Release of Anglophone activists:

The big winners and losers

By Augustine EnowAgbor, a proud citizen of the Republic of Cameroon

The fly-by-night terrorist gangs, calling themselves the Secessionist and Irredentist Movement of Ambazonia (SIMA) have lost their moral bearings, and are finding it difficult to move beyond sentiments and rhetoric. We are a bunch of lazy critical thinkers with under-developed emotional intelligence in following these little-known quacks in believing that the Anglophones are closer to self-determination, let alone secede from the Republic of Cameroon. The three best known secessionist movements in Sub-Saharan Africa can be a yard stick to measure the stillbirth and infantile banter (to quote Prophetic Apostle Hamilton Ayuk) of such callous and lazy thinkers who are promoting the secession garbage.

                Before I proceed, it is important to announce the winnings and losers in the release of activist Anglophone lawyers and teachers who had the legitimate right to fight for Anglophone self-determination within the State of Cameroon. These individuals were falsely linked to stillbirth secessionist groups, and the government arrested them as a strategy to ensure that the secessionist and irredentist rebellion stays where it belongs – out of the borders of our beautiful country and banish it to the internet only.

                To this effect, the first winners here are family members and friends, who have their loved ones back home. The second group of winners is the detainees themselves who have now been given heroic status thanks to the stupid decision of the government in arresting them in the first place. The third winner is the government of Cameroon, in realizing that we are in the 21st century and governments can no longer arrest free citizens, exercising their democratic rights without any cause. The biggest losers here are the Secessionists & Irredentist Ambazonia Movement. Their rallying point has been around the detainees, and now that they are free and not even talking to the separatist, the still-birth SIMA is buried.

                Only fools get into a battle without assessing who or what they are fighting against. Secessionism has not been easy anywhere in the world, and in Sub-Saharan Africa to be specific. If you are taking the stupidity of these separatists for reality, look at the secessionism elsewhere in Africa such as South Sudan, Biafra, and Eritrea. The Biafra movement lasted just over two years with devastating loss of lives and properties. The secessionist struggle (war) in South Sudan lasted over forty (40) years, and that in Eritrea it lasted about thirty (30) years. So, when people lean on school boycott as their major secessionist weapon, one wonders how long will that weapon be of good use.

                Strategically, in releasing the detained Anglophones activists, the government is making the bold statement that it encourages free speech and has successfully isolated secessionist dissenters logistically, socially, and politically from free Cameroonians exercising their democratic rights within the confines of the law.

                The government should use this victory to isolate the SIMA terrorists further. Our biggest challenge as a people is the inability to shift from the destructive social practices which are long-standing barriers to modernization. While the shift from such values is paramount, we also need a citizenry that supports nation building. The separatists are unpatriotic elements who hate their country. The government has successful separated these rebels and isolated them internally by breaking any bond that existed between them and the Anglophone and Cameroonian population in general.

                That is why their so-called secessionist and irredentist revolution has turned into an insurgency without broad popular support. Now, the secessionists use satellite communications, and social media sites, especially WhatsApp to provide propaganda messages to their intended target. They use fake pictures of people who have been killed in horrific accidents or in war elsewhere in Africa to appeal to their unsuspecting target.

                The secessionists seek to create fear in the target audience and uncertainty about a government’s ability to protect the public from terrorism. The government’s currently active and offensive strategy has been aimed at denying them the infrastructure for recruiting, training, and fund raising, while also carrying out preventive arrests to deny the terrorist the opportunity to operate internally. Now, the government needs some public affairs programs aimed at clarifying and deglamorizing this internet terrorist network to reduce popular support, if any still exist. In business and military environment, the essence of strategy is to attack your opponent’s weakness with your strength. The government has failed to fully exploit the friction between and within these internet terrorist groups because like the terrorists, the government is full of incompetent people.