Akere Muna to Rally With Candidate Biya?
The Founder of the NOW Platform told Cameroonians
sometime ago that he would run for the 2018 presidential election only if the
incumbent President Paul Biya is not a candidate in the election. It is now
left to be seen if Akere Muna will keep to his promise or he will make bold to
challenge the person he fondly calls his father.
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
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| Akere Muna |
“Each time Mr. Biya came to our house, my late father,
who was the speaker of the National assembly, would call me to come and greet
his guest. My father always made sure he introduced me to his guests…..So, I
have always looked upon President Biya as a father….I consider him my father
until today.” This was how
Barrister Akere Tambeng Muna described his relationship with President Biya in
one of his several interviews with the press, since when he was summoned to
appear at the SED, and after he finally declared his intention to run for the
presidency of the Republic of Cameroon.
In one
of those interviews Akere told public opinion that even though he has
presidential ambitions, he would only put his candidature for the race to the
presidency if incumbent president Paul Biya decides not to run for reelection.
Akere
told his hearers that if he is voted as the President of Cameroon, he would
guarantee President Biya’s security, and would not make the old man to answer
for any actions he took whilst he was in office.
The
public is still waiting for Akere Muna to redeem his pledge to President Biya
that is, after the latter has not only confirmed his candidature for reelection
but has already summitted his candidacy file at the election organizing body,
Elecam.
But it
is important to understand the context in which Barrister Akere hastened to
declare his intention to run for the presidency several months ago. This
reporter got it on good authority that some former friends of Akere’s who are
members of President Biya’s inner circle had suspected Akere’s presidential
ambition and they were all out to frustrate him. These hard-line Biya-loyalists
decided to bank on Akere’s unrepentant anti-government position on the
Anglophone crisis to rope him and throw him in jail, on grounds of subversion
and disrespect for the president and the institutions he incarnates.
It was
in execution of this plan that Akere was summoned at the SED, it was
understood.
But by
declaring for the presidency, Akere had played smart; he had outsmarted his
neo-enemies, who now had to contemplate new machinations to short-circuit his
presidential ambition.
It is
understood that the recent legal brouhaha that Akere had with his kid sister,
Ama Tutu Muna, was the new plot hatched by his enemies to frustrate his
political ambition. Unfortunately for Ama Tutu, Akere had no other option than
to run her under the bus by throwing her dirty linen in public if only to save
not only his reputation but also his political ambition.
The
foregoing notwithstanding, it is left to be seen whether or not Akere will
engage battle against President Biya, whose privileged trust and support he has
enjoined for long years (Akere himself has affirmed to this on several
occasions).
It
should be recalled that not too long ago, Akere invited former South African
President, Thabo Mbeki, and they together at the Unity Palace, handed to
President Biya a continental award for peace, under the banner of the
Pan-African Bar Association where Akere was one-time president.
Until we
went to press yesterday, Akere had not confirmed his candidacy with Elecam. He
had also not entered an alliance with any known candidate for the election.
Like the
other presidencial candidates, Akere has until 19 July 2018 to confirm his
candidacy with Elecam. And until then, let’s wait and see.
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