Public Outcry against Genocidal Utterances in Cameroon!

CPDM MP Succumbs in Public Apology to Anglophones

By Francis Ekongang Nzante

Essomba Bengono Engelbert CPDM Alternate Member of Parliament for Mefou and Akono Division has apologised for utterances he made on Anglophone Cameroonians on TV last week. This apology which was published on his face book page comes in the wake of an increasing condemnation of utterances that he made on Equinox Television considered in some quarters as genocidal in tone.
Several reactions had followed the statements made by Bengono Essomba. This CPDM bigwig in his statements trivialized the death of Anglophones hostile to the Paul Biya Regime.
."1850 deaths on 25 million Cameroonians, it is not serious yet," he said during his visit to the TV channel. These words automatically aroused reactions to his detriment.

Reacting to Essomba Bengono's utterances on Equinox TV Akere Muna, Legal luminary and one of the opposition candidates for last year's Presidential Elections wrote to the Honorable Cavaye Yeguié Djibril, President of the National Assembly of Cameroon.

He classified the utterances made by Honourable Essomba Bengono Engelbert, an Alternate Member of Parliament as Genocide Statements.
These statements were made during a program "Equinox Soir."
These utterances which Akere Muna described as genocidal compared populations of the Northwest and Southwest Regions to the Biblical Sodom and Gomora that needed to be wiped off as a matter of necessity.

: "..you know how many times God the creator had to shave the human species to constitute a people? You know how many times? The number of covenants that God made with men?" he said, I am shaving Sodom and Gomorah."

Among the things Bengono considered more important which should preoccupy  Cameroonians at the moment were reflecting on the dialogue proposed by the President of the Republic and the peace offensive of the Prime Minister, Chief Dr. Dion Ngute. These issues were considered more important than 1850 lives so far lost in the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

Such a statement from an elected representative of the people far from being a distraction had the potential to discredit any discourse on peace and dialogue promoted by the political party to which it belongs.
Akere Muna said he was waiting to see the reaction of Church leaders when the Bible is used to compare Cameroonian citizens, inhabitants of North-West and South-West to those of Sodom and Gomorrah exterminated. Recalling that Anglophones in the past had been referred to as "dogs," "rats," he also recalled that "we even followed an important press boss to say no to the dialogue and to plead for the closure of all the relief and first aid facilities in the North-West and South-West and the establishment of a punch operation to put an end to the crisis."

The Hon. ESSOMBA BENGONO ENGELBERT Akere Muna emphasised said that it was not necessary to count the number of deaths, but that one should be concerned only with Cameroonians alive. Appealing to the recipient of his letter he put it as follows "Mr President, a dead Cameroonian is one more death....life is a gift from God and to deny its importance is to deny the existence of our Almighty Creator. I hope that the speed with which you have reacted to the European Parliament's Resolution will be duplicated in the initiative you will take urgently to put an end to the speeches of the people who fan the flames of division, hatred and sow the seeds of genocide."
Meantime, Essomba Bengono Engelbert has in his apology written thus; "Dear Brothers, I sincerely apologise for my declarations on Equinox TV on the 13th of May 2019 about the victims of the armed conflict that is prevailing in your villages and towns since the crisis started there. A situation that has caused the deaths of civilians and Republican Soldiers. May the souls of the killed persons rest in perfect peace.
Wherever you are from, Boyo, Bui, Donga Mantung, Menchum, Mezam, Mono, Ngoketuna, Fako, Kupe Manengouba, Lebialem, Manyu, Meme or Indian....I do sincerely beg for your pardon. I deeply regret and I pray the Almighty God to help us to definitely solve this bad situation.."