Anglophone Crisis:

Mayor Wants Relatives of Ambazonia Leaders Kidnapped

Mayor Wants Relatives of Ambazonia Leaders Kidnapped 

Patrick Ekema Esunge, Mayor of Buea Council, has urged the population of the South West Region to start abducting relatives of Ambazonia leaders so as to force them to join the campaign of back to school.

            He was Buea speaking during a special edition on back to school campaign, organised by the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), South West Regional Station on Wednesday, August 29, 2018.

            According to Mayor Ekema, the kidnapped relatives of the Ambazonia leaders, whom he said, are responsible for the school boycott in the North West and South West Regions for almost three years, will be used as bargaining chip for effective school resumption.

            “A small minority cannot overrule the decision of a majority. All of us seated here today know the families of the perpetrators of this massacre. It is true we cannot lay hands on them because they are in the diaspora, but we can get their families back at home”, Mayor Ekema added.

            The Mayor further enumerated the names of the Ambazonia leaders, which he said should be targeted.

            “Everyone here knows Tapang Ivo, Mark Bareta, please do well to hold their families hostage and they will sit quiet and there shall be peace”, he stated.

Mayor Ekema unveils FCFA 20 million back-to-school package

            Meanwhile, the municipal authority further disclosed that his Council has allocated FCFA 20 million to support the back-to-school campaign.

            The aforementioned amount, he said, will helping in the purchase of didactic materials for pupils and students for an effective school year.

            The Mayor also added that scholarships will be awarded to 100 meritorious University students in their different faculties and schools.

            Explaining the necessity for children to go back to school, the Mayor Ekema said: “I am a victim because my parents could not afford my school needs, I self-sponsored myself through school. I have become what I am today thanks to the education I received over 25 years ago. We have decided to invest in the education of our kids in the municipality because we know the importance of school.”

            He said his Council understands the hardship parents are facing as a result of the on-going Anglophone Crisis.

            “A good number of parents in the municipality make their livelihood through agriculture, most of our farms have been deserted, and businesses have been closed down. It is incumbent on us as heads of the municipality, knowing fully well that one of the primordial roles of the Council is to take care of the social wellbeing of the people. So we have decided this year to invest FCFA 20 million to procure didactic materials, movable for physically challenged, books, text books for pupils and students and 100 scholarships for meritorious students in the university”, Ekema averred.

            Concluding the event, the Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, added that classes will resume effectively on September 3, 2018.

            “You cannot claim to protect the English Sub-system of education and at the same time preventing children from going to school. How do you expect them to learn English or be educated?” the Governor questioned.

            Governor Okalia urged pressmen to effectively disseminate the information on the importance of education to the Cameroonian economy.

            The special edition on back-to-school campaign was attended by educational stakeholders such as Deans, Directors, Registrar and Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea and the newly appointed Regional Delegate of Secondary Education, Dr. Hannah Etonde Mbua.