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By Soulemanu Buba
Life in the North West Regional Capital, Bamenda has been tough because of the ongoing conflict.
The hardship has, however, been taken to a whole new level since friends and sympathisers of the family of Cameron’s Minister of Territorial Administration started arriving in the town ahead of the burial of the minister’s mother.
Heavy gunshots are being heard daily exacerbating the already tense atmosphere, that has become characteristic of the town of Bamenda.
The heavy militarization of the town has resulted in an increase in the number of security checkpoints.
This has also translated to an equal increase in the level of extortion by security forces, as they carry out random checks on civilians and cars.
Many are now forced to use off roads despite their bad nature just to avoid the punitive and highhanded approach of the security forces prowling the major roads.
A large number of persons are reported to have been arrested for a variety of reasons, necessitating their family members to pay as much as FCFA 300,000 (three hundred thousand francs) to secure their release.
“It’s even sad that the minister is using state resources for personal reasons. Everywhere is highly militarized, and people are treated like animals just because someone’s mother is dead and he is in town to bury her. This is not fair. We can’t be suffering because of a burial taking place on Tuesday,” a family head who opted to be addressed only as Nsoh told MMI.
Commercial bike riders have also not been immune as many have had their bikes confiscated by soldiers who say they are out to secure the area before and during the burial.
It should be noted that Marceline Neza Atanga, mother of Minister Atanga Nji Paul, died on July 24, 2022 at the age of 96 and will be interred on Tuesday, August 23, 2022, in Bamenda.
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