Is Cameroon destined to become the land of all avatars? Should the power of the state be misused by an abusive use of its organs against the rights of citizens? Should we leave the levers of these bodies in the hands of securitocrats who would use them as they please, inhabited as they are by the sole spirit of repression without measuring the risks of political rupture that their initiatives entail for the community? national? Should we thus allow the fundamental citizen's right of freedom of expression and opinion to be assassinated?
The answer that any citizen determined to protect rights intended to guarantee the development of all is NO! NO NO ! NOPE!
The field of a total rejection of such maldones spreads out before our eyes when we see a University Professor, a teacher of philosophy and therefore the bearer par excellence of the flame of the awakening of the spirit and the freedom of opinion, the young philosopher Fridolin Nke, being summoned to SEMIL, the army intelligence service, by Colonel Bamkoui, the boss of this body, a securocrat to whom, in the opinion, acts of a extreme gravity that out of decency we conceal here, although they remain inscribed in the marble of the collective memory and they would chill the most courageous with fear.
To be in the sights of this character has aroused the greatest emotion of Professor Nke, his entourage and his community, for whom his life would be in danger if by imprudence he would defer to such a summons which is not justified by any lawful reason.
The quality of philosopher of Professor Nke Fridolin is not a treat that our pen awards him. In a centuries-old tradition of Eton philosophy professors including Professors Martien Towa, Mono Ndjana, all as much as him of the Essele clan, it is the product of a long academic career recognized by the mother University of our country in Yaounde Ngoa Ekele where his office is located and where he professes in the pure tradition of philosophers of all times, under the marquee of criticism of morals and society. And it was there, in complete violation of universal academic frankness, that a squad of heavily armed elements went to abduct him but, not having found him, left him a summons to report.. to the Director of SEMIL…
Serious question here: What is a University Professor, philosophy teacher, going to do at the Directorate of Military Security of the Ministry of Defense if not to expose himself recklessly to intimidation or even to his “neutralization”? Did any official from the Ministries in charge of Defense and Security have the authority and power to summon a citizen, moreover a University Professor at will? Has Cameroon become a police state under siege with limitation of the expression of their opinion imposed on citizens? On the basis of what laws do the securocrats believe they can continue to crush all citizens' rights by persisting in repressive practices of bygone times?
What legislation in our country authorizes the head of an administration to summon a citizen when it is not part of the civil or military judicial services?
It is true that at all times, the philosopher, in his function as an agitator of thought, is exposed to the deadly impulses of a retrograde fringe of society. It is this fringe that forced Socrates 3000 years ago to commit suicide by drinking hemlock. Fortunately, there are also spirits to block their way. Thus, for example, at the height of the events of May 1968, the Minister of the Interior Marcellin seeking General de Gaulle's authorization to place the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre under arrest on the pretext that he supported student protest against is scolded by one, I quote: "No, Mr. Minister, we do not imprison Voltaire".
And there, I put on my robe of light to say, first of all, as a politician, elected, to whom is assigned the duty of defending abused citizens: Professor Nke, a full citizen, cannot to be worried and summoned to the Military Security which is not in the nomenclature of the judicial services of the State and above all, is not an element of the FDS and has not committed any offense or armed crime.
Then, as an Eton Traditional Chief whose mission is to defend his children in danger and if necessary to mobilize his community for the cause if necessary, I say here with energy and firmness: One of the most brilliant Eton intellectuals and to which his community is attached, Professor Fridolin Nke cannot defer to a summons from the Military Security which would endanger his physical integrity without this being a subjugation to an iniquitous, villainous, anti-republican order that some believe can continue. in our country. Should it be forced to do so that the principal of this initiative will have to assume the unforeseeable consequences of the gear that he would set in motion. It is in this way that from abuse to abuse, such practices of the securitocrats in the NOSO, have plunged the country into the abyss where it is struggling at this time. Enough is enough.
For three decades, the Cameroonian people have been waging a tense battle against retrograde forces for the enjoyment of their civic freedoms. We have in mind the memory of Njawe Pius, who can be said to have consumed his life in this fight. Not so long ago, I had to support the Superior Chief of Bamendjou, His Majesty Sokoudjou , who had been wrongfully reprimanded by a zealous administrative authority.
Is it therefore necessary that after the administrative authorities, it is the intelligence services of the FDS which are transformed into an organ of repression of the citizens? By what legislation would our country be imposed a Soviet-style “Lubyanka”, this military intelligence service responsible for intimidating and eliminating in its time those who hold dissenting opinions?
It also comes back to us that the reason for the intimidation maneuvers and a possible “neutralization” of Professor Fridolin Nke would be his disapproval of the continuation of the war in the NOSO. If this is the case, I am giving here, urbi et orbi, the opportunity for minions to also be launched after me because I am one of those who think that if this conflict continues with so much loss of human life, it is the product of the incompetence of this government which does not seem to have the political courage to choose a clear strategy between total war or inclusive negotiations, an option which I favor rather than continuing to brandish the Great National Dialogue like a pagan amulet , Grand Dialogue National, while the proof is made that it was a stab in the water without any result.
When we saw on the social networks the bloody and horrible images of the NOSO war scenes, rather than maintaining a derisory diversion like the summoning of Professor Fridolin Nke to the SEMIL, the public expects that the responsibilities are cleared and that the consequences be drawn in terms of strategic and political realignment.
In 1991, in a small team around Prime Minister Hayatou, we were able with the Tripartite to build a republican compromise which, if it had not subsequently been unilaterally violated, would certainly have spared us the current bloody war in the NOSO. If this could be done at the time when 7 regions out of 10 of the country were paralyzed by "dead cities", it can also be done today provided that, if the political option chosen is that of inclusive dialogue , the parties active in the conflict are involved, the idea of accepting compromises to repair past errors is acquired, the negotiations are carried out continuously with an experienced team.
The securocrats cannot today, through acts of political villainy such as this invitation to the SEMIL of a university professor, continue to spread frustrations, the multiplication of which was at the origin of the NOSO crisis. We have a duty to stop letting them do it. Taking into account that the same causes could produce the same effects, we draw the attention of those who have the political responsibility to preserve peace, so that they temper the ardor of the followers of repressive methods today unacceptable and outdated. , at the risk, if they do not, of seeing other hotbeds of violent protest burst.
To remedy this, we call on this government to get down to implementing what can serve as a roadmap as stated above. It is on him that rests the imperative to restore peace and civil harmony in our country and not to the exalted securicrats. He must be more concerned about this rather than favoring purely cosmetic and counterproductive actions and activities.
