Daring the Odds:

Thousands Welcome Paul Tasong, CPDM Caravan In Lebialem
The Minister Delegate to the MINEPAT in charge of Planning, who doubles as the leader of the divisional campaign team for Lebialem, Paul Njukang Tasong, on Sunday, led a powerful delegation to Ntemnzem, in Wabane subdivision, where he chaired a big campaign rally. He also led a triumphal peace march from Ntemnzem to the Mbelenka Market in Alou subdivision. Commentators said it takes a courageous, dare-daring political leader to brave the frightening insecurity and undertake such a trip to Lebialem.
By Fortuchang Innocent in Wabane

Members of CPDM campaign caravan brandishing peace plants

The Pictures tell the story better. It was a huge crowd, numbering over 2000 heads, that came out to welcome the Minister Delegate to the Minepat in charge of Planning, at the campaign ground in Ntemnzem, Wabane subdivision, on Sunday 2 February. Paul Tasong was a the head of a powerful delegation of CPDM elites that had come from far and near to commune with the militants of the CPDM in Lebialem, and to encourage them to keep up the steam, as the campaigns for the 9 February twin municipal and legislative elections enter the final sprint in the division.
    Minister Paul Tasong, who is also the Head of the Permanent CPDM Central Committee Delegation to Lebialem, could not conceal his joy and elation as he successfully did the feat of joining his PDM brothers and sisters in the war-ravaged Lebialem division for the election campaigns.
    “Thank you my journalist friend for daring the odds despite all the challenges to get to this place. Maybe I first correct you by saying that we are not launching the campaigns today, we are continuing the work that we started ever since the campaigns opened over a week ago. But it is the first very big meeting we are having here today. And I must say I am very elated by the big crowd that have come out to welcome us here today. When I was on my way here I kept asking myself I will be able to see a crowd at my destination. Today we have seen a crowd of more than 2000 Lebialem people who have come out at Kongme on the occasion of the mega campaign rally organized in view of the twin legislative and municipal elections holding in one week. For the politicians that we are, we can only be so elated for number of persons we have seen in this locality here today. You know politics is a game of numbers,” said a visibly happy and confident Paul Tasong.
    “We have come here today with a strong message and the message is that there is life in Lebialem. We have come here to prove the contrary to those who claim that life in Lebialem has come to a halt. We have been talking to the people, telling them that there is life in Lebialem. But nobody believed us. Today you can see for yourself. I hope after seeing the pictures all the doubting Thomases who did not believe us would change their perception of Lebialem,” Tasong remarked further, noting that “Lebialem is a land of milk and honey; a land blessed with rich, fertile soils and extremely intelligent and hardworking population.”
    The Lebialem political vision-bearer, Paul Tasong, expressed confidence that his brothers and sisters of the division would in their legendary intelligence, cast their votes, and in great numbers, for the CPDM on 9 February.

    He warned his kith and kin of Lebialem not to make the fatal error of supporting the wrong party, assuring them that only CPDM can guarantee their hopes and expectations for meaningful development to come to Lebialem.
    “Our people are not foolish; they know what they want and how to get it. The crowd that you see here today has not come to joke; they mean business. They are out to defend what they stand for. They are ready to cast their votes for the CPDM to ensure the development of their division.”
    Tasong remarked that the turnout at the mega rally was demonstrative and reassuring of what the CPDM should expect from Lebialem after the 9 February polls. He took the opportunity to reassure the CPDM hierarchy in Yaounde that they can count on Lebialem and that the division will do on 9 February 2020, what it has been doing since 2002.
    “Since 2002, our people have always voted the CPDM. But this time around we are nt voting for change. We are voting for improvement and consolidation of the developments we have enjoyed under the able guidance of the one and only party, the CPDM and its illustrious leader, President Paul Biya.”
    Also speaking on the occasion, the CPDM parliamentary candidate for Lebialem, Hon. Bernard Foju, called on CPDM militants to renew their long-standing alliance with the CPDM by voting its lists on 9 February. He vaunted the strength of the CPDM as the only political force in Lebialem.
    “We are the only political party in Lebialem. All the others are just passers-by. The CPDM controls all the councils and the parliamentary and Senate seats reserved for Lebialem. And like we did in past elections since 2002, the CPDM will win by 100% in the 9 February twin elections,” Hon. Foju said, noting that Lebialem must vote the CPDM to consolidate the development that was ongoing in the division until the crisis started.
    He said studies for the main road passing through Lebialem from Tinto in Manyu to Dschang in the West region, had been completed and work was about to begin when the crisis set in. He said the electricity supply grid to the division was already implanted and light was already coming to Lebialem when the crisis brought everything to an abrupt halt.
    Arguing that the CPDM is the only party to guarantee peace in Lebialem, Hon. Foju prayed Lebialem populations to vote the CPDM massively to guarantee the development of their division.
    At the end of the mega rally, a motion of support was addressed to the National President of the CPDM, Paul Biya. Militants then undertook a peace procession from the campaign ground in Wabane, to the Mbereke Market in Alou.
Commentators have hailed Paul Tasong’s courage for daring the odds and risking his life to undertake the campaign trip to Lebialem, a division which many dismiss as a war zone that should be avoided at all cost.