for both him and the officials he singles out.
By placing Ngoh Ngoh and Étoga in his claims, Nke forces a chapter reopened in the tortured story of Martinez Zogo’s assassination, one in which the true power brokers, he argues, have yet to be held to account. In doing so, he invites not just public scrutiny but judicial reckoning, demanding that the corruption and impunity ingrained at the highest levels of the state be finally uncovered.
