The Military carted away all my money and communication logistics

-Momo Elite

Felix Teche Nyamusa, former aspirant for the post of National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front and Presidential Hopeful has in an elaborate interview recounted his ordeal at the hands of the military recently at Njikwa in Momo Division. He said following announcements that villagers who had been scared away by violent clashes from their homes in Njikwa could now return home and that the Divisional Officer for Njikwa had returned to base, he as an elite decided to go home and get an on-the-spot evaluation of the situation. To his surprise, he and those accompanying him were molested, asked to lie down in mud and his money and communication logistics carted away by Forces of Law and Order. In this interview which took place in his Bamenda residence, Felix Teche Nyamusa also takes us through his political Odyssey which saw him resigning from the Social Democratic Front and then getting elected as National Chairman of the Cameroon National Democratic Party CNDP and then eventually resigning from there as well. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante.  He begins by recounting what happened during his visit to Njikwa.

“As a politician from Momo I went to Njikwa to visit following the killings that have been going on there. A number of Cameroonians were killed specifically Anglophones. Three weeks or so ago it was announced that the DO had returned to base and that the people should return since the situation had returned to normalcy. I therefore decided to visit the place and see the burnings that had been going on. To my syrprise, when we got there around the D.O.s office after the bad roads we were stuck in mud. After struggling to get out of the mud we were surrounded by the army at gun point. They said we were Ambazonians and Southern Cameroons Liberation fighters and that we wanted to come and kill them since there was nobody in the village. They threatened to shoot us and burn the car. They made us lie down in mud. They searched the car and carted away all my money and communication logistics. After treating us real bad they told us to turn back. That’s how we left and went to the Seniour Divisional Officer for Momo in Mbengwi. I wrote a report to the Governor of the Northwest Region explaining what had happened. The Head of State should go to the root cause of the problems in Cameroon rather than cough out 12.5 billion FCFA as humanitarian aid to displaced people.”

   

We know It’s been a Political Odyssey for you but can we know what made you leave the SDF?

I left the SDF because of differences with leadership of the party. The two major components of the nation called Cameroon is the Anglophones and the Francophones and once one of these components are shaken the very foundation of the country is destabilized. I told them to postpone the Convention of the party and listen to the problems plaguing the country and the Anglophones specifically, dialogue with them and seek solutions. However, since there was insistence, I absented myself from the convention. I said that you get to elective positions because of the people and I cannot be part of a convention that did not seem to take into consideration the fact that the people needed it. The real divide however started when I eyed the position of National Chairman and expressed my intention of becoming the Presidential candidate of the Party. Pro- Fru Ndi Party members who expected me to have gunned for a different position became apprehensive and put a lot of stumbling blocks on my path. I and John Fru Ndi are in the Bamenda II Electoral District and we were supposed to conduct elections there because there were two candidates but they conducted elections without me. An Electoral Conference in Bamenda II is supposed to take place with about 800 militants but they organised an election with just about 50 militants in an Electoral District. It was supposed to be a District Executive Meeting and they turned it to be an Electoral Conference which was illegal. They only came and told me that Ni John Fru Ndi had won. In the buildup to the convention they also came up with an accusation that I was importing arms. That I and my Lawyer Barrister Tanifum and another friend former councilor of the Mbengwi Council were importing arms. The judicial Police investigated the two of them and said they were going to get to me. Since then nobody has come to me. I saw that this was the handiwork of an immature democracy. With the manipulation in the SDF at the level of leadership I felt that it was not the right place to begin. I came out of the SDF but not out of politics.

Ideologically where do you belong?

I am a Federalist and a Pan-Africanist. I do not cherish the idea of countries splitting up. We can however not be going to equity with dirty hands. We cannot strive on injustice because we want a big group. Africa as one can form a bigger force but this cannot be done with a lot of injustice.

Why did your brush with the CNDP not work?

CNDP is the Cameroon National Democratic Party. This party belonged to late Mulluh, the proprietor of Penn Pan Hotel in Bamenda. When I left the SDF I thought that creating a new Political Party might take much time considering the fact that President Paul Biya could announce Presidential Elections at anytime. That’s why I decided to join the CNDP, a party already existing and bring it up because I have a reasonable following. The owners whom we met were initially very enthusiastic when we said that we were going to transform CNDP into a leading party in the country. They elected me as the National Chairman and the wife of the former Chairperson of the party as the Treasurer. However when the first resolutions were sent online, people started coming in. They came in and simply intoxicated the old executive that we wanted to hijack the party from them and that the Party was Presidential Majority while I Teche Nyamusa was criticizing both Ni John Fru Ndi and President Paul Biya. I was therefore forced to leave CNDP because I could not criticize and leave the SDF only to turn around and join the Presidential Majority. We think that not only the Parliamentary Elections should be postponed but all the other elections.

What route do you pave for the future in politics?

I remain a frontline politician in Cameroon. Many elections are coming but we are saying that the country should be brought to a halt. The management of the country, the leadership, the governance should be checked. We cannot be running a system which is a one man show.

What is your immediate way forward considering the fact that a good majority of English speaking Cameroonians are not in favour of secession?

In my manifesto I have always stood for a two state federation. French speaking Cameroonians should be instructed to understand that Federalism is not secession. The Biya Regime does not want a Federal System because there will be checks and balances since you don’t remove resources from a region of the country without permitting that region to have a reasonable bulk of it.

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