Fons, Others Protest Brutal Killings In Bamenda

Some traditional rulers of the North West Region as well as a section of the Bamenda population stormed the streets of the regional capital last Thursday July 20 to express fury over the brutal killing of over a dozen people at the Nacho Junction neighbourhood.

The Fons, led by the President of the North West House of Chiefs, His Majesty Yakum Teuvih, marched with peace plants and placards with different inscriptions calling for an end to the lingering killings. Other members of the public, including local and regional authorities, also joined in.

Recall that in the evening of Sunday July 16, a group of armed men believed to be separatist fighters, gathered a group of persons at the Nacho Junction vicinity in Bamenda and opened fire on them at point blanc range.

Ten people were said to have been killed on the spot while a few others later died in hospital from grievous injuries.

“My heart bleeds like the heart of any other persons. It’s so painful and it’s a shame that we see human beings behaving more like animals. The people of Bamenda are peace loving people. My message to the killers is that what goes around, comes around. I denounce this and I call on anyone who has any useful information about these people to report them. If we don’t sort out these bad seeds from our communities, we won’t have peace,” one of the marchers said.

His Majesty Yakum Teuvih said they couldn’t stay indifferent in the face of such brutality which he condemned in the strongest possible terms. The Fon himself has been a victim of the carnage in the region. He was set free only in June after spending 18 months in the hands of kidnappers.

“If Fons who are fathers of the North West can go out to the streets to march, it means that something has gone out of hand. We condemn in the strongest terms these killings and we call on for an immediate end to such barbarism within the region,” he told a CRTV programme.

“We the Fons call for an end to all the violence, killings, and hostilities within the North West Region. We are urging the government to open investigations and to bring all the perpetrators of this shameful act to book. No matter how divided we have become, let us come back to our senses and embrace peace.”

Archbishop Nkea Joins His Voice

Hours after the killings on July 16, the Archbishop of the Bamenda, His Grace Andrew Nkea, and some of his close collaborators, went to the scene of the incident to offer prayers and to restate the call for an end to such horror.

“The right to life is sacred, and only God can take away human life. We have been preaching this for the past six years. Human beings don’t have the authority to take away the lives of others. This is what happened here at Nacho Junction. People went and took away the lives of others. As I always say, there is no reason that can justify that act,” the Archbishop said after his visit to the crime scene.

“The dialogue that we had in 2019 was the beginning of a process: a process of reconciliation, further dialogue and a process to get into the bottom of the matter that triggered the dialogue in the first place.  The dialogue was not an end to itself. For the sake of the people dying in front of my eyes everyday, the dialogue must continue.”