Military tortured University of Bamenda student to death, findings reveal

“When your son was arrested, military accused him of collaborating with separatists. He was tortured and while bleeding profusely,he was thrown into the cell and detained. The following day, he was discovered dead. Accept my condolences madam.”

This is a statement from Archbishop Andrew Nkea of the metropolitan diocese of Bamenda to Madam Bumah Beatrice, mother of Muma Ndeh Bumah tortured to death by the military.

Speaking to Mimi Mefo Info on phone August 12, 2021, Madam Bumah Beatrice says “I went to the office of the Archbishop of Bamenda on the 7th of August to ask for the whereabout of my son. That is when he declared the heartbreaking news to me. Earlier on the 4th of August, I was at the office of the director of military service in Yaounde. The manner he spoke to me, I felt something was terribly wrong with my son. He then instructed me to come back to Bamenda and meet Archbishop Andrew Nkea to give me details”.

According to Madam Bumah Beatrice, the archbishop of Bamenda confirmed that her son was innocent of all the accusations but was unfortunately tortured to death by the military.

To Madam Bumah Beatrice, where her son was tortured to death by the military has not been declared to her and the family.

The Bumah family is in a state of shock, grief and disappointment.

“My husband, the entire family and I are asking the state of Cameroon to provide the corpse of our son. Besides this, the government should explain to us and the world circumstances leading to the death of my son,” Bumah Beatrice stated in tears. According to her, there has been no funeral ceremony. They want the body of their son before such a thing, as demanding by their culture, is performed.

“Neither the Archbishop of Bamenda nor the Cameroon military service has stated where my son was tortured, killed and where the body has been dumped,” Bumah Beatrice laments.

To her, the family has for eight months moved around all detention centres in Bamenda, Bafoussam and Yaoundé just to know where Muma Ndeh Bumah was detained before other procedures.

“Wherever I went, they claimed they didn’t know him. My family and I have suffered,” she sobbed.

The death of Muma Ndeh Bumah while in detention with corpse not handed to the family for burial brings the number to two as the body of a Journalist Samuel Wazizi is still with the state after he died in detention.

Several attempts by Mimi Mefo Info team to get the reaction of the archbishop of the metropolitan diocese of Bamenda were futile. We wanted him to react to the statement attributed to him by Madam Bumah Beatrice.
After five days of demanding the contact of Archbishop Andrew Nkea, one of the workers at the communication service of the archbishop’s office replied through a WhatsApp message saying “…the archbishop has requested that I don’t give his number to anyone because as he puts it, ‘I am busy now'”.

At the moment, Cameroon’s defence forces have not issued any official statement following the incident.

Who is Muma Ndeh Bumah?

Muma Ndeh Bumah was born on the 24th of February 1995 in Bamenda, North West region of Cameroon.

At the time of his arrest on the 26th of December 2020, he was a final year student in the department of law at the University of Bamenda.

To Bumah Beatrice, the son was arrested at Old Town Quarter just opposite Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda by men in military uniform and taken to an unknown destination.


(C) Mimi Mefo Info.