Actions that speak:

Mayor Ekema Patrick brokers peace, secures release of detained UB students

By Boris Esono in Buea

Buea Mayor, Patrick Ekema (dressed in black Mao suit) leads

popular march for peace in Buea, SW region

The Buea independence square popularly called “Bongo Square” was the scene of a popular meeting called by the Mayor of Buea, Mr. Ekema Patrick Esunge to look into the various disturbances that have rocked the municipality over the past week.

                The event brought together local chiefs in the municipality, the DO of Buea, the SDO for Fako and a stampeding crowd of denizens of Buea and its environs including students, teachers, taxi and bike riders and a host of others.

                Addressing the issue of the recent upheavals witnessed on the campus of the University of Buea last Monday 28 November 2016, Mayor Ekema took a pledge to do everything and get all arrested persons released latest Thursday December 1 and that compensation for victims will be paid provided they layed their complaints to the appropriate quarters clearly stating the damages incurred be them physical or material.

                The mayor said some one thousand jackets will be distributed to bike riders to help them better identify themselves; that impounded bikes will be released free of charge and the distribution of bike riders to specific areas in the municipality will be looked into in the next council session  that comes up in December.

                Then from Bongo Square, the Mayor  led the crowd on a peaceful march to the  Governors Office where a memorandum was presented to the Governor, Bernard Okalia stating the commitments taken between the mayor and the population.

                The Mayor reassured the Governor that all activities that were halted have resumed and that life has returned to normal in Buea.

                Mayor Ekema reminded the Governor that December is a holy month which calls for forgiveness and reconciliation. He therefore prayed the Governor to order the release of the students and others who were still in detention in gendarme cells.

                By press time yesterday we learned that most if not all the arrested students had been released. Some were released on the night of Wednesday 28 November , while others were released on Friday.

                But according to FAKLA President, Barrister Nkongho Felix AgborBalla, one person is still in detention because he was found in possession of a bullet.

                Yet, however salutary the mayor’s effort might be, some commentators wasted no time to criticize him for trying to make political capital out of the UB students’ unrest. Firebrand Human Rights Activist who doubles as member of Elecam,  BarristerTambeTiku (PHD), described the mayor’s demarche as a political maneuver intended to instrumentalize the population.

                “The mayor is not the competent authority to determine the faith of these students but the Attorney General,” TambeTiku said, noting that even he (TambeTiku) who is a Barrister and Human Rights Crusader was not listened to when he availed himself at the Fako High Court in Buea to demand that the rights of the students be respected. Dr. Tambe noted that some of the students were arrested while still in their pajamas, while others had not showered and were bundled like sardines and transported to the various gendarmerie cells across the SWR.

                “The Mayor simply bribed the youths to assemble at the Bongo Square and listen to him. He used one thousand FCFA notes to woo the youths of Buea to attend the rally,” noted TambeTiku, who suggested that what the authorities should do is to free all the students and bring to book all the gendarmes that committed the heinous crimes of molesting and raping students.

                Be it as it may, Mayor Ekema Patrick’s action has been variously hailed in Buea.