Stopover in Kumba:

Atanga Nji Seals Peace Deal with Bike Riders

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Kumba

Minister Atanga Nji in communion with bike riders in Kumba

The Minister of Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, has sealed a peace accord with Meme bike riders in an effort to check the onslaught of deadly separatist squads fighting under the banner of what they refer to as the Ambazonia Defence Forces ADF. This was during a stopover he made in Kumba on 27 March 2018 whilst on a security evaluation and appeasement mission to the SW region.

The ADF have in the past several months       been storming civilian and military targets in several parts of Meme, Ndian and Kupe Muanenguba divisions, from their hideouts in the bushes and mountains. Their activities have led to heavy losses of both civilian and military lives and property. It has caused many people including mayors and chiefs especially in Mbonge subdivision to flee to safer destinations. 

            The peace accord signed between the Interior Minister and five Presidents of bike riders’ unions from five sub-divisions from Meme and Ekondo-Titi in Ndian Division was therefore in a bid to get the bike riders on the side of the government. It is believed that more often than not the ADF guys are transported to their targets on motorbikes, and that they do so with the complicity of bike riders.

            “I am happy to be with you in this brief visit thanks to the report of the Governor of the Southwest Region about the regularisation of your motorbike sector. I have come with a message of peace because I have seen your determination in peace building and I have brought you people gifts to remind you all of the fact that we are all partners in peace building because the security of the nation is in the hands of us all,’’ Atanga Nji told the riders while handing over gifts comprising five helmets and jackets to five bike riders from each of the riders’ unions. 

            The Minister said because he has been made to understand that not all the bad occurrences in the division are done with the use of bikes and because the bike riders have vowed to cooperate with the administration to track down criminals, he has decided to withdraw his ban on their activity.

            Atanga Nji however urged the riders to comply with the new regulations within three months, reminding them that nation building can only be achieve when every sector contributes its quota to the peace, security and harmony in their respective communities.

            He urged the bikers to take the security of their respective villages as a priority, noting that their partnership with the administrators for peace to return should be strengthened at all levels as it is through such moves that the dialogue can easily commence towards a complete return to normalcy in the agitated areas.

Minister Atanga Nji, who doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council, pleaded with the population to beg their family members who have run into the bushes to return to their homes, reminding the hundreds that gathered to listen to him that no one can engage a war and win against a state with Republican values like Cameroon.

            On their parts, the Government Delegate to the Kumba City council, Victor Ngoh Nkelle promised to provide 100 helmets to the bikers while the Mayors of the sub divisional councils also promised to support the bikers by providing fifty helmets each to those with complete registration documents.

            In attendance at the meeting was the SW Governor, Meme SDO, Paramount ruler of the Bafaws Nfon V.E Mukete, CPDM party stalwarts, a cross section of the Kumba population amongst hundreds others.