Cracks appear within Anglophone Ranks in Cameroon

-As killings, Economic hardships hit the Ceiling!

Some accusing fingers point at blind obedience of injunctions from manipulators in Diaspora while others hint at possible manipulations to beef up tribal sentiments!

The unprecedented unity seen among Cameroonians of the Northwest and Southwest Regions since the onset of what has come to be referred to as the “Anglophone Crisis” is slowly giving way under the pressures of increasing casualties, economic hardships and other outside pressures and possible manipulations.

The first major crack has been seen in the strong criticism by some home based English Speaking Cameroonians of utterances or voices from the Diaspora consistently posting propaganda that simply encourages war and at the same time throwing a blind eye to the security situation of the vulnerable families on the ground. Some of these posts have warned that the “Ambazonian War of Independence” will be taken to Douala and Yaounde.

According to critics of these posts on social media from the Diaspora, Anglophones will find themselves in an awkward confrontational position against French speaking Cameroonians who outnumber them in unimaginable proportions. According to this line of thought, this will be tantamount to walking along an open boulevard towards genocide or to put it lightly massacre. 

Mark Bareta increasingly considered controversial by some anglophones.

In the same vein a group of Cameroonians in the Diaspora who call themselves “The Abakwa Boys Club” have described some Anglophone Cameroonians living in the Diaspora as a disgrace. This group through an audio message calls on Cameroonians to listen to nobody from the Diaspora including them. “Most of us in the Diaspora have an agenda, I know our agenda. So back home you have to make that conscious decision on what is good or bad for you. Don’t take any injunctions from anybody claiming to be taking instructions from a group of people. It is a lie. It doesn’t work that way. You cannot rule a people by proxy. Please, don’t get me wrong. I understand what you people are going through back home and I understand how tyranic Mr Biya’s regime is and some of us in the Diaspora have just copied the same mindset as that of the President and are pasting it on you because we think that we are no longer in harm’s way. Please I am talking today so that we should put an end to this double standard. Anybody who is taking injunctions from the Diaspora or from a group is doing so at their own risk.”

 This gentleman who identified himself as Paddy of the London Branch of the “Abakwa Boys Club” further said people in the Diaspora send money home to boys in their areas of origin to create militia groups who in turn kidnap people to get money from them. “It is a scheme to kidnap and burgle business people and nobody has the right to tell somebody not to sell whatsoever.” This spokesperson of the Abakwa Boys Club said it was the Diaspora that was responsible for the abduction of the chiefs in Fako. “They simple arrest them under duress and force declarations out of them. We of the Abakwa Boys Club cannot condone that. Last week we had a meeting and we are going to tell you what we have in our agenda. Take your destiny in your hands and don’t listen to anybody in the Diaspora. You have your Quarter Heads, elites, Chiefs and other people that you look up to around you. Go to them and seek for advice and they will tell you exactly what to do.” Many reactions have however dismissed these declarations from the London Branch of the Abakwa Boys Club as part of a larger manipulation scheme.

Other cracks that have been revealed in the Anglophone community in Cameroon are purely on tribal and ethnic lines or to be more precise, on considerations based on Regions of origin. This was seen in “South West Wakeup call” circulated on Social Media by a group that calls itself the South West Prosperity Foundation SWPF which it titled “Declaration on the protection of our peace and prosperity.” The hate speech and divisive nature of the document is seen in the aims of the publication which we take the liberty to present the first two here.  

“The aim of this declaration is as follows: -open the eyes of South Westerners to the diabolic plans of our tribalistic brothers from the NW. –Make it known to all SW and all members of other tribes of Cameroon that the North West is the enemy of peace and progress in Cameroon as a whole and in the SW in particular.” Many people who stumbled on this document reacted in various ways but dominantly found the document unpleasant, out of place, “very disgraceful” and untrue.”

While Economic hardships and pressures caused by the endless ghost towns have been making these divisions and divergent views more open, many feel that there are certainly other outside factors and manipulations that are coming into play.

As casualties increase, emotional outbursts have also been having its tool resulting into a lot of fissures within the Cameroon Anglophone fabric. While casualties have been plenty on both sides, the shooting and killing of Reverend Father Alexander Sob Nougi, erstwhile Catholic Education Secretary for the Buea Diocese has been a very trying case.

A publication on the whatsApp forum “Edev News” by Professor Ernest Molua runs thus; “His Killers are well known! And they include you! Here lies a martyr for our children. May God receive him. Since the former Catholic Education Secretary Father Alexander Sop Nougi, in his precipitous decision to recall students of Examination classes in Roman Catholic Colleges back to campus in Spring of 2017 to sit and write their GCE exams, he had never been forgiven by his bosses and their agents who are clearly the spiritual Masters of the devilish experiment that has gripped our beloved country.” Professor Ernest Molua in his emotional outburst states that the Rev Father died for “our children in Sasse College etc., daring to ensure they write the GCE Exams of 2017.” In his outburst he brings in tribal sentiments calling the late padre by his tribe of origin, “the Bassa man of God.” The fissures appearing on the Cameroon Anglophone fabric are feared to be beefing up sentiments that can result into a much more deadly situation. 

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