Except behind-the-doors negotiations pull through, the CPDM Fako Divisional List for the December 6 Regional Elections will be disqualified on grounds of fraud.
Mimi Mefo Info has it on good authority that a certain Luma Stephen Njoke, CPDM militant in Fako III has called on the South West Regional Administrative Court to do justice by disqualifying the list.
Aside allegations that Hon. Emilia Lifaka, Fako CPDM Divisional Coordinator singlehandedly drafted the 21-man list, the sticky issue has to do with the inclusion of a certain Mbella Etoga Gervacius who is neither based in Cameroon nor is registered on the electoral register.
“Mbella Etoga Gervacius does not live in Cameroon. He lives in Europe and is not even registered on the electoral register. How does he want to be elected in an elections where he is unable to vote?” CPDM militants have been grumbling from one social media platform to the administrative court.
Section 251 of the Electoral Code says that, “No person may stand for election into a regional council unless effectively resident in the region concerned.”
The only exception is that, “non-residents of a region may stand for election into a regional council if they are domiciled within the territory of the region concerned.”
As matters got serious, the CPDM hierarchy in Fako commissioned the City Mayor of Limbe, Motanga Andrew Monjimba to do all in his power to rescue the Fako list.
“Motanga in desperation contacted the Muyuka Communal Branch head of ELECAM to fraudulently establish that Mbella Etoga Gervacius is a registered voter in Muyuka,” a trusted source told Mimi Mefo Info.
Given that Mbella Etoga Gervacius is representing Buea on the CPDM list, CPDM militants in Buea wondered how someone who is representing Buea will rather be a registered voter in Muyuka.
As investigations intensified, it emerged that Mbella Etoga Gervacius does not even have a voter’s card. Armed with this information, Luma Stephen Njoke filed a complaint before the Administrative Court for the cancellation of the CPDM list.
Although the Administrative Court in Buea has been struggling to suppress the petition, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) has distanced itself from the document that states that Mbella Etoga Gervacius is a registered voter. ELECAM therefore wants to clear its name.
South West elite in Yaounde are said to have pressured Luma Stephen Njoke to withdraw the case so as to rescue the CPDM list from collapse. Luma Stephen Njoke has stood his grounds.
Hon. Lifaka, the mastermind behind the fraud is quoted as saying that Mbella Etoga Gervacius’s name was forced on the list by South West Governor Okalia Bilai Bernard.
After failing to intimidate Luma Stephen Njoke and have him withdraw the matter in court, Governor Okalia is said to have also failed to have the courts suppress the case.
ELECAM Electoral Board Member, Christopher Tambe Tiku was even spotted around the governor’s office. It is not known what they discussed but ELECAM has dissociated itself from the fraud.
The Fako III (Buea) YCPDM Section President, Njie Frankline Njie is said to be against the choice of Mbella Etoga Gervacius, wondering why youths were sidelined from the regional elections list.A war of words is now raging within the CPDM in Buea, with CPDM youths in Idenau voicing their support for Hon. Lifaka who is MP for Fako West (Buea Rural and Idenau).
Mimi Mefo Info
