President Biya is a wise man of peace…” – Prof. Mathias Owona Nguini

According to the Vice-rector of the University of Yaounde I, the longevity of President Paul Biya should be considered by Cameroonians as an added advantage as it has added experience and wisdom to him.

The President has been in power now for close to four decades in Cameroon, and many people within and out of the country think that it is time for him to hand over power to the next generation.

The socio-political scientist declares that when President Biya is referred to as the wise and peaceful man “it is a question of taking to account his long experience as a statesman, who has explicit knowledge of the mysteries of international politics in general and of Africa in particular. And when we say in particular that President Paul Biya is a man of peace, it is because he directly or indirectly intervenes in the resolution of a certain number of African crises. Naturally, Paul Biya is rather balanced man, more inclined to temperance than indulging himself into conflicts,” he claims.

The bloody crisis in the Anglophone regions in the North West and South West regions escalated in 2016 when President Paul Biya arrested unarmed protesters and declared war against the separatists. There have been countless instances of atrocities committed by both the government forces and the separatists as a result.

The Ngarbuh massacre by the military, the beheading of prison warder, Ayafor Florence by the separatist fighters, the Pinyin massacre by the military, the murder of journalist Samuel Wazizi by the military are some of the incidents fresh on the minds of many.
Enormous pressure has been piled on the president by the international community to initiate a process of inclusive dialogue with no preconditions, with a third party, so that the problem can be better talked and sorted out.

The President, however organised the Major National Dialogue in September 2019. But it was not inclusive, and was largely boycotted by the Southern Cameroonian leaders and active separatist fighters. The fighting has continued even after the proposal of a special status to be granted by the conflict-hit regions.